Construction of Rockingham began in late 1999 on a site originally designated as Deene Raceway. The project was conceived with the ambition of bringing American oval racing — both NASCAR Stock Cars and CART Indycars — to Britain for the first time, supplemented by a road circuit infield catering to national and international series. Building took 23 months. The venue was formally opened by Queen Elizabeth II on 26 May 2001, following a business opening on 15 January 2001. It was the first purpose-built banked oval constructed in Britain since the closure of Brooklands in 1939, and one of only two speedways in Europe at the time, the other being the Lausitzring.
The banked oval measured 1.479 miles (2.380 km), was 60 feet (18.3 m) wide, and carried a maximum banking angle of seven degrees across four distinct corners. It was capable of hosting cars at extremely high speeds: the unofficial all-time lap record stands at 0:24.719, set by Tony Kanaan in a Lola Champ Car on 22 September 2001, representing an average speed of 215.397 mph (346.648 km/h).
In early September 2001, CART (Championship Auto Racing Teams) brought the FedEx Championship Series to Rockingham for the Rockingham 500. The event took place against a sombre backdrop — the 11 September terrorist attacks had just occurred, and several teams removed their sponsor liveries as a mark of respect. The race distance was shortened to 300 km. Gil de Ferran won for Marlboro Team Penske, passing Kenny Bräck on the exit of Turn Four on the final lap, at a race average of 153.41 mph. Patrick Carpentier set the fastest lap at 210.59 mph, becoming the first Canadian to hold the outright lap record at an English circuit.
CART returned in September 2002 for a 500 km race, Dario Franchitti winning for Team KOOL Green by 0.986 seconds from Cristiano da Matta. That was the final Champ Car appearance at Rockingham.
The primary road layout, the International Super Sportscar Circuit (ISSC), measured 1.940 miles (3.122 km) and combined long straights, high-speed sweeping bends including Turn 1 and Gracelands, with a technical lower-speed infield. The British Touring Car Championship and most other car race events used the ISSC. BTCC lap times around the ISSC typically ran from 1 minute 24 seconds to 1 minute 12 seconds in British Formula 3. Rockingham's overall facility offered thirteen configurations in total, accommodating touring cars, motorcycles, rally cars, and wet-weather driver training.
The grandstand and main building offered a combined seating capacity of 52,000, with the Rockingham Building — a steel-framed, glass-fronted structure — overlooking the pit and paddock complex, which was accessed via two pedestrian tunnels.
From 2001 to 2007 Rockingham organised and funded American-style oval stock car racing on the banked circuit. The series was initially known as ASCAR, then rebranded successively as Days of Thunder, SCSA (Stock Car Speed Association), and finally the MAC Tools V8 Trophy for its final 2007 season. All cars were UK variants of the ASA National Tour chassis running Ford, Chevrolet, or Pontiac bodywork. Low entry numbers in 2007 led the organising club, the BRSCC, to amalgamate it with a road course series; neither championship survived to the end of 2008.
Rockingham entered administration in 2017 and held its final motor race on 24 November 2018, a "super send-off" event. The Rockingham Stages rally, which had been held at the venue since 2004 as one of the more popular events on the British stage rally calendar, also came to an end that year. In 2021, Constellation Automotive — parent company of online car sales brands Cinch and We Buy Any Car — purchased the site for £80 million and converted it to vehicle storage and logistics use.