Steve Waid: Tradition-rich North Wilkesboro will come alive again
By Steve Waid
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
This is a 2006 photo of North Wilkesboro Speedway.
David Griffin
NASCAR Scene
COMMENTARY
Fans who fondly remember NASCAR racing at North Wilkesboro Speedway got some welcome news recently.
On Oct. 3, 2010, the cars of the USA Racing Pro Cup Championship Series will race on the 0.625-mile track in North Carolina. It will be the first event at North Wilkesboro since its last NASCAR Cup race in the fall of 1996.
“We’re very excited racing is returning to North Wilkesboro. We’ll definitely be there at the race,” said Steven Wilson, public relations
director for Save The Speedway Motorsports Inc., a grassroots movement formed in 2005 and dedicated to reopening the track.
Speedway Associates, which is leasing the speedway from owner Speedway Motorsports Inc., landed the USAR Pro Cup race, fulfilling the dreams of many longtime fans who remember the speedway’s NASCAR pedigree.
In the 13 years since North Wilkesboro hosted its last Cup race, there have been numerous pleas for some type of competition – Camping World Trucks, Nationwide Series, anything – to return.
One reason is simple: The loss of NASCAR was a big blow to the Wilkes County economy.
Another was that even though the track was unsuitable for Cup competition, it was still ideal for other series that could survive nicely
with lower attendance. Many of them, including Trucks, Nationwide and Modifieds, had indeed raced there.
But nothing happened.
Slowly, but surely, North Wilkesboro began to show all the signs of neglect.
Some of today’s fans who have never seen a race at North Wilkesboro may well wonder why the old track commands such passionate loyalty.
The answer is simple: North Wilkesboro is rich in racing tradition.
The track came into existence at about the same time NASCAR did. It was built in the heart of North Carolina’s moonshine country. Wilkes County was littered with stills. And there were plenty of leadfooted daredevils in souped-up cars to haul the goods.
Many moonshine haulers used to race among themselves in open fields or down country roads. When they learned a track was being built nearby, they couldn’t wait to get there.
North Wilkesboro held its first NASCAR Cup race in 1949. It was won by Bob Flock, one of the Flock brothers who delivered plenty of illegal whiskey along Georgia’s “Thunder Road” that ran from Dawsonville to Atlanta. Another hauler, a young Junior Johnson, was called away from plowing to compete in his first career race at North Wilkesboro.
For years the only real change at the track was its conversion from dirt to asphalt. The wooden fences, concrete seats, dirt-floor restrooms and grassy hills that served as parking areas remained constant.
The track didn’t have to spend much on publicity and marketing because it wasn’t needed. Folks knew when the races would be held. They would go to church, then head for the speedway, where they could walk up and buy a ticket.
They would show up with their lunches – fried chicken was a favorite, judging by the mounds of bones left in the grandstands after a
race – and they were fiercely loyal to their favorite drivers and cars.
Sometimes loyalties would clash and a few “good ol’ boys” would get into a scrap.
Richard Petty recalled seeing one fight break out during a race, just past the start/finish line.
Two guys got another on the ground, Petty recalled, and the one fan shoved the other fan’s body under the chicken-wire fence. His head dangled over the track.
As Petty roared down the front straightaway, the guy’s head was pulled back at the last moment. This went on for several laps.
Johnson remembered the time a couple of fans got into a tussle on the dirt floor in the infield men’s room.
They rolled around in the dirt. You can imagine the odor.
A deputy arrested them and put them in the back seat of his squad car. For obvious reasons, he drove away with the windows rolled down.
Despite its tradition, North Wilkesboro began to lose touch with the times. As NASCAR’s popularity soared, speedways began to add seats and amenities in an effort to keep up with the demand. Some of them had complete makeovers.
North Wilkesboro tried to keep up by building towering new grandstands and handsome VIP suites. But in the end, it was an outdated,
small track in a small market.
As far as NASCAR is concerned, it still is.
But we now know racing at North Wilkesboro will return.
That will restore some welcome life to the old place.
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23 responses to "Steve Waid: Tradition-rich North Wilkesboro will come alive again". Post a Comment.
Rainier said:
Nov 10, 2009 at 9:57 AMIt would be neat if this track was completely restored and upgraded for a Cup event. It would be a nice change of pace from so many mile and a halfs.
