ROCKINGHAM, N.C. -- He hasn't driven a stock car at the Cup Series level since the Advance Auto Parts 500 at Martinsville in 2004.

In fact, he drove in a total of only 16 Cup races during a seven-year career that also included nine starts in what is now the Nationwide Series and four in what is now the Camping World Truck Series. So even though he also competed in one Indianapolis 500 on the open-wheel side -- finishing 28th in 2000 -- and won the 1995 ARCA points championship, suffice it to say that Andy Hillenburg's professional driving career wasn't quite all that he once hoped it would be.

“

Our business plan -- in the beginning, and it is now -- is how do we survive without NASCAR? And I have to be able to do that. But the welcome mat is out for NASCAR.

”

ANDY HILLENBURG

Today, that matters little to him. He now owns and operates Rockingham Speedway Park -- his new name for the place that used to go by the name of North Carolina Speedway and regularly hosted Cup races, including an event right about this time of year. He bought the joint for $4.4 million from Speedway Motorsports Inc., in October 2007, and recently talked about, among other things, the possibility of some day having NASCAR return to the venue.

Q: Do you miss driving?

Hillenburg: Earlier in my life, from a driver standpoint, I thought I would accomplish more. I haven't driven in four years now, going actually on five. I'm only 45 years old, and I would have liked to have accomplished more as a driver. But I'm very proud of what I got to do, and especially how it all came to be. I felt like I made the most out of my opportunities.

Q: What initially went through your mind when you bought this place at auction in '07?

Hillenburg: Probably that night, it was like, 'Wow, I can't believe it.' The first morning of work, I would say shock came into play.

Q: How so?

Hillenburg: There is so much more to owning a race track and trying to bring racing back to it than just getting the track ready. There are the food, beverages, maintenance, electric meters, elevators and safety sides of it.

So many things have come into play. I knew there would be surprises, but I didn't know how many there would be or how big they would be. I would say I've gotten a pretty good education in the last year and a half.

Q: How big is your staff right now?

Hillenburg: We have eight full-time people, plus 15 to 20 part-timers. All of them were pretty much handpicked by me. I'm very proud of all of them. They all believe that this sport deserves your best effort. I love this sport, and this is something I want to do every day.

Q: You've bought ARCA racing and other forms of racing back to the track, and built a smaller track behind the old one that resembles Martinsville. Have NASCAR's rules that prohibit testing at NASCAR-sanctioned tracks resulted in more business for you?

Hillenburg: It's hard to say. I think it's about the same right now as it was last year. ... We already had quite a few days booked (before the testing rules were changed). We've got a lot of dates booked for March, but they were booked last October.

Q: What do you think the NASCAR teams like about your facility?

Hillenburg: I feel like we're treating the racers right -- because I'm a racer, too. I'm involved [as a team owner] in the Truck Series. I field a full-time car in the ARCA Series. I know what it's like on their side of the fence.

Q: You've got several weekends of events this year planned for your facility, from two ARCA events to the Polar Bear 150 street-stock event held last Jan. 1. Talk a little about bringing the Rock back to life. ...

“

But it's great racing here in any series -- whether it was the old Cup races right down to the last street-stock race we had with our Polar Bear race. There is just tremendous racing here.

”

ANDY HILLENBURG

Hillenburg: We're off and rolling with the races. This year we've got four major race weekends. We're feeling real good about that -- No. 1, just because we've got the facility back up and running; and two, [because of] all of the other businesses that I do have been enhanced.

This is our 20th year of the FastTrack High Peformance Driving School. For years, we've been going pretty much all over the country to various race tracks. We're somewhat limited as far as our times and schedules and what we need to do [at other venues]. I just wanted to have a race track where it would enhance the school, and it has.

But it's great racing here in any series -- whether it was the old Cup races right down to the last street-stock race we had with our Polar Bear race. There is just tremendous racing here.

Q: Many current Cup drivers say they'd still love to be racing on your 1.017-mile oval. How does that make you feel?

Hillenburg: That's the first thing they say when they go out there and do some testing. Every driver except one or two has gotten out and said, 'Gosh, I wish we still raced here.' And when the drivers are having fun and the crews are having fun, that's important.

Q: Any sliver of hope that NASCAR some day will return?

Hillenburg: Our business plan -- in the beginning, and it is now -- is how do we survive without NASCAR? And I have to be able to do that. But the welcome mat is out for NASCAR. First I need to learn more as a track operator. If they were to come to us now, I'm not quite ready as a promoter. Our facility is close, because we have run races. But I still feel like we're a few years away of even thinking of that as a possibility -- and we have to carry on as if they'll never be here.

If someday we can prove that we know what we're doing, and the race fans come and support our races, if they take a look at us, we would be more than happy to jump right in there. We also have to prove ourselves in the chain of race tracks before anything like that can happen.

Q: You now seat 34,500 after 30,000 seats were removed on the backstretch (they were not part of the sale to Hillenburg from SMI, which took the seats and placed them at their new drag strip near Lowe's Motor Speedway in Charlotte). How about the possibility of hosting a Nationwide Series or Camping World Truck Series stand-alone event sometime down the line?

Hillenburg: I think it would be possible, but I really don't dwell on it -- because I think that's an invitation that they provide, rather than me asking for an invitation. I'm going to work very hard, and hopefully some day we will get that invitation -- and we'll be in position to take advantage of it. But if you don't get asked to the dance, you make your own dance. That's pretty much how we're looking at it.

Do I think it possibly could happen? I do, only because I know how the racing landscape changes. Who would have thought we would be where we are today three years ago? And the three years before that, or the 10 years before that, who would have thought they'd be in California twice, Vegas once, Phoenix twice, Kansas ... who would have thought that would happen? So anything is possible.

Q: They ended up getting more, but at one point it was rumored that there were going to be only 35,000 fans at this past Sunday's Cup race in California. What do you think about that?

Hillenburg: It's very tough right now, that's for sure. But I'm pretty sure we could sell out 35,000 right away if we announced a Cup race.

Joe Menzer is the author of "The Great American Gamble: How the 1979 Daytona 500 Gave Birth to a NASCAR Nation." Click here to purchase.