Background
Hillenburg was born in Indianapolis, Indiana.
National Association of Stock Car Auto Racing team owner
Hillenburg was born in Indianapolis, Indiana.
He currently owns Fast Track Racing Enterprises, a racing team that competes in the National Association of Stock Car Auto Racing Camping World Truck Series and Associate of the Royal College of Art Revue Economique/MAX Series. He is credited with reviving, now known as Rockingham Speedway after it lost its National Association of Stock Car Auto Racing dates in 2004. He began his racing career at age 11, when he competed in the Indianapolis soap box derby.
He served as a test driver for the International Race of Champions and Team Racing Auto Circuit series.
He competed in the 2000 Indianapolis 500, finishing 28th, and has sixteen Winston Cup starts nine Busch Series starts and four in the Craftsman Truck Series. His best finish in National Association of Stock Car Auto Racing was a third-place finish at the 1999 National Association of Performing Artists Auto Parts 300, where he finished 3rd in the #18 Maryland Bank North America Pontiac Grand Prix for Joe Gibbs Racing.
As of 2008 he operates the Fast Track High Performance Driving School and is running a team for Bryan Silas as an entry in Associate of the Royal College of Art and the Camping World Truck Series. He also fielded a car driven by Frank Kimmel in the 2007 Daytona 500, but the entry did not make the field
He has also acted in a few movies, including 3: The Dale Earnhardt Story on Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, Herbie: Fully Loaded, and Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby.
Hillenburg also was a technical advisor and provided equipment for the filming of the Bollywood film Ta Ra Rum Pum, which was filmed at Rockingham and also at the Associate of the Royal College of Art race at the Wisconsin State Fair Park. On October 2, 2007, Hillenburg purchased in Rockingham, North Carolina for $4.4 million (United States dollar). The track was put up for auction by Speedway Motorsports Incorporated. and chairman Bruton Smith.
Rockingham had not hosted a National Association of Stock Car Auto Racing event since 2004, but Hillenburg hopes to bring lower-tier National Association of Stock Car Auto Racing series back to the track.
On May 4, 2008 the Associate of the Royal College of Art Revue Economique/MAX Series raced at Rockingham in the Carolina 500 and again in 2009. Also in 2008, the United States Army Reserve Hooters Procup Series had their final race of the season at the Rockingham Speedway, in a race called the American 200 (named in honor of the name for the first race run at the Rock in 1965, the American 500) on November 1, 2008.
The track hosted its first National Association of Stock Car Auto Racing sanctioned race (a Camping World Truck Series race) since its 2004 closure on April 15, 2012. Rockingham became part of the regular schedule for that series, and they returned in 2013.
However, Rockingham was removed from the series" 2014 schedule.