Little could anyone back in 1950 had known just how far Langley Speedway has come, not just as a race track, but even as a main attraction in the city of Hampton, Virginia.
Known for its flat banked ovals and its commitment to the areas youth karting programs on Sundays, Langley Speedway lights up its race track nearly every weekend between April through October, offering to its fans eleven different race divisions to enjoy including touring race divisions as well. Last year, the speedway even played host to a country music concert which also turned into a big hit for its fans. For good reason, the 2015 race season looks to be even bigger for track owner Bill Mullis and track promoter Chuck Hall. With the off season challenges prevailed and the attention focused forward, Langley Speedway is set to drop its green flag for its 65th season.
In a one on one conversation with track owner Bill Mullis, we discussed the much anticipated race season and reached into the heart of a man who just might be Langley Speedways biggest fan himself.
“I believe that the excitement level is as high as it’s ever been in 65 years, this place has kind of had a rebirth so to speak because of a lot of great racers and people’s support,” Mullis said. “You know, Langley Speedway is bigger than just what happens on Saturday night, you got to come back on Sunday to see the rest of the secret of forty four years of kart racing with a wonderful group of kids. That series also has a bit of history of its own as it’s the largest of any on the east coast and has produced the likes of Matt Waltz along with many others as well.”
Next we discussed the upcoming Late Model season and what Langley Speedway fans can expect.
“I just think it’s going to be a unbelievable year,” Mullis remarked. “You take Danny Edwards Jr; I think he’s going to come back real strong this year with his new car. Mark Wertz has been extremely good already this year with a strong performance at South Boston. Nick Smith, he too is already strong in the ten car says he wants to sit on the pole come opening day and stay fast all year. Then how can you not talk about Greg Edwards and how great he’s been? I hope CE Falk will come and run with us a few times, Casey Wyatt is going to be fast and Dean Shifflet is coming back in new equipment. Then you have my young guns, Justin Carroll, Brenden Queen, Connor Hall, Macy Causey, Tyler Hughes out of Maryland in a Late Model and Cameron Bowen.”
This year at Langley Speedway will feature 14-year-old female Late Model rookie Macy Causey. Causey has spent time in a Dirt Late Model at Virginia Motor Speedway and, before that, she was a Bandolero champion at Langley Speedway. Bill Mullis was very proud of her and the other female racers at Langley Speedway.
“You know, that all goes back to the kart club,” Mullis explained. “17 percent of the racers are all girls here in the kart club and what’s exciting is that on Saturday nights, I can name eight of them competing like Macy Causey in Late Models, Sonny Hobbs in a Modified who actually had a Truck ride, Angela Marie Steele and Victoria Townsend will be in a pro-six car who were both good kart racers. Ashton Mullet will be in a U-CAR, Elysia Potter and Autumn Weaver is in a Bandalero, both were in the kart club. Of course, Courtney Shifflett in a U-CAR, who we all know.”
Soon our attention was on the matter of growth, whether the track has reached its pinnacle or if there is still work to be done.
“We’ve come a long ways in the last six years, (owner) me personally, I feel like I still got 15 to 20 percent left in me that there’s always room for improvement in any business, particularly with a business that a speedway has where you host racers in multiple divisions cause you have to keep them happy and treated fairly.
“You got to have a great racing community, you got to be a race track that’s going to treat everyone fairly, you got to make sure your tech guys are doing a good job but a fair job, the racers have got to expect that and depend on it. In a business like this that’s vertically integrated into one part affecting the other that there is always more work to do and I really don’t know where the stop point is to say we arrived, I’m not sure if will ever arrive at perfection but were trying to always improve our hospitality.”
Lastly I gave Bill Mullis the opportunity for a personal message to the fans.
“You know that kind of hits close to home because you know I had quite a rough winter,” Mullis commented. “I’ve been in a bit of a battle about the survival of the speedway, I’ve had some personal health issues and I had a lot of time to think about my commitment out here. One thing that’s kind of strange for me is that my racers are my greatest customer base, I came up with this motto and it’s about keeping my customers satisfied. It’s a huge job, it takes a lot of balance to do it right, it’s my own personal mark and it’s my job to keep my customers satisfied.”
To further understand Bill Mullis’ passion to be his best for his customers, he suggests taking a moment to listen to Simon and Garfunkle’s song titled, Keep my Customers Satisfied.
There is little doubt the struggles during the off season took a shot at the heart of track owner Bill Mullis. But his love for Langley Speedway, the love for his customers, the love for the many children in the kart club on Sunday afternoons and the thousands of race fans who took the time and choose Langley Speedway for their weekend entertainment has kept Bill Mullis going. Add the prestige of sixty five years of racing and spending a race weekend at the track makes many of us who know… that the best years of this race track are yet to come.
The green flag will wave on Langley Speedway’s 65th season on Saturday night, April 4th with 100 laps of Late Model Stock Car racing action. RACE22.com will have live, up to the minute updates on Twitter.
