NOVEMBER 26, 2009 ISSUE
Racing To Return to North Wilkesboro Speedway in 2010
Alton McBride Jr., the president and director of operations of Speedway Associates Inc., is from a racing family and hopes to bring fans back to the North Wilkesboro Speedway for racing events. He and his group already have three weekends of racing scheduled for next fall. Photo by Jason Gilmer
The North Wilkesboro Speedway opened in 1947 and well-known race car drivers like David Pearson, Junior Johnson, Richard Petty, Bobby Allison, Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt won events there. The speedway stopped hosting races in 1996 and signs of the sport’s departure can be seen around the track. Photos by Jason Gilmer
The sounds of race car engines, squealing tires and screaming fans will replace a 13-year silence at the North Wilkesboro Speedway in September 2010.
Speedway Associates Inc., which has a three-year lease with an option to buy the track, recently announced that it would bring racing back to the speedway and already has three races lined up for next fall.
A three-phase plan is in place to get the speedway back to its previous glory, when racing’s biggest stars were found driving the 0.625-mile short track.
“Short-track racing has been damaged, to say the least, for 20 plus years. It takes people who see that and who want to change it,” said Speedway Associates Inc.’s President and Director of Operations Alton McBride Jr., as he stood outside the speedway’s entrance. “We know it’s going to be a long hard road, but there’s no better venue to change it than here at North Wilkesboro. That’s what has brought us to this point,” he added.
The short track, located just a short drive from Boone down Highway 421, was once a regular stop for NASCAR’s top series since it opened in 1947. The last race, though, was held on September 29, 1996, when Jeff Gordon held off Dale Earnhardt to win the Tyson/Holly Farms 400.
For the first time since Gordon claimed the checkered flag 13 years ago, series races are already booked.
It was recently announced that the Pro All-Star Series (PASS) will run a 200-lap super late model race at the speedway on September 4, 2010.
“This 200-lap event at North Wilkesboro Speedway will be one of the crown jewels in the 2010 PASS schedule,” said PASS President Tom Mayberry in a release. “We look for Super Late Model drivers and fans from across the country to converge on North Wilkesboro for this prestigious event.”
Four weeks later, a USA Racing and Pro Cup Series race will be held at the track, and in November 2010, the American Speed Association (ASA) Late Model Series will run its King’s Ransom 300 there.
“After talking with the new ownership group at North Wilkesboro Speedway, I know that we share the same vision of reviving short track racing,” said ASA Late Model Series President Ron Varney in a release. “North Wilkesboro Speedway has a long history of short track racing and we are very excited to be able to carry on that tradition.”
During its heyday, more than 40,000 fans would fill up the aluminum seats for races and crowds would spend money in local restaurants and on hotels.
Having that happen again may be tough.
“Will we see 40,000 people packed into North Wilkesboro Speedway for a race? I don’t think that’s realistic to look that direction,” McBride said. “Will we see 5,000 to 10,000 fans in a growing atmosphere where who knows where it can go? We see that as potential.”
McBride’s group isn’t about bringing back the big boys of racing, but reviving short-track racing.
They want the late model leagues, semi-pro leagues and regional or local series to run events there.
The fan base for racing is still believed to be in the area, even though NASCAR’s three major series—Sprint Cup, Nationwide and Camping World Trucks—won’t be there.
“The reality is that none of the ‘Big Three’ are going to come back here. That isn’t what we’re about,” McBride said. “We’re about what built the world of the ‘Big Three’ and what built that was short-track racing and it began here. We’re looking to bring it back to that.”
Since 1996, the speedway has been shuttered, with multiple people coming up with ideas and goals of bringing the track back to life. McBride and his group, though, are the first to do so.
It has been reported that the prior potential developer, Charles Collins Jr., was arrested earlier this year. He had financial problems and had fugitive warrants against him in Georgia and Florida.
Speedway Associates Inc., though, has a group of financial investors and has big plans for bringing attractions, not just races, back to the speedway.
“We take that responsibility very seriously. This isn’t a hobby for us,” McBride said. “This isn’t an ‘Oh, I hope this works.’ This is ‘It has to work and it will work.’ We’re going to tough it out and do it for the right reasons. This is a business and it has to turn a profit. It can’t do any of that without the good people of this region.”
To be ready for racing again, McBride said the group has already begun to get quotes together to do repairs on some of the complex’s buildings and structures.
The track, though, is ready for races, except for some patching and seam repairs. Those repairs will make the speedway ready for racing for the next three to five years.
“The track is the least of our menu of issues,” McBride said. “Sure it’s a weather surfaced. The reality is that top-notch series, like the Pro Cup Series and the ASA or PASS, who have signed to have races, don’t want to be on a new surface right now because they know it will provide better racing on a surface that is more mature.”
The response from race fans has been great since McBride’s announcement that racing would be back. Love for the speedway didn’t die when it closed and fans still come to North Wilkesboro to see it, touch it and have photos made there, McBride said.
“This is a huge piece of history,” he said. “This is where NASCAR started. We aren’t going to let (short-track racing) die here. We’re going to fight the fight and get it back to where it needs to be.”
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