Martinsville Speedway is on fast track for upgrades

Martinsville will still hold Sprint Cup races twice a year, and the facility will get $3 million in improvements.

MARTINSVILLE -- For NASCAR fans worried that they may only get one opportunity a year to make the trek to Martinsville Speedway for a Sprint Cup race, those worries are unwarranted for at least five more years.

And track officials had more good news Thursday: They're hiring.

Virginia Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling joined state and local officials and facility owner International Speedway Corp. to make a series of announcements concerning facilities in and around the racetrack.

Among those:

ISC confirmed that the tradition of having spring and fall races at the .526-mile track will continue through at least 2015.

Martinsville Speedway and the Virginia Tobacco Commission are contributing $1.5 million apiece for $3 million in facility upgrades, which include new restrooms and concessions, and an expanded concourse.

The multiyear project, which speedway officials said will be done in several phases, will provide 50 full-time jobs for the duration of the process.

The Virginia Department of Transportation is taking steps to improve traffic flow around the speedway and plans to build a new access ramp to the facility from eastbound U.S. 58.

Bolling, who was appointed as chief jobs creation officer by Gov. Bob McDonnell, said making this deal was important for the future of the Martinsville area.

"Losing one Sprint Cup race would be a catastrophic hit to this local economy," Bolling said. "Conservative estimates put the impact at $75 million annually, a thousand jobs and millions more in state and local taxes.

"However, the psychological hit to a region devastated by job losses in the last decade would be even more debilitating."

After limited schedule changes over the past five years, the 2011 Sprint Cup schedule includes quite a few moves in race dates and locations.

Martinsville Speedway, which has the shortest track on the Sprint Cup circuit and one of smaller seating capacities (65,000), had the dates of each race in the 2011 season moved back one week, but no events were cut.

"We recognize Martinsville is one of our most popular facilities with fans and drivers, and it certainly is important in terms of the tradition of the sport having been the longest facility to run a Sprint Cup series event in the country," said ISC spokesman Lenny Santiago.

Construction at the track will begin immediately after the Oct. 24 Sprint Cup race and will be managed by Frith Construction Co. of Martinsville.

Phase 1 of the project includes the construction of restroom facilities, concession stands and the widening of the concourse area beneath the grandstands.

The work is expected to be completed before the track's next Sprint Cup race on April 3.

Martinsville Speedway President Clay Campbell would not release details past the first phase of the project but said more improvements would be made in the offseason over the next few years.

"Obviously it benefits the speedway and it benefits the local economy, the region, the state but ... the ultimate benefactors of this are the fans," Campbell said. "They're truly going to be surprised over the next few years what we're going to be able to do to work on infrastructure and just keep this place moving forward."

As for the highway project, VDOT spokeswoman Heidi Underwood said the $300,000 project is being put on the fast track and is expected to be completed in time for the 2011 fall race.