CONCORD, N.C. — North Carolina’s Tri-County Motor Speedway has new ownership.
A group of buyers, including Shane Higgins, his twin brother Shad Higgins and their father Buddy Higgins, as well as Chris Worley, has purchased the four-tenths-mile asphalt oval from the Casola family. The group is known as TriCo Entertainment LLC.
“We had looked at race tracks for some amount of time, especially that one (Tri-County),” Shane Higgins explained. “It was just something that we wanted to try to do. We’ve looked at it for a while and we kicked it around. We made them an offer on it and we’re kind of rolling forward on it now.”
Located in Hudson, N.C., the track started life as a four-tenths-mile dirt track in 1985. The track was paved in 1988 and the Casola family has owned the facility for more than 10 years.
The property was made available for sale in 2012 amid a legal battle between the Casola family and Caldwell County officials regarding a noise ordinance that limited the usage of the track to two days a week from March to October.
The Casola family opted to halt the track’s weekly racing program in 2011 during the legal battle. The track has since hosted occasional events for regional touring series, including the CARS Tour and more recently the Southeast Super Truck, Limited Late Models and Legend Cars.
Shane Higgins, a former racer himself, said the reason for acquiring the speedway is a simple one.
“To try and see how many cars we can attract and how many fans (we can get) and get racing going again,” he said.
At this time Higgins said they aren’t ready to announce plans for 2020. However, he noted they are interested in becoming a NASCAR-sanctioned track, though, he said no deals have been finalized in that regard.
Higgins said as far as the facility itself, they just want to give it “a new look.”
“We just want to give it a new face, a new look,” Higgins explained. “We want to make it a place where all racers are proud to come and work and the fans as well.”
Acknowledging the issues between the previous owners and the county, Higgins said they want to work with county officials and the local community to create a strong working relationship.
“We want to be involved in the community of that county. We want them to support us as well,” Higgins said. “Showing them that you’re going to be a neighbor would be the way to respond to that now. We just want to be good for the community. We want to be a good neighbor and be good for the county as well.”