I See Ghosts

Man, this vid is sad.

Every true Nascar fan loves this track. I see the ghost of #3 intimidating, I see Yarboro and Petty going toe to toe. I see Waltrip, Jarret all rubbing paint and getting after it, not following the leader on a 1 1/2 mile cookie cut track.

I hear the race on AM radio as my dad drove down 421 in an old celica, I drink two Brownies on the the way from Wilkesboro to Winston. I get home and I'm so fired up I play football for two hours in my polyester sweatshirt.

And man am I happy.

And Now nothing but pure greed. The two owners paid 3.5 million to close the track and buy the rights to two race dates. Once sold the rights to New Hampshire the other sold the rights to Texas.

And Wilkesboro becomes a ghost town. What comes around goes around, Nascar left its roots behind for boring cookie cut tracks in big cities. How's that working out for ya?


FUCK NASCAR!!!



Wikipedia: North Wilkesboro Speedway opened its doors on May 18, 1947 to a crowd in excess of 10,000 people who showed up to see one of the famous Flock brothers win the race.

On October 16, 1949 North Wilkesboro Speedway held the 8th and final race of the 1949 NASCAR Strictly Stock Division. At the end of the day Robert "Red" Byron walked away as the first NASCAR champion.

The speedway held races for 50 years until September 29, 1996 when Jeff Gordon won the last race to be held at the speedway. Several attempts to reopen the speedway have been unsuccessful, although there are several groups and individuals who are working to reopen the historic speedway one day.

The Birth of a Speedway

Recent research by Suzanne Wise, director of the Stock Car Racing Collection at Appalachian State University’s Belk Library, has examined the early history of the North Wilkesboro Speedway. She states, “In 1945, Wilkes County resident Enoch Staley attended stock car races presented by William Henry Getty France, Sr. known as Big Bill, one of the top race promoters in the Southeast. Staley was excited by the sport and decided to build a track in his native Wilkes County, North Carolina. France promised to promote the races and help run them for part of the proceeds.” Staley, with partners Lawson Curry and Jack and Charlie Combs, purchased farmland near North Wilkesboro and began excavating and construction an oval racetrack. However, the group’s initial investment of $1,500 ran out, causing the .625-mile (1 kilometer) track to be shorter and more undulating than planned. The track was not a perfect, symmetrical oval and took on a very distinctive shape as the front stretch sloped downhill while the backstretch sloped uphill.

Upon completion of the speedway in 1946, one news reporter suggested, “North Wilkesboro Speedway is the racing Mecca for Northwestern North Carolina. The five-eights-mile oval is nationally recognized as one of the fastest dirt tracks in automobile racing. Robert Glenn “Junior” Johnson, a local racing legend, stated that the first race ran at the speedway was an unscheduled, unofficial race organized by local bootleggers.

Eminent Domain already Wilkes County! Eminent Domain!