This is the 4th in a 26-part series of weekly stories about the history of Langley Speedway as it goes through its 75th season by Al Pearce & Marty O’Brien. Unfortunately, Al passed away unexpectedly just before this series could be shared. In honor of his memory, we will be releasing his final stories over the next few weeks that we received to publish before his passing.
By Al Pearce
History is somewhat-unclear about the early days of the racing facility known as Dude Ranch, then Langley Field Speedway, then Langley Raceway, and now, Langley Speedway. Most of its on-track history is fairly clear-cut and verifiable. Not so regarding similar information about its ownership and promoters in its early days.
This much is clear: Hampton Roads native and Middle Peninsula resident Bill Mullis has owned and operated the speedway for the past 17 years. He rescued the facility in 2009 at a time when Langly faced a bleak and uncertain future. In the ensuing years he and promoter Chuck Hall brought financial, administrative, and competitive stability to the track. Together, they helped Langley gain nationwide attention.
Mullis and Hall increased the number of racing classes. They made the annual mid-summer “Hampton Heat” recognized as one of NASCAR’s most important short-track events. Mullis, himself a former weekly-track racer, is devoted to motorsports. It’s evidenced with the Hampton Roads Kart Club’s frequent presence on Saturday nights.
Various sources reveal much about the management of the track. Some records are sketchy, but some of the track’s 1950s operators/promoters were George Collier, Ace Lillard, Val Hopkins, Jim Mabe, Bill Adcock, “Happy” Harvell, and Bill Lowery.
In 1963 the late Henry Klich paid $1,000 for to take over operations. The property was owned by a California family that wanted the land but didn’t care about the racing. Klich remained owner/operator of Langley Field Speedway until stepping aside late in 1969. It was on Klich’s watch that nine Cup Series races were run, making them the Peninsula’s first “major-league” sports events.
He passed the daily operational/promotional aspects to Langley to the late Hank Hankins, a Norfolk businessman active in NHRA drag racing at Suffolk Raceway. When he left after the 1982 season, Klich accepted a management proposal from Peninsula residents Bob Wall, Carl Breen, Gene Hutchison, B.W. Mitchum, and Lee Cogdill to run the facility. In turn, they hired television sportscaster Charlie Bailey to be their general manager/promoter.
Things changed dramatically when Joe Carver arrived in late-1973 after years of running the Nashville (Tenn.) Fairgrounds Speedway. Although he owned the racing facility but not the property, Carver was a steadying influence for almost 10 years. His tireless, innovative, and oft-time controversial promotions helped rebuild Langley’s sagging reputation and lured disaffected fans who’d tired of the same-old, same-old. Under Carver, there was no telling what would happen from on Saturday to the next.
When he returned to Nashville after the 1983 season, Mitchum brought in his son-in-law, George St. Amand, to run the operation. He worked there through 1988, when Southside Speedway promoter Joe Baldacci came in for six years. To their credit, both St. Amand and Baldacci offered good shows and improved the track. But as they painfully found out, they were no Joe Carver.
If Carver saved Langley’s soul during his 10 years, Wayne Wyatt and business partner Jim Wood saved its body when they succeeded Baldacci in 1995. They upgraded by building a concrete wall, repaving the track, replacing the wooden bleachers with iron-and-steel grandstands, adding a dozen skyboxes and VIP suites, and a modern race control and media booth.
When Wood left after 1998, Wyatt added Dwight Schaubach as his financial partner through 2004. Sandy Lemonds and her racer/husband, Dale, bought the lease from Wyatt early in 2004, but Dale died in a Legends car accident later that year. Sandy and her brother, King Hodges, ran Langley the rest of 2004 and 2005, and part-way into the 2006 season.
When Hodges succumbed to a lingering respiratory disease in 2007, Sandy Lemonds turned to long-time friend Lou Gotti, her late husband’s former Legend Car crew chief. With the economy taking a toll, Gotti sold the lease track to Mullis, a former racer and waterman in 2009. In turn, Mullis spent a reported $2 million to buy the land and all its structures in 2010. Wisely, he promptly brought back former promoter Chuck Hall to help bring stability to Langley.
It took a while, but Mullis finally convinced the land-owners in California to sell him the property. Finally, with the property and the track in his name, he vowed to return Langley to its glory days. So far, so good. Attendance is up, car count and competition is up, fan satisfaction has improved, and Langley’s reputation has grown to where it’s generally considered one of NASCAR best weekly short tracks.
Indeed… although it’s been a long, strange journey from 1950.
