Rockingham Replaces zMAX on 2026 NHRA Countdown Schedule

Ever since zMAX Dragway hosted its inaugural event in September 2008, it has been known as the “Bellagio of Dragstrips,” so it was shocking when it was missing from the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series 2026 Countdown to the Championship segment of the schedule.

Perhaps equally surprising was when it was announced Monday that Rockingham Dragway in Rockingham, North Carolina, was replacing zMax Dragway in the playoffs. A dragway that hosted the NHRA Winston Invitational all-star event 1992-98 will now enjoy playoff status September 25-27, 2026. Joining Rockingham as new venues on the tour are Maryland International Raceway and South Georgia Motorsports Park.

zMAX Dragway, which has hosted two NHRA events annually since 2009, will still have its four-wide weekend in the spring of 2026—April 24-26—but that will be the NHRA’s only event in the Charlotte metro area. For the fall, it will move east to North Carolina’s Sandhills region, across the street from Rockingham Speedway.

Dan VanHorn and fellow drag racer Al Gennarelli purchased Rockingham Dragway three years ago from Steve Earwood, who revitalized the track after acquiring it in 1992. However, the facility fell on hard times during the 2020 COVID pandemic.

“We stepped into a track that in all reality was about decimated,” VanHorn said. “The beauty of it is we could not have afforded this track if it was in mint condition. There wasn’t a big market for the facility because of the condition it was in.

“We were able to get it at a price point that we can pull off and do things the way we wanted it done. We fixed a lot of band-aids, and we just pulled everything out and started fresh, especially with the timing system and the surface. A lot of band-aids kept this place alive for decades.”

From the time VanHorn and Gennarelli purchased the dragway, their goal was to acquire a NHRA national event. VanHorn talked numerous times with Josh Peterson, NHRA vice president racing administration, as to what was needed from the local community to acquire a NHRA event. Peterson wrote a letter to VanHorn outlining the requirements, and the dragway’s new owner circulated it among the community leaders.

“It’s almost like a template for future development and other tracks across the country to do something very similar,” VanHorn said.

Six-time NHRA Pro Stock champion Greg Anderson says he tests constantly at the dragway.

“It relates 100% to all the race tracks that we go to across the country and it really, really helps our program,” said Anderson, who attended Roy Hill’s Drag Racing School at Rockingham and eventually acquired his Pro Stock license at the facility. “I bring every one of my cars over here, probably two every other week.

“I used to spend a lot of time at the local Mooresville (North Carolina) track right across the street from me, but it just doesn’t do anything for me when I go to a national event. It’s just so different. The surface is not up to par. That’s why we come to Rockingham all the time to test. What we learn here (Rockingham) we can take right to the next national event and put that on a race track.”

In preparation for next year’s event, VanHorn says:

• Concrete grandstands will be completed.
• Fencing will be relocated.
• The wall height down the track is being increased.
• Scoreboards are being moved away from the track.
• Concrete walls beyond the turn-offs are being extended to meet the sand pit and containment device that will be added.
• Pits for the professional teams will be paved.
• A turn-off EMS access point will be added.