One success story: Racetrack drives industrial development

Cal Frye’s pace car cuts through the patchy fog and pouring rain. It accelerates out of “oak tree” turn, through the darkness and down the back straightaway of Virginia International Raceway. Frye, the raceway’s general manager, loves to show off this 4.2-mile track in Halifax County. “It’s the best road course in North America,” he boasts, as he negotiates the “roller coaster” turns and finds another gear. “Paul Newman once said, ‘If there’s a heaven on earth, this is it.’”
Since reopening in 2000, Virginia International Raceway (VIR) has become a powerful magnet for motor sports enthusiasts. And more recently, the track has become a catalyst for industrial development. Adjacent to the raceway, owners Harvey Siegel and Connie Nyholm are developing VIR Raceplex, an industrial park dedicated to racing teams and other automotive-related companies.

Potential tenants were revved up about the idea, but VIR’s septic system was maxed out. To keep the project on the fast track, the tobacco commission paid $2.2 million to extend water and sewer lines to Raceplex, which recently welcomed its fourth tenant, Val Burd Racing. Phase one of Raceplex is approved for 10 buildings of 20,000 square feet each, and a second phase would double the size of the industrial park.

Immediate access to the racetrack is the No. 1 attraction, but Nyholm says potential Raceplex tenants also are excited about VIR’s participation in the Virginia Institute for Performance Engineering and Research (VIPER). The institute will be one of six research specialties at the Institute for Advanced Learning and Research in nearby Danville. The facility is scheduled to open later this year, and it will include an advanced vehicle dynamics lab.