A Charlotte, North Carolina-area ranch that has passed through the hands of three professional race car drivers in the past 25 years sold for $12.2 million earlier this month, setting a record as the priciest transaction in the region’s history.
The Queen City is home to the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR) hall of fame and one of the sport’s biggest venues, the Charlotte Motor Speedway. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., currently one of racing’s top drivers, made his home on the ranch near the suburb of Mooresville from 2014 until he sold it on June 18.
Stenhouse had bought the 140-acre property from Joe Nemechek, another stock car driver; Nemechek bought it from a third driver, Ernie Irvan, who first lived there in the 1990s and built the current house in 2001. Josh Tucker and Joey Adams of Corcoran HM Properties represented Stenhouse in the recent sale.
“This record-breaking sale is a testament to the continued strength of the Charlotte luxury market,” Tucker said in a statement by Corcoran Group, with which his agency is affiliated.
The more than 9,100-square-foot residence includes five bedrooms and seven full bathrooms, a vanishing-edge pool and pool house, a putting green and an outdoor kitchen and fireplace, among other features. There’s another bedroom in a guest house, and a stable house with its own bedroom.
Stenhouse nicknamed the property “Slide Job Ranch,” a reference to a maneuver in which some stock car drivers pass tightly in front of competitors on the track. On a website he set up with his wife to promote a line of apparel, Stenhouse says the name is a “nod to his dirt racing background,” or racing on clay rather than a paved surface.
The ranch’s size enabled him to indulge a side passion for raising livestock, including donkeys and longhorn cattle. When he owned the land, Nemechek built several equestrian amenities, including a 5,500-square-foot building with horse stables and a covered arena for riding.
A large number of stock car racing teams, including Stenhouse’s Hyak Motorsports, are based in the Charlotte area, according to NASCAR’s website. The speedway says on its own website that it contributes $450 million to the regional economy; the venue has accommodated more than 100,000 fans at some events.
Stenhouse is known for his strategic driving style, Corcoran said in the statement. The driver is a two-time NASCAR Xfinity Series champion and he won the Daytona 500, one of racing’s top events, in 2023.