JACKSONVILLE, NC – A little over a year after one Eastern North Carolina short track shuttered its doors, another one is reopening.
Coastal Plains Raceway Park in Jacksonville, North Carolina, will host racing for the first time since October 2018 on Saturday with Late Models headlining the event. The grand reopening of Coastal Plains Raceway comes a little more than a year removed from East Carolina Motor Speedway’s closure and just weeks removed from North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper’s decision to ease restrictions at outdoor sporting venues – a decision that went into effect on the first day of high school football in the state.
“We’re going into the season and the closer we get, the more excited I get,” Wes Ellis, facility administrator for the track, told Short Track Scene. “The practices have been good so I can’t complain too much. The goal is to put on good races for the drivers and for the fans. We’re trying to make it to where the driver isn’t forking out as much money around here. The goal is to be successful, not just for this season but hopefully for 2022.”
Coastal Plains Raceway Park sits just a few miles out of Downtown Jacksonville and has both a quarter-mile dragstrip and the 4/10-mile oval. The dragstrip has been running strong opening in 2000 under IHRA sanctioning. Ellis joined Coastal Plains in 2020 to work with the dragstrip and reopen the speedway – which has reopened twice since 2015 but only for one year at a time.
“The goal is for sure to not be a one-year deal,” Ellis said. “We’re going to be around for a while. What made me really make the decision to reopen this place is, everybody wants to be here. We’re one of the best banked tracks on the east coast and everybody wants to race here. We’re going to make it fun for everybody.”
Ellis’ enthusiasm was echoed by Ronnie Humphrey, owner of the multipurpose Coastal Plains Raceway Park facility.
“Wes has come on board, a young man with a lot of energy, and that’s what the part needs,” Humphrey said. “We’re excited about reopening the raceway. Our family has been involved with the dragway our whole career so Wes is excited about the opportunity.”
When asked if he thinks Coastal Plains Raceway Park will be successful in 2021, Humphrey expressed optimism while acknowledging the challenges that remain – including the coronavirus pandemic which has claimed over a half-million lives in the United States.
“Time will tell,” Humphrey noted. “We’re still being challenged with pandemic conditions, but at the end of the day, everybody’s ready to get out and go play, so I’d like to personally welcome everybody back to Coastal Plains Raceway Park.”
The excitement about reopening can also be heard in the voices of many of the racers who plan to compete – including former track champions Rusty Daniels and Brandon Clements.
“I can’t even explain how excited I am,” Daniels, who won the track championship in 2009, said. “We’re going to race here every race. We won the track championship last time we raced here.”
Clements started his racing career at Coastal Plains, racking up a championship in the Mini-Stock division in 2007 and in Late Models in 2013. Since then, Clements has won two Mini-Stock titles and a Late Model title at Carteret County and has won races at Southern National Motorsports Park and the now-defunct East Carolina Motor Speedway.
“This is where I started racing at in 2004,” Clements said. “It’s been really good to come back here. It’s almost like tying your shoe. I was a little worried, thought it might be a little different, but it’s kind of like we never left.”
Reopening the track comes with a unique challenge. Coastal Plains will open with an established short track just 32 miles away – a fact that is not lost on Ellis who says both tracks have worked together some in the offseason.
“We worked together on the schedule,” Ellis explained. “We made sure we weren’t on top of them and they weren’t on top of us. Our rules kind of mimic each other. A lot of the cars that race here are going to travel to try and race there as well. There’s been a lot of partnership going on.”
Coastal Plains Raceway Park first opened in 2000 after a 36-year hiatus of racing in Jacksonville. Jacksonville Speedway in Piney Green had hosted races from 1957-1964, including NASCAR Grand National races which were won by Buck Baker and Ned Jarrett respectively. Coastal Plains has hosted the NASCAR Southeast Series, the Hooters Pro Cup Series, and the UARA-STARS tour. Notable race winners include Bobby Gill, Steven Wallace, Wayne Anderson, Jason York, Jamey Caudill, and Shane Huffman, among others.
Saturday’s season-opening race at Coastal Plains Raceway Park will go green at 5pm.
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