Darryl Cuttell is getting out of the racing business, and a dozen racetracks are going to auction on his way out.
Tranzon Atlas, LLC, part of the nationwide Tranzon real estate auction network, announced Tuesday that it has been hired by Darana Motorsports Holdings, LLC to sell 12 racetrack and motorsports properties through a hybrid sealed-bid auction. Sealed bids are due Nov. 17 at 5 p.m. Central. Buyers can also negotiate a purchase before the deadline, and selected qualified bidders may be invited into a round of online bidding after the sealed bids close.
The list includes Atlanta Dragway (Commerce, Ga.), Dragway 42 (West Salem, Ohio), Darana (Galot) Motorsports Park (Benson, N.C.), Piedmont Dragway (Julian, N.C.), Empire Dragway (Leicester, N.Y.), Heartland Motorsports Park (Topeka, Kan.), Kil-Kare Raceway (Xenia, Ohio), Memphis International Raceway (Millington, Tenn.), Milan Dragway (Milan, Mich.), National Trail Raceway (Hebron, Ohio), Rockingham Speedway (Rockingham, N.C.) and Virginia Motorsports Park (Dinwiddie, Va.).
“Our business has taken a different direction from what we originally anticipated, and I have made the decision to exit the racing business through the sale of these properties,” Cuttell, CEO of Darana Motorsports Holdings, said in the release. “Our goal is to complete the sale of these properties and our exit from the racing business by the end of the year.”
That would close the book on one of the fastest track-buying sprees the sport has seen. On March 8, 2025, a few months after he took ownership of IHRA, Cuttell announced the sanctioning body was “purchasing seven legendary racing facilities as of today,” naming National Trail, Milan, Dragway 42, Kil-Kare, Galot, Maryland International Raceway and Darlington Dragway. Within three days, Maryland, Darlington and Galot said they had not been sold (Galot eventually was, and now carries the Darana name). Piedmont followed in August 2025. Memphis closed on Dec. 23, Heartland was announced Dec. 30, Maple Grove came that same month, and Rockingham arrived on New Year’s. Atlanta Dragway, which had been shut down since 2021, and Virginia Motorsports Park, bought from Tommy and Judy Franklin, were announced in February. Empire Dragway was added on April 28.
The unraveling took less time. On June 29, IHRA pulled its fall events at Atlanta, Milan and Empire, with president Dustin Farthing saying the facility improvements needed more time. The Outlaw Nitro Series season and the heavily promoted Triple Crown were called off after that. On Aug. 14, Track Enterprises announced that NASCAR’s national series would not return to Rockingham in 2027, citing “overall uncertainty.” Three days later, Maple Grove Raceway closed, with the track citing “strategic refocusing, restructuring and regrouping.”
Maple Grove is the one Cuttell track missing from the auction list, and the release says nothing about it.
Behind all of it is a fight over money in Memphis. Darana Hybrid, Cuttell’s Ohio construction company, did data center work for Elon Musk’s xAI and has filed liens claiming roughly $600 million in unpaid invoices against Musk-affiliated companies. On Aug. 4, x.AI LLC sued in federal court in the Western District of Tennessee, alleging fraud, breach of contract and overbilling and seeking more than $500 million. Cuttell has denied the allegations.
The auction terms are the same at every track: a 10 percent buyer’s premium on the high bid, a 10 percent deposit in guaranteed funds, a 30-day closing, sold as-is, where-is with no contingencies. Only two of the 12 listings, Atlanta Dragway and Kil-Kare, advertise clear title with no back taxes and no liens. The other 10 don’t mention title at all, and the Heartland listing is the only one that names Darana Motorsports Holdings as the seller. Every property is listed as subject to sale before the auction without notice.
Racers should also pay attention to how Tranzon is marketing these properties. Heartland is listed as 622.96 acres split into 29 tracts, including 288.80 acres of undeveloped light industrial land. The Memphis listing promotes conceptual plans for a logistics development of more than 4 million square feet with 42-plus megawatts of power capacity. Atlanta Dragway’s 343 acres are zoned general commercial, about a mile from the I-85 interchange and near the Tanger Outlets. Virginia Motorsports Park covers 500-plus acres with 23,000 seats, and Milan, Dragway 42, Empire, Rockingham and National Trail each sit on 230 acres or more.
“It is extraordinarily rare for this many established motorsports properties to come to market at the same time,” said Tim Mast, president of Tranzon Atlas. “While we expect strong interest from the racing community, the size, location and improvements associated with many of these properties also create opportunities for developers and other real estate investors.”
The release doesn’t say what happens to the IHRA sanctioning body itself. Bids are due Nov. 17, and Cuttell wants to be out by New Year’s. How many of these 12 will still be drag strips this time next year?
This story was originally published on October 6, 2026. 
