Lucky Dog bringing endurance race to Rockingham Speedway roval

ROCKINGHAM— Racing returns to Rockingham Speedway for “Release the Rock Hounds.”

The event is part of the California-based Lucky Dog Racing League’s endurance series, where drivers can race anywhere from 7-12 hours, according to Cathy McCause Fuss, who co-founded the series in 2015 with her husband, Greg.

The course will be the 1.5-mile roval. The most recent races on the roval were the Carolina Mini-Stock Challenge in July 2022 and the Allison Legacy Race Series bout at the track’s open house in March 2023. The roval has also been used by the National Auto Sport Association.

For the Lucky Dog series, no competition license is required, Fuss said, adding that drivers range in age from teens to “vintage dawgs” in their 70s and 80s.

“We also have teams that have up to three generations driving together,” said Fuss. “In this divided world, I’m especially proud of our sense of community and bringing friends and family together.”

Cars must be mass-produced passenger vehicles and be 2006 models or older and run a Hankook RS4, 200 treadwear regular DOT passenger car tire, according to Fuss.

“I’m equally proud of our charitable aspect of the series,” said Fuss. “We believe we are blessed to do what we do and it’s important for us to leave a track community in better condition than when we arrived.”

This weekend, Fuss said they will be raising funds for Racing for ALS.

“Lucky Dog is huge on support of veterans,” Fuss continued. “We fully fund eight race teams nationwide under our umbrella of Heroes Motorsport. This weekend we have three veteran’s teams from Battle Scarred Motorsports and Warriors in Motion.”

Cars are scheduled to be on the track from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. both Saturday and Sunday

Local singer Anthony Davis won a karaoke contest at Axe to Grind for the opportunity to perform the national anthem at this weekend’s race.

Rockingham native Erik Hawks, backed by the Hard Luck band, will also be performing at an afterparty for the race teams Saturday evening.

The Rock is one of four stops for Lucky Dog’s 4th annual Southern Endurance Cup, which also includes two races at Carolina Motorsports Park in Kershaw, South Carolina, and Atlanta Motorsports Park in Georgia.

“Lucky Dog is committed to and very honored to help bring racing back to this historic and hallowed grounds of racing,” said Fuss.

This won’t be her first time at the iconic track.

“Prior to founding Lucky Dog in 2015 (this is our 10th year anniversary), I was the co-founder of ChumpCar World Series in 2009 (which is now called ChampCar),” Fuss said. “During that time, I personally raced at The Rock with ChumpCar in 2010 & 2011… it was my first banking experience and it changed my life. So it’s especially important for us to return to Rock and share it with ‘Dawg Nation.’”

Before ChumpCar, Fuss developed Racey Diva-Tiffany at the Track, a women’s motorsports apparel line, and served as marketing director of Altamont Motorsports Park.

The public is invited to come out and watch the racing for free, Fuss said, adding, “nothing is free is racing these days!”