Owners of expensive sports cars may soon have some options for steering their vehicles at high speeds in central North Carolina.
In April, auto industry magnates Rick Hendrick and Marcus Smith are opening Ten Tenths Motor Club, a 100-acre complex next to Charlotte Motor Speedway. It will include a lighted 1.7-mile road course, 20,000-square-foot special event facility, garages for members and other amenities.
“The facility will offer concierge vehicle maintenance and repair for nearly every exotic or high-performance car on the market,” Hendrick said in a release. He’s CEO of Hendrick Automotive Group and owner of Hendrick Motorsports, while Smith is CEO of track owner Speedway Motorsports.
Separately, developers for two motorsports parks in Moore County hope to make the area another getaway for high-end vehicle aficionados. Both sites are about 70 miles east
of Charlotte.
The Moore County tracks hang in bureaucratic limbo, however, with concerns over noise and light pollution being the biggest worries from neighbors.
The Uwharrie Motorsports Park is a proposed $100 million project by Raleigh-based Autoport LLC on nearly 400 acres in northwest Moore County, adjacent to Montgomery County. At a public hearing last summer, developers presented plans for a three-mile road course, a kart track and a clubhouse with a restaurant. It would include 165 private “car condos” ranging from 1,400 to 6,500 square feet.
The project could create more than 280 jobs and have an annual economic impact of about $2 million, says Autoport CEO Kristi Maluchnik, a Triangle-area commercial real
estate broker. Since the project was announced in May, about 500 people have registered for membership, she says.
Moore County Economic Development Partnership CEO Natalie Hawkins says the effort may spark 30 full-time and 100-part-time positions. A key beneficiary of the development could be Robbins, a Moore County town that has struggled financially after some large employers shut down in the early 2000s.
But opposition to the project arose at two community meetings this summer, mainly from neighbors who worry about increased traffic and noise from the sports cars. A rezoning of the property, which is owned by Mount Gilead-based Jordan Lumber, was scheduled to be discussed at a rezoning hearing in late November.
Members of the Moore County Board of Commissioners emphasized they want to hear resident input on the project. While the track would be 12 miles from Robbins, the town buys water from Montgomery County and would supply the resort by patching into an existing line. Use of as much as 100,000 gallons per day would bolster Robbins’ finances, Town Manager Clint Mack says. But Moore County’s planning board has voted to oppose the effort.
On Nov. 19, Moore County commissioners voted 3-2 to rezone the property from rural agricultural to planned development conditional zoning. Maluchnik says the plan is to start construction next year and open in 2027.
Meanwhile, a smaller racetrack project located about 25 miles from the Uwharrie plan is being discussed by the town of Cameron with a different development group. The 100-acre site, labeled Cameron Motor Condos, calls for a road course, off-road course and 60 to 80 condominiums and garages for car collectors.
After developers presented the plans informally at a town planning board meeting in July, Town Clerk Wendy Butner says there has been no more contact. The development could have a $25 million tax base with the condos selling for $300,000 to $500,000.
While the facility will be private and relatively low-profile, the business plan includes community events for locals to use the track and facility, according to a story in Car and Driver magazine.
“Our track design will be tight, less than two miles, and will barely have a straightaway,” project leader Charles Gregg told the magazine. He’s the CEO of Pinehurst Surgical Clinic. “So there’s nowhere anyone could go full throttle for very long.” ■
