by Megan Venable

Meet Rusty Bittle. He’s a Karns native, a former real estate developer and a man with a big
dream. Really big. And fast.

Rusty owns Flatrock Motorclub, and you can usually find him on 800 acres in Cumberland County, overseeing the development of his own Motorsports Park.

“Basically, I want to create a country club, but instead of a golf course, it’s a racetrack,” is how he describes his concept. “But I want everyone in the family to have something to do.”

This dream is 25 years in the making. A friend invited him to a racetrack where Rusty and racing fell in love at first sight. He bought his first race car, got on the track and a racing enthusiast was born.

There was one aspect of the experience that got stuck in his craw, however. “There was never anything for the wives and kids to do,” Rusty says of when he and several racing friends would get together. “Once we were done with racing for the day, everyone went their separate ways. I want to build a world class racetrack with amenities where everyone in the family has something to do.”

When Rusty found the lot in Cumberland County, he knew he’d found the right spot. He bush-hogged the 800 acres himself and closed on the property within 90 days. Flatrock Motorosports Park is certainly a hard-earned labor of love according to Bittle. “This is it for me. It’s a lot of work and a lot of sleepless nights,” he says, while sheepishly adding, “I think all guys love cars.” Bittle also is planning to expand his motorclub with a public track for hosting events and wants to grow the number of youth events in the sport. When asked why the name Flatrock, Rusty jokes, “Well, it’s up on a big flat rock!”

Rusty is already seeing success with Flatrock Motorclub. Exclusive memberships are already being snapped up from other racing aficionados around the world. Interested parties from Alaska, New Zealand, Australia and the United Kingdom will be visiting East Tennessee and Flatrock, proving that a love of racing knows no nationality.