Rockingham Dragway Sold

Earwood Promises ‘Business as Usual’ During Two-Year Transition Period

Al Gennarelli and Dan VanHorn, two successful businessmen united by their passion for fast cars, have taken the first step toward becoming the new owners of Rockingham Dragway.

Through a unique agreement with Steve Earwood, who has owned and operated the multi-purpose facility since 1992, Gennarelli, 49, and Van Horn, 47, will spend the next two years learning the basics of racetrack operation before assuming full ownership in October, 2022.

In the interim, Earwood emphasized that it will be business as usual at The Rock with a full slate of diverse events including this week’s 29th annual Griffin Motors MOPARS at the Rock expo featuring the Modern Street Hemi Shootout series VanHorn created in 2009 and in which he and Gennarelli both compete.

“All of our personnel will stay in place,” Earwood said, “and I don’t see any major changes other than we are adding more non-traditional events to our calendar, which has been one of our trademarks. In the past, we’ve hosted the Smoke Out Festival, Metallica concerts and the more recent Epicenter concert and we’re looking right now for opportunities to bring similar non-racing events to Richmond County.”

“We have had a lot of offers to sell the business over the years,” Earwood said, “but one of my concerns has always been what impact the sale would have on our racers, our manufacturers, our sponsors and our fans. I never felt confident that they would be taken care of until I started talking to Dan more than a year ago.

Earwood, who was National Media Relations Director at the NHRA before opting to pursue his dream of track ownership, not only will continue to handle day-to-day track operations for the next two years, he will stay on as a consultant to Gennarelli and Van Horn after the sale is complete.

Complete details at rockinghamdragway.com.