ROCKINGHAM — After more than a decade away, Seat Time Racing School returns this weekend to the historic Rockingham Speedway.
The Charlotte-based school, founded in 1980 by Buck Baker — NASCAR’s first back-to-back champion — used to hold 20-30 events per year at the speedway, according to driving instructor Walt Young.
He said the last school in Rockingham was around 2009 or 2010.
One of the most famous graduates of the school when it was at Rockingham is four-time Cup series champion Jeff Gordon, who came through in 1990. Gordon also ran his first Busch race at the speedway that year.
Other graduates, according to the school’s website, include Tony Stewart, Bobby Allison, Ricky Craven and Austin Dillon.
“We heard that they were going to have a race there and we’re always looking for new tracks,” Young said Thursday afternoon.
That race is the Solid Rock Carriers CARS Tour, scheduled for Nov. 6.
Other tracks used by the school are Charlotte Motor Speedway, Bristol Motor Speedway and Atlanta Motor Speedway.
At just over a mile long, Rockingham’s length is greater than Bristol’s 0.53-mile oval and the other two speedways’ mile-and-a-half tracks.
Saturday’s event is sold out, with 70-100 participants signed up, according to Young.
“Most people just want to experience driving a car,” Young said, adding that only about one out of 10 coming through the school are racers “on some level” who want to drive a Cup car on a Cup track — although Rockingham hasn’t hosted a cup race since 2004.
Seat Time already has another school lined up at Rockingham on Oct. 31
Spectators are welcome, at no charge, to Saturday’s event.
“We’re all looking forward to coming back,” Young said.
