Millionaire Auto Racing Figure Seeks Bankruptcy Protection

Millionaire auto racing entrepreneur Warner W. Hodgdon has filed for bankruptcy in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in San Bernardino. Documents filed with the court showed that Hodgdon and his wife, Sharon, had personal financial liabilities totaling $62.4 million and assets of $17.5 million.

Hodgdon had interests in the Riverside International Raceway and in race tracks in North Carolina, Virginia and Tennessee. Several tracks, including Riverside, were among his creditors. In 1981, he acquired a 50% interest in the Junior Johnson Racing Team, one of the most successful teams on the National Assn. of Stock Car Racing circuit.

Hodgdon’s petition for reorganization of his businesses under Chapter 11 of the federal bankruptcy laws also included his partnership in National Engineering Co., until recently the main provider of engineering, planning and financial services for the City of Industry. Industry-based National Engineering filed for bankruptcy separately, listing liabilities of $38.5 million and assets of $20,000.

Hodgdon’s largest listed liability is a $33-million lawsuit filed against him, National Engineering and several other defendants last year by two Industry redevelopment agencies. Hodgdon was named in the suit because a former National employee in charge of construction of the Industry Hills Exhibit-Conference Center was convicted in a $1.35-million kickback scheme involving the center.

Hodgdon, 52, said Saturday that the suit was a major cause of his bankruptcy. “I don’t have the kind of depth to shoulder that burden,” he said. The National Engineering contracts were his main source of revenue, he said.