Southside Speedway returning to life with new management lease-to-own deal

Having sat dormant since 2019, Southside Speedway has been taken over by new management and will return Friday night short track racing to the Richmond Virginia area.

Competitive Racing Investments, LLC, operated by longtime racing rivals Jeff Oakley and Lin O’Neill, with support from Scott Banton and Josh Lief, has entered into a 20-year least-to-purchase agreement with Chesterfield County, which purchased the 47 acre property when the track closed.

“The lease to purchase agreement allows us to be partners wit Chesterfield County,” Oakley said. “It allows Chesterfield County to be very very active in our development of bringing the track back. A least to purchase for us is a far stronger option than purchasing the track outright but our goal in the years to come is to own the track. We our not doing what we’re doing to just lease the place.”

The revitalization plan includes a repave, grandstand improvement, new supporting infrastructure, removal and rehabilitation of outside retaining wall.

The announcement was made during a press conference inside the .333-mile race track in Midlothian, Virginia and was attended by the new invstors, government officials and race fans alike. This was the years long dream of O’Neill who worked harder than anyone over the past five years to save the facility and bring Friday night racing back to the area.

A timeline for the first race back appears years away. With that said, both the county and Competitive Racing Investments intends to transform the greater property into a sports and entertainment hub. The property already has a soccer field and park facility adjacent to the race track that many observers believed would eventually swallow the race track after it was purchased by the government.

Matoaca District supervisor Kevin Carroll said during a press conference on Wednesday that he facilitated the county’s purchase of the facility, and that he said so from day one, with the intent that a racing specific entity would purchase it with the goal of resuming racing events at ‘The Toughest Track in the South.’

“When the county bought this land, there was a lot of people who felt it was bought to do away with racing,” Carroll said. “Go back and watch the board of supervisors meeting that night because I said, and I meant it, that the only reason I agreed to buy the track is why I wanted to give someone the opportunity to buy it back and open it back up.

“There were plenty of people who wanted to buy this land, people who wanted to use it for something else, but Lin did a great job of negotiating over the past couple of years … He’s a great negotiator. Now, with Jeff as a partner and all the help from the community, there is going to be a great opportunity to bring racing back to Chesterfield County have what I feel is a true gem in the Richmond area.”

Carroll says he dreams of a facility where families come to the soccer fields, to the racing events, stay at local hotels and eat at restaurants and make this a special place for this community.

“For the doubting Thomases, I don’t want the track back,” Carroll said. “I want these people to pay it, have it and be successful with it. That’s the plan and it’s been the plan all along and I want to help them do it. You have to do your part to. You have to come to all these races, build the race cars, and put on these shows. I’ll be here too and I hope to see you here.”

O’Neill said their group ‘accomplished the impossible’ with the lease-to-own agreement with the county. Oakley and O’Neill were fierce rivals on the track and now they’re business partners together working together to revive this venue.

“With the support from Chesterfield County, this project can set the example for short tracks across the United States and make Southside Speedway a great sports and tourism attraction for the entire Commonwealth of Virginia and Chesterfield County,” O’Neill said. “I hand picked certain people to be on my team and even left groups of investors who had other plans for the track.

“The track needs to stay in this configuration no matter what. Our group was called Save Southside Speedway and not Build a New Southside Speedway.

“I wanted investors on my team that were racing related and understood the business of auto racing to achieve our goals for Southside Speedway. I reached out to Jeff because I knew he was passionate about racing as I am and let the past be the past on our rivalry to save the track. I think Jeff and I have had the same goals for the track.

“If not, Jeff and I might have to put our helmets back on and sort it out on the track again.”

That last time got a loud applause and laughter from those in attendance.

Clover Hill District Supervisor Jessica Schneider says she grew up in Wisconsin near Slinger Speedway and said ‘it would have been a sin’ to let Southside Speedway go away.

NASCAR sanctioned or independent?

“We’re definitely going to be NASCAR sanctioned. We’re going NASCAR.”
O’Neill

Timeline?

“I don’t know about this year and Jeff and I have to go over some things and how much we’re going to spend to get it going. I don’t know right now but we’re looking at the 2026 to 2027 range.”

CARS Tour?

“That’s definitely a goal of ours, getting the larger Late Model tours and SMART Modified Tour, people like that here.”
O’Neill

Where are cars parking with the soccer fields taking up space?

“The county is working with us. Parking has to follow zoning ordinances so there are rules we have to follow. The country has been very very good working with us to say they’ll work with us. We have to park cars but that doesn’t mean it’s going to prevent us from getting back to going racing.”