311 Motor Speedway owner plans to host races and spectators Saturday night, could face fine

This article is published through the N.C. News Collaborative, a partnership of Lee Newspapers, Gannett and McClatchy newspapers in North Carolina that aims to better inform readers throughout the state.

311 Motor Speedway owner Mike Fulp plans to hold races Saturday night at the Stokes County track with fans in attendance.

The half-mile, red-clay dirt track on the Stokes-Rockingham county line would join Ace Speedway in Alamance County as one of the few in the country to allow fans at races, despite Gov. Roy Cooper’s executive order banning mass gatherings outdoors of more than 25 people.

Ace has canceled its Friday night schedule, citing the weather forecast, but plans to host races Saturday night.

311 Motor Speedway has a capacity of about 2,500 people.

“I know everyone of ‘em — just about every single one of ‘em,” Fulp said of his regular crowd. “We’d be lucky right now to get 500 with everything going on. People haven’t worked, people don’t have a job, and people have been laid off. This place right here is for mechanics and DOT workers and people like that, blue-collar people.”

Cooper complained this week that his Phase Two orders weren’t enforced by law enforcement officials in Alamance County on Saturday night.

“Mr. Fulp knows the guidelines and what he should be operating under,” Patrol Capt. Terry Dalton of the Stokes County Sheriff’s Office said. “And if he goes outside that, and we get a call, then we’ll have to deal with it. But I don’t foresee us having any issues with people doing what they’re doing. This thing’s getting as crazy as it is, and it’s bad all around for everybody.”

Speedway owner doesn’t get county permission

Fulp did not ask permission from Stokes County to open the races to fans, according to Shannon Shaver, the county’s assistant manager and clerk of the board of commissioners.

“(Fulp) did not clear any race with Stokes County,” Shaver wrote in an email. “He has been holding some (races) without spectators and has advertised a few that he has not held. We are following the governor’s guidance on no more than 25 people allowed in outdoor sports venues. If he goes over the 25, he could be at risk for a fine.”

Dalton said the sheriff’s office deferred to government officials in Stokes County or in Raleigh about the race track’s plans.

“You have to call the governor’s office on that,” Dalton said. “... You know what the guidelines are and what they say. I kind of doubt he’s going to race, anyway, with the weather going to be like it is. But he’s said a lot of things in the past, and he’s done a lot of things, so that’s on him. ...

“We’re not going down there to monitor it. If we get a call, we’ll respond down there. But, I mean, if you’re talking about going down there to cover it, there’s nobody going to bother you, if you’re worried about that.”

Efforts to reach representatives from the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services were unsuccessful.

North Carolina’s death toll has reached 827 people, just a day after the nation passed the somber milestone of 100,000 deaths. Stokes County has reported 60 cases and no deaths, and neighboring Rockingham has reported 76 cases and two deaths.

‘Corona-infested media’ not welcome

The track is opening to fans, but journalists are not welcome. On Facebook, Fulp wrote that he didn’t want the “corona-infested media” going to his track and that the media and health facilities are spreading the virus.

When asked in a phone interview about his decision to ban journalists, Fulp said he reached that conclusion after talking to a New York Times reporter who recently returned from Europe and apparently asked Fulp about going to the track. Fulp didn’t name that reporter, but said the reporter told him he thinks he contracted COVID-19 while abroad.

“To have them come over to my facility, hell no, we can’t allow that,” Fulp said. “The reporters could be (carriers of the virus). We don’t have people here with the corona, and we got to protect our people here.”

Fulp wrote on Facebook that reporters “can purchase a ticket, (but) if you’re caught filming you will be escorted to the highway” by track personnel.

“He used to hire us to have (deputies) down there,” Dalton said. “But he doesn’t do that anymore. He’s got his own security, and that’s his choice, not ours. And that’s just fine.”

Fulp said if he sees any reporter with a camera at his race, he or a 311 staff member would confiscate it and destroy it because he doesn’t want someone using videos or images to “tear us apart.”

“I got a million and a half dollars in this joint here, and I don’t need no bad publicity,” Fulp said. “We struggled for many years on this thing. I bought it for $450,000. With the economy like it is, it wouldn’t bring in what I’ve put into it. I’ve lost probably $600,000 running it.”

Fulp had notified his Facebook followers just 24 hours earlier WFMY and The New York Times planned to cover events Saturday, telling race fans to “dress up.”

If anything, Fulp blames the government’s response to the virus for his precautions, saying someone should have restricted all travel earlier in the outbreak to prevent the spread of the virus.

“Nobody shut the airports down and people kept flying in here,” Fulp said. “Now they want to punish everyone, and they’re the ones who didn’t do what they needed to do.”

This story was originally published May 29, 2020 at 8:03 AM with the headline "311 Motor Speedway owner plans to host races and spectators Saturday night, could face fine."