CHESTERFIELD COUNTY, Va. — Southside Speedway is getting ready to roar back to life.
The Richmond-area track shut down in 2020, leaving local racing fans without a nearby venue for the first time in decades. Now, with new property owners at the helm, the speedway is being restored — and the people who grew up there are counting down the days.
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Chesterfield shares new details about reopening Southside Speedway
Buck Reuss served as the track's announcer before it closed. For him, the silence has been hard to take.
"When it disappeared it took away everything. You'd have to travel all the way up to Northern Virginia to Thornburg, or you'd have to go to Hampton, or you'd have to go to South Boston. You'd have to go to one of those tracks to try to find the same thing that was right here in your back yard," Reuss said.
Reuss said he is looking forward to watching a new generation of drivers grow into veterans — something he watched happen for years from the announcer's booth.
"I look forward to watching the kids becoming the veterans. You know, that's been the biggest thrill that I've watched over the years," Reuss said.
For Chuck Hendricks, Southside Speedway is more than a racetrack. It is family history written in tire marks. His family grew up racing there, including his father Roy, a well-known racing legend in Chesterfield County.
"It's what we did on Friday nights. Every Friday night we'd watch dad race, watch the other guys run around with your friends out there under the stand and just have a good time," Hendricks said.
The stands have been overtaken by overgrowth in the years since the closure. The new property owners say clearing the bushes and redoing the stands are among the next steps in the restoration. As for the track itself, it will be ready to roll once the walls receive a fresh coat of paint.
While the process has taken longer than expected, the speedway could be hosting events soon. This spring, car shows, drifting events, slot meets and concerts are all being considered for the venue ahead of a full racing return.
For Reuss, no event will match the moment racing comes back to Southside Speedway.
"It's one of those things where you don't realize how much you miss it as a race fan until the first day of race season and you walk in and you smell the tires where they are rolling through the corner getting heat up. You smell the exhaust of the racing fuel — that's a different smell than normal gas in a regular car on the street — and those senses kick you back into overdrive the moment you go to the racetrack," Reuss said.
For the many fans and racers who grew up going to Southside Speedway every weekend, they say they can't wait to be back.
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