For years Virginia has been NASCAR country, a hugely popular milieu of souped-up stock cars, country music and chili dogs. Yet there is a spot on the Virginia racing circuit for those seeking something a tad more sophisticated. If you’re mesmerized by the sleek body of a well-tuned Lotus, the lovely curves of a vintage Porsche or the 007 glamour of a formula Ferrari, then Virginia International Raceway may be for you.

In a country club setting in the rolling hills of Southside Virginia, the raceway reopened earlier this year after a 25-year hiatus. It had been well-known in the late ’50s and early ’60s when the likes of Roger Penske, David Pearson and Richard Petty raced there. But the Virginia International Raceway shut down in the early 1970s and lay fallow until a few years ago when Harvey Siegel and Connie Nyholm — race fans from Manhattan with real-estate know-how — talked about the possibilities of refurbishing it. "Harvey races vintage cars and he was asked by his racing team to find new venues," Nyholm says. "He heard about the defunct VIR tract and asked me if I knew of a little town in Virginia called Danville. I said, ‘Yes, I am from an even smaller town nearby, Martinsville.’" So, the pair put their heads and pocketbooks together. Two years and $10 million later, the facility is almost finished and the track itself opened in March.

Terrain and a touch of class set Virginia International Raceway apart from the typical NASCAR oval. The facility will eventually include such perks as a country club, swimming pool, equestrian grounds and a conference complex for businesses pertaining to the car industry. The leading attraction, of course, is the 3.27-mile track, which offers tight turns, climbs and blind spots that make driving a challenge. The course can be broken into a north and south segment or driven as a full course. The latter consists of 19 turns. Twelve of them, called the "dirty dozen," are treacherous. The track was built in the 1950s, and its elements were given names instead of numbers.

When the flag waves and drivers gear out of first, through second, and into third, they come to the "horseshoe turn" that comes back on itself. Then come "NASCAR bend," the "left hook" and the "snake." The driver goes under a bridge to a field and climbs the "esses," comes around to the "south bend," and U-turns around "oak tree bend." Drivers then open it up for all they are worth down the back straightaway. They hit the "roller coaster," a little knoll that makes you feel airborne, and then the "hog pen" before reaching the start/finish line.

The course has 150 feet of elevation change and varies from 30 to 36 feet wide. When the course was reopened and refurbished, the track was surfaced with custom-blended, polymer-based asphalt, giving it a smooth and gripping ride. The shoulders of the racetrack were widened. Many drivers who have returned to the track have commented that running off the track no longer means rolling their vehicle. "This is a long course," says Danny Marshall, owner of G&W Motor Sports and driver of a Porsche 911 Turbo. Andy Wallace, a professional driver for Cadillac, includes the Virginia International Raceway among his top three favorite courses, along with the Spa in Belgium and LeMans in France.

The raceway’s logo, fittingly enough, is an oak tree in honor of the 200-year-old oak tree the cars race around at "oak tree bend." A guardrail set inside the hairpin turn and stacks of tires protect both the tree and the drivers.

The oak tree symbolizes something else, too — the raceway’s bucolic setting. The facility is situated on 1,200 acres of rolling, green hills and fields of ancient oak trees. Children are not sequestered to a grandstand in the hot sun, as they might be at a NASCAR contest. They can run, play and completely ignore the race while their parents’ attention is riveted on the track. "We are family friendly," says Laura Comstock, a raceway official.

The track has a north and south paddock. The north paddock includes a pro shop and media and medical center. Driving Impressions, the pro and souvenir shop, offers an eclectic mix of merchandise, from shirts and hats, model cars and car art to driving necessities like suits, helmets, gloves and driving boots. A new restaurant, Pagoda, featuring American cuisine, is being built adjacent to the pro shop.

Not far away, a country club is emerging out of an 1800s estate house. It has 12-foot ceilings, floor-to-ceiling windows, massive doorways and decorative trim by 19th century master woodworker Thomas Day. Additions will include a swimming pool and tennis courts as well as an equestrian facility. A children’s camp will offer parents and their progeny the opportunity for a stress-free day at the races.

Membership in the country club is $1,800 a year, with a one-time $500 application fee. Members can purchase track time to drive the course on members-only days. Non-members may come to watch public events and may visit with a member three times a year. Admission to public events is $10 for adults. Those 12 and under may visit for free.

And, yes, you can drive the track. Several racing schools include the raceway in their circuit, and cars are available for rent. There is also a banquet hall and a corporate coordinator. Companies can rent parts of the facility for such things as parties, rides and demonstrations. There is a large classroom; its barn doors allow large vehicles or machinery to be brought in for seminars. Other rooms, which can be used for lectures, have tiered seating.

Virginia International Raceway’s developers have given Virginia racing a rare feel of European elegance blended with American practicality. Nyholm says that eventually, some $40 million will be invested in the facility.

"It is wonderful that VIR has been revised. I missed it. I can share sports-car racing with my son just as my father shared it with me," says Von Cannon, a Dan River Inc. executive. "It’s not many places where a car lover can partake of horseback-riding, haute cuisine and Formula One car racing all on the same day."