Hut Stricklin has plans for a $1 million, 10-acre motorsports complex across the street from his Rowan County(NC) home, with the idea to launch a BGN race team at the site. Stricklin, who drives the #90 Hills Brothers Ford for Junie Donlavey’s Richmond-based team, wants the facility to be large enough for two cars and the teams to support them. But those plans have encountered problems before the first bolt can be turned in the proposed race shop. The agricultural zoning on the site allows construction only on 10% of the acreage, meaning only an acre of land could contain buildings at the site. And a rezoning to allow industrial use seems unlikely after Rowan County planners said the complex wouldn’t fit with the agricultural uses around the proposed site. Stricklin says he wants to pursue the idea but not at the expense of offending his neighbors along Caldwell Road near the Mount Ulla community. Stricklin’s plans call for two structures on the property: a 43,000-square-foot main shop where finishing work would be done and a 30,000-square-foot fabrication shop where the Busch cars would be assembled as a preliminary step. Stricklin says he’s heard that neighbors are concerned about engine noise at the site, but he doesn’t plan an engine shop, which are the loudest of race operations, at the site(Charlotte Business Journal)(9-11-2000)