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» Confirm Abuse ReportSTP43FAN said:
Nov 10, 2009 at 3:23 PMRAINIER - short tracks are boring for Winston Cup. The mile-and-a-halfs are fundamentally better - this is a superspeedway league.
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» Confirm Abuse Reportlarisda said:
Nov 10, 2009 at 4:15 PMSTP43FAN, you are so wrong! Give me a short track over a superspeedway anytime. As a supposed R.Petty fan, are you aware that most of the Kings 200 wins came on your hated short tracks?
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» Confirm Abuse ReportRainier said:
Nov 10, 2009 at 4:34 PMI have to respectfully disagree STP43FAN. My favorite races to watch are Martinsville, Bristol, Dover, and Richmond. They are great races, all are less than 1.5 miles, and all are very different. I find the mile and a halfs to be the most boring. Tracks like Atlanta, Texas, Las Vegas, and Charlotte are so similar, why do we need 7 events at just those tracks alone?
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» Confirm Abuse ReportClaudesPa said:
Nov 10, 2009 at 5:36 PMNorth Wilkesboro is where racing formally started. I went to numerous races there and for me and the fans I saw, we had a good time and saw some great racing. The people of that area were very appreciative of the track and the fans. Its a shame for this track to have nothing in the recent past. It will be nice to see it revitalized. It and Rockingham deserve it.
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» Confirm Abuse ReportWerner said:
Nov 10, 2009 at 5:43 PMshort traks have racing on them...even if the leaders have to pass lapped cars there's always something going on...or would we rather have Fontana??....
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» Confirm Abuse Reportnascarnutsheeler said:
Nov 10, 2009 at 6:10 PMRAINIER, I agree whole heartedly. Instead of shutting down tracks like Wilkesboro. Shut down Daytona & Talladega. Have the Daytona 500 at one of the 1&1/2 mile tracks and the same with Talladega shut down a couple more 1&1/2 mile tracks and replace them with small tracks and then see if everybody will be complaining about boring races. Now i'll sit back and listen to the young folks screem thier heads off.
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» Confirm Abuse Reporttater64 said:
Nov 10, 2009 at 6:10 PMWilkes is one of the greatests experiences you could ever have at a race !! This big time glitter and big show stuff has runed NASCAR !! RACIN DOWN HILL ON THE FRONT STRECH AND UP HILL ON THE BACK STRECH NOW THAT IS RACIN THE WAY IT OUGHT TO BE!!! GOOD LUCK on getting back on TRACK !!
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» Confirm Abuse Reportkcysr said:
Nov 10, 2009 at 6:39 PMI just might have to sell my Tickets for Charlotte to attend this race since I live 500 miles away it would be hard to get to both in 2 weeks. Went to the last 6 cup races at Wilkes and would be still going if they did not cancel it.
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» Confirm Abuse ReportSTP43FAN said:
Nov 10, 2009 at 7:37 PMRAINIER - where is the competitive depth at these short tracks? Where is the passing up front? I've been watching racing since the 1970s and nowhere has there ever been a short track that was a quality race - it's the big tracks that have always been the quality races. "Tracks like Atlanta, Vegas, they are so similar...." So what? The similarity of the tracks ultimately is not relevant to anything. And NASCARNUTSHEELER - Daytona and Talladega are lightyears superior races to anything on a short track; nowhere can one find a short track where there is a real battle to win. North Wilkesboro and Rockingham died because they deserved to die.
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» Confirm Abuse ReportSTP43FAN said:
Nov 10, 2009 at 7:39 PMTATER64 - 58 lead changes among 25 drivers, dirty air making the cars pass instead of stopping them (aeropush is as bad on short tracks as it is on any unrestricted track), the entire field fighting for the win - THAT is how racing ought to be.
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» Confirm Abuse ReportSTP43FAN said:
Nov 10, 2009 at 7:39 PMWERNER - leaders putting cars a lap down is not racing. Short tracks are not about racing, they're about track position and hoping you don't crash. They're not about lead changes.
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» Confirm Abuse Reportamalycke said:
Nov 10, 2009 at 7:51 PMTHANK YOU JESUS!!! They now have an official ASA LMSC Season for 2010 there, as well as a USAR Hooters ProCup race scheduled. Some woman tested a Whelen Modified there a couple weeks ago in anticipation for the Southern Modifieds to roll in also next spring. Buck Baker will also be holding another driving school there for rookies and ride alongs.
