Louisville driver takes event at Rockingham

HAMLET, N.C. - Chuck Barnes won the Polar Bear 150 street stock race yesterday at the Rockingham Speedway, finishing about a second ahead of Anthony White of Clinton, Ind.

For most of the race, Barnes, of Louisville, Ky., and Brett Hudson of Owensboro, Ky., battled each other - often side by side and seldom more than a few car lengths apart. But the engine in Hudson's 1979 Monte Carlo failed with nine laps to go, and no other driver could challenge Barnes' 1984 Monte Carlo.

The race was slowed by 14 caution flags and stopped by three red flags. The last of the reds came when Bryan Silas, of Stuart, Fla., slid off the Turn 4 banking and slammed into the energy-absorbing barrels buffering the wall at the pit entrance.

Silas' car bounced high, spreading sheet metal from the car and debris from the barrels across pit road. But the driver apparently was not seriously hurt. He sprang from his car, stood on the car's still-intact roll cage and waved to the crowd with both arms.

The race had a spectacular start with 66 cars in 22 three-abreast rows. At the finish of the 150-lap event, more than five hours later, 31 cars were running.

The 1-mile Rockingham Speedway was a fixture on the NASCAR Cup tour from 1965 to 2004, after which it was dropped from the schedule to make room for other events as NASCAR expanded its marketing reach. The track now hosts a variety of events in other racing series.

Track President Andy Hillenburg estimated the crowd at 8,000. Many fans were inside luxury suites atop the grandstands. The race was the inaugural event in what track officials hope will become a traditional midwinter date.
Contact Randy Hallman at (804) 649-6440 or .