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Mullis completes purchase of Langley Speedway

Longtime racer worked for over a year to get track reopened on April 1 with all former divisions scheduled to compete

Race action

Race action

NASCAR Media

Ryan Preece
Race action
Race action
I’ve been working in racing over two decades and I got my start in short track racing and still love to watch a race whenever possible.
 
Over the past decade, it seemed every winter brought depressing news of another short track across the country closing down and that’s why this week’s news from Hampton, Virginia was so refreshing.
 
After working for over a year with the owners of the property, Bill Mullis completed the purchase of historic Langley Speedway and will reopen the track on April 1.
 
Mullis had been leasing the property to operate the race track that has been holding races for the past 66 years.
 
Mullis, owner of a successful seafood fishing business in the area, used to race himself and has operated the track for the past seven years before he was forced to cease operations of the track over a dispute with the lease of the land the track sits on.
 
After back and forth negotiations, Mullis purchased the entire property and nows owns the land along with all the equipment and buildings on the property.
 
The easy thing for Mullis to do would have been to just walk away from the track and concentrate on operating his business with numerous boats and employees at B&C Seafood.
 
However, Mullis did it for another reason – he absolutely loves stock car racing.

Labor of love for Mullis

Mullis, along with promoter Chuck Hall, have been part of the racing community in southeastern Virginia for over a decade and have proven time and again they want to have one of the best operating short tracks along the east coast.
 
Any given Saturday night competitors can expect 5,000 or more fans to pack the grandstands and support short track racing. That doesn’t happen everywhere anymore. Most tracks are lucky if they approach half that size of a crowd each week.
 
Langley Speedway has been NASCAR sanctioned for decades and Mullis plans on returning to the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series program this year and will probably try and host a NASCAR Touring Series event again in the future.
 
When I worked for the four touring series that competed there – now defunct NASCAR Goody’s Dash Series and Hooters Pro Cup Series, then later with the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East and Whelen Southern Modified Tours – Mullis and his staff always treated any touring series as if it was the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series racing at his track and that was refreshing.
 
Operating a short track is difficult these days and most promoters are just trying to find a way to keep the lights on each week and pay a purse. 
 
Most people who don’t know the business think a promoter just opens the gates on a Saturday morning, puts on some races and counts their money by the thousands. I wish it were true – and so do many of the promoters. But that is not the case at all.
 
The business model for short track racing is in need of a change, but for Mullis and Hall, they have found a way to make it work in their community.
 
From local business support to constant participation from local government officials, Langley Speedway is a must-see attraction in the community and an economic benefit to the area. 
 
Mullis should be commended for his efforts to make Langley important to the community and keep racing going in an area that has supported NASCAR racing at all levels.
 
The track hosted races from the 1960s until the 1980s in top two series in NASCAR – what are now known as the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup and NASCAR Xfinity Series.

Thank you

I know every short track owner might not have the resources and capital to make things happen like Mullis has been able to do, but they can surely learn from him and his staff on how to promote a short track in 2017. 
 
For that, Mullis deserves a well-deserved thank you from short-track race fans from all across the country.
 
One thing is for certain, Mullis loves Langley Speedway and now we all get to benefit from his passion for a little bullring that he refused to let die.  

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