Late Model Stock Car racing’s annual Spring all-star highlight will not be held in 2016, event coordinator Buck Reuss said to the Daily Press newspaper in Hampton, Virginia on Wednesday.
“This is due to the situation at Langley Speedway,” Reuss was quoted as saying in the paper’s report. “I don’t blame anyone operating the track, because I think Bill Mullis and Chuck Hall have done more for the track than anyone since Joe Carver (Langley’s promoter from the mid-1970s to early ’80s). But the drivers needed to set their schedules by Jan. 5 at the latest.”
The cancellation of the Denny Hamlin Short Track Showdown, which was awarded to Langley Speedway last year, comes as there is growing uncertainty about the racetrack’s future. Bill Mullis has leased the track for six seasons but, after tense lease negotiations last year, Mullis has wanted to buy the speedway and surrounding property.
Negotiations to do just that have reportedly reached an impasse — though promoter Chuck Hall insists negotiations are ongoing.
Mullis, and promoter Chuck Hall, have moved much of their property out of Langley Speedway and the issue of whether there will be racing at Langley Speedway in 2016, or in the future, is very much in doubt. However, neither Mullis nor hall have made any formal announcement about any departure from Langley Speedway while racers and the extremely loyal Langley Speedway fan base hope racing will take place in 2016.
