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Denny Hamlin’s Short Track Showdown Cancelled

By Tabitha Britt
Published on: 17:14 PST, Apr 21, 2016

Each year, Denny Hamlin hosts his “Short Track Showdown” charity event on the Thursday before the spring Sprint Cup race, but this year the event was canceled because of uncertainty at Langley Speedway in Hampton, Virginia.

Since 2008, Hamlin’s Showdown has been run at Southside Speedway, RIR, and South Boston Speedway [SoBo]. According to the Richmond Times-Dispatch, this year would have been the first time Langley Speedway would host the event, but a dispute between the track’s manager Bill Mullis and the track’s owner spilled past a January deadline to put the race on NASCAR’s calendar.

“It’s unfortunate it kind of got in limbo there,” Hamlin said in a statement. “For us, it just takes so much planning ahead of schedule. Even if it hiccups and there’s a limbo for one month, I mean, that’s a crucial month we have to tell sponsors and TV.”

“It was in our best interests to not do it this year, and focus on for sure bringing it back next year. Where that may be, we don’t know. But we want to continue to build that event into something [for] these short-track guys — a coveted event for them. Ultimately, I’m still a short-track guy at heart. That’s where I honed my skills way, way back in the day, and this is where I want to do it.”

Hamlin won his first stock car racing title at the age of 16 in the Mini-Stock Division at Langley Speedway in 1997.

The race, which typically features a dozen NASCAR drivers and celebrities battling it out the ¾-mile track with some of the best local Late Model Stock Car drivers – the event is invite-only – would have served as a fundraiser for the Denny Hamlin Cystic Fibrosis Research Lab at the Children’s Hospital of Richmond at VCU.

According to Wavy, Mullis has tried buying the land the track sits on since its seven-year lease expired last year. Unfortunately, an agreement still hasn’t been made, leaving the gates to Langley Speedway permanently closed.

“It’s like losing a family member,” Langley Modified champion Shawn Balluzzo said. “We all know they’re working on it, but where they stand, we don’t know.”

Loyal Late Model Stock Car drivers of Langley Speedway voiced their opinions on the ordeal, agreeing that watching the gates of Langley close up was upsetting.

“I’m disappointed because I feel like I would have had a real advantage out there,” NASCAR Whelen All-American Series driver and East Carolina Motor Speedway two-time champion Jeff Shiflett said. “It’s not often us short track guys get the opportunity to race these big races.”

Shiflett said he’s raced at Langley Speedway since 2004 and has run the Denny Hamlin Short Track Showdown for two consecutive years.

Hamlin said he might consider hosting the 2017 Showdown at the newly opened Dominion Raceway in Spotsylvania County, near Fredericksburg.

“I don’t know where we’re going to go, but we bounced around a few tracks the last few years and everyone’s done an amazing job helping us grow it,” Hamlin told the Daily Press.

“I’m sure it’s going to be even bigger when we bring it back in ’17,” he continued. “That’s the thing about moving this around to different places. It gives the people in that particular area [the opportunity] to come to the Short Track Showdown.”

Langley Speedway first opened its doors in 1950 as a dirt track. The track became popular quickly, hosting nine Grand National races featuring some of NASCAR’s greatest drivers, such as Richard Petty, Bobby Allison, David Pearson, Buddy Baker, and LeeRoy Yarbrough, among others.

[Photo by Geoff Burke/Getty Images for NASCAR]

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