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» Confirm Abuse Reportpj4jj48 said:
Nov 10, 2009 at 8:07 PMI think it's great any type of racing is coming back there and look forward to going. Only seen the place from the outside.
Report as AbuseNot sure if I think Cup should be there ever again (I'd probably rather the Rock of the two) but maybe Nationwide or Truck would have been nice.
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» Confirm Abuse Reportcrusher1 said:
Nov 10, 2009 at 8:10 PMTo me it is great that at least ONE of NASCAR's old tracks that they FORGOT is making a comeback. I hope that more of them get some major action. There are a lot of them that need to be resurrected, like HICKORY, BOWMAN GRAY STADIUM, THE FAIRGROUNDS AT NASHVILLE, just to name a few. NASCAR needs to bring these tracks back to the fans so that they don't forget the roots of NASCAR.
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» Confirm Abuse Reportcrusher1 said:
Nov 10, 2009 at 8:25 PM#10, 11, 12, Where did NASCAR racing start? It wasn't at DAYTONA OR TALLADEGA it was at tracks like North Wilksboro, Hickory, or Nashville. The short tracks that got everybody's attention. I wish that they would go back to their roots and utilize more of the dormant tracks that are just setting there waiting for some action.
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» Confirm Abuse Reportbeefjurski said:
Nov 10, 2009 at 8:58 PMWait hold on STP. Short tracks are about surviving? Is that not what we and all the drivers were saying about Dega? Getting past the "Big one?" And did anyone else see at the Texas race when they would come back from commercial and keep the camera focused on one spot of the track how spread out they were? Yup STP i truly do love a sponsor parade instead of the paint getting rubbed off the car at a short track.
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» Confirm Abuse Reportphillipwafford said:
Nov 10, 2009 at 10:21 PMSTP ought to go DRAG racing if he wants to see straight line racing
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» Confirm Abuse Reportrwilliamhayes said:
Nov 11, 2009 at 1:22 AMOh please FRANCECAR up grade it.Take two races out of Cal. put one at NW and one at "The Rock".
Report as AbuseSo racing will be where racing should be.Not in the land of surfboards,sand, and lunacy.
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» Confirm Abuse ReportRobbygordonfan1 said:
Nov 11, 2009 at 3:30 PMIt's great to see the North Wilkesboro hosting a race again. Nascar belongs in Southern California but not at California Speedway. I do like your idea of giving one race to North Wilkesboro and another to Rockingham but I'd leave one date in California and take the other date from Charlotte.
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» Confirm Abuse Reportrpmfan said:
Nov 11, 2009 at 6:42 PMI loved North Wilkesboro. The track had character, not like the "cookie cutter" tracks of today. Its amazing that some of NASCARs top drivers of today have never raced there. They have so much to learn. Most of all, the KING won there 15 times, his top track. Nuff said
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» Confirm Abuse ReportRVD420 said:
Nov 12, 2009 at 8:32 AMBottom line if the fans came out and packed the place there would still be racing at Wilkes and The Rock.
Report as AbuseThe fans lack of support made it easy for Nascar to move the dates at Wilkes and The Rock to other tracks.
If there would have been sellouts all of the the dates would not have been moved. Wilkes would still one date, and The Rock would have one date.
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» Confirm Abuse Reportbrianapp94 said:
Nov 12, 2009 at 7:42 PMGet your head out of your ***. Wilkesboro had sellouts of the reserved seating for almost every race. They almost always sold out the unreserved seats Sunday mornings on the backstretch. I can remeber fondly of sitting on "chicken bone row" and in the grass back there. I became a true fan of racing there. That was what racing was about for all you idiots that have forgotten about the racing that went on there. The ecitement of seeing Rusty and Dale rubbing on each other with Davey or Ricky waiting to pounce? Get with the program Jimmie would have been stuffed in the wall up in turns one and two if he had ever set foot there. The real reason Nascar left was the failure or inabilty to upgrade the garage and pit road. Go back and see how many cars started at the Wilkesboro races. Thirty six is about all they could handle in the pits and thats about all the the track itself could. And the deth knell sounded when Nascar decided to rate tracks on the "markets". How could they compete with Indy, Las Vegas or LA?
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