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HAMPTON — Growth and stability is what any enterprise wants, isn’t it? Langley Speedway, under Bill Mullis’ ownership entering its 15th season, has both in ways many weekly stock car racing tracks can only dream of.
Few, if any, NASCAR Weekly Racing Series venues boast as many racing divisions as the dozen racing on the track’s 0.4-mile asphalt oval. The state-of-the-art lighting system (54 fixtures, attached to 12 poles that are 70 or 90 feet tall) and new bathrooms in the pit area installed in 2022 are two of the promises kept since Mullis acquired full ownership of the track five years ago.
Mullis is busy these days. In addition to operating Langley Speedway and a successful scallop business, he was recently appointed NASCAR’s Final Appeals Officer. That means he is the final say for the most important appeals of fines and penalties at the high level of stock car racing.
As the gates at Langley Speedway prepared to open for a 73rd season Saturday, Mullis spoke to The Virginian-Pilot and Daily Press in a Q&A about the current state of the track and its future.
What is the state of Langley Speedway entering the 2023 season?
“The state of the track is very healthy and not just from me. The track is stronger than it’s been since I’ve been here because of the support from drivers, fans and sponsors.”
The economy is mixed, and word is advertising dollars aren’t easy to come by in Hampton Roads right now. How were you able already to sell sponsorships for every race night and almost all of your billboards?
“It starts with [track promoter] Chuck Hall being a great marketer and salesman. When you can still get sponsors here as advertising dollars seem to be shrinking, it proves Larry King Law’s Langley Speedway is deep-rooted in the community.
“It comes out of a different style of support because sometimes it’s more in the tone of community support. It’s not always what Langley can give back to the business directly, but an exchange of supporting the entire racing community, and becoming part of it, by sponsoring a night here.”
While a lot of stock car racing tracks around the country are still struggling, Langley Speedway features 12 weekly divisions that compete on Saturdays and a Kart Club of up to 100 youth drivers on Sundays. Why have you been able to buck the trend?
“It’s population-based, honestly. If you study the tracks that have less population to draw from, four divisions and 80 cars, they can’t race them every week because they’ll wear them out and wear the race community out. They probably can’t race every Saturday like Langley.
“With all of the divisions we have, it gives us the ability to run a field of cars this Saturday night and run a completely different show next Saturday night, so we’ve got a balance. I’ve never said it this way before: Hampton Roads has a large enough population that it generally has what two short tracks [combined] might have. It’s a blessing to be in Hampton Roads.”
What made you go with the 5 p.m. starts for your April and October races after decades of 7 p.m. starts?
“It can be brutally cold here in the spring and fall, and we’ve been here long enough to know it. It flew onto my radar last year at this time for the first or second Late Model Division show. It was really cold out here, and we had six or seven races, and when the big Late Model race started, a lot of people had abandoned this place and I can’t blame them.
“Everybody I’ve talked to in the racing community seemed in favor of it, and we haven’t heard anything negative. The start time is going to be great, and we’re still going to try to keep the shows to three hours.”
I understand 2000 NASCAR Cup champion Bobby Labonte will be racing here in the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour race on Aug. 26. How did that happen and how will that help you?
“I was down in Daytona Beach for Speedweeks and me and Jimmy Wilson, the Modified Tour director, talked to him about that. We met with him and are pretty much guaranteed he’ll be here and running. We’re hoping that [2003 Cup champion] Matt Kenseth will be in a car.
“I’m also working on some other guys who are very well-known and very popular. Some of them are in the Smart Modified Tour. If anyone’s been following the NASCAR Modified Tour, their race at New Smyrna was unbelievably good and their race at Richmond was fantastic — the talent pool is unbelievable.”
What is the future of Langley Speedway?
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“We’re at a good place where we’ve worked a long time to get where we are. The installation of the lights was a major thing and shows that we’re at a major comfort level now. That’s a commitment to the future and a really good signal for the future. It means you’re here.
“I still have the rest of Langley Speedway’s transformation in my mind — a fans zone, fan entrance, improvements to the offices, pit surface and track surface. When it’s done, Langley Speedway will appear to be brand new, but I’m going to do it the sensible way — and I can do it and as I can afford it.”
On tap this weekend
What: Seven stock car races — Late Model Twin 50s, Super Street 40, Enduro 30, Super Truck 25, UCAR 25, Karts 20.
When: Racing begins at 5 p.m. Saturday
Where: Langley Speedway, 11 Dale Lemonds Drive, Hampton
Marty O’Brien, 757-247-4963, mjobrien@dailypress.com. Twitter @MartyOBrienDP