Who owns virginia international raceway

A native of Martinsville, Va. Nyholm now oversees VIR, one of the most scenic natural terrain circuits anywhere, and one she helped rescue from near abandonment in After securing a degree in economics, Nyholm found herself in the dog-eat-dog commercial real estate trade in the Big Apple, where she specialized in freestanding retail site selection.

An early mentor gave Nyholm key advice on how to make herself stand out from the rest. With an interest in cars, Nyholm focused on retail site selection for auto service outlets, primarily for Monro Muffler Brakes.

Nyholm also became a founding member of Women in Retail Real Estate, a networking group to assist females in the male-dominated profession. And here I am. When Siegel offered to sell his remaining half, Nyholm jumped at the opportunity with financial assistance from Kathy and Jim Stout, owners of Pittsburgh International Race Complex.

We worked on all that together and knew that we wanted to honor the history and the legacy of VIR, and not screw with what was so great. And then empower them to enact their responsibilities. The first American race took place the following year, a round-trip race between Chicago and Evanston, Ill.

The Sports Car Club of America, founded in , paved the way for the sport with its first race at Watkins Glen and later at similar tracks in Bridgehampton, N. In , a group of North Carolina car enthusiasts began their search for a possible racetrack location. They soon found the perfect site on the state line on land owned by the Foote Family and VIRginia International Raceway opened for business in August of The group leased the property as Sports Car Enterprises.

Shelby, who would later go on to worldwide fame by winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans in and creating the iconic Cobra sports cars in the early s, won that first feature race at VIR in a Maserati S. As one of the first permanent American road racing tracks, VIR soon became a fixture on the SCCA circuit and a favorite among racers due to its high-speed straights, challenging turns and dramatic elevation changes.

The track fell on hard times in the early s. Combined with the fuel crisis of , that spelled the end for VIR.