North Wilkesboro Speedway still has life to offer, and organizers proved as much with a sold-out late model event last week featuring NASCAR Hall of Famer Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Thursday, NASCAR’s biggest movers and shakers showed they are willing to bet on that.
On the steps of the North Carolina Museum of History in downtown Raleigh, just a stone’s throw away from the Governor’s Mansion, state dignitaries and NASCAR fixtures announced that North Wilkesboro Speedway will host the NASCAR All-Star Race on May 21, 2023 — marking the sport’s triumphant return to one of its once-forgotten racetracks.
“There’s something about it,” Dale Jr. said of North Wilkesboro Speedway.
The Hall of Fame driver and son of NASCAR legend Dale Earnhardt visited North Wilkesboro a lot as a kid and has been integral in the track’s revival.
“It’s just got a special place in our history,” he said, “and I’m so excited to see what can happen.”
The speedway, once at the economic center of Wilkes County, and once at the cultural center of the sport since it began hosting Cup Series races in 1949, will host its first NASCAR race since 1996.
The track itself is short by NASCAR standards at just 0.625 miles, but it’s the kind of venue to which the circuit must return, many of the sport’s staunchest supporters believe — if for no other reason than to honor the past.
Steve O’Donnell, NASCAR’s chief operating officer, admitted on the podium Thursday that NASCAR had “lost its way” a bit when it left some of the sport’s original, pioneering racetracks like North Wilkesboro. The sport is trying to rectify that now, he said — and that brings a smile to the face of Dale Jr., who in his post-racing days has grown into a purveyor and preserver of racing history.
“There is an understanding in the NASCAR industry that there is some value in these facilities, and there is a place for them and a purpose for them,” Dale Jr. told reporters. “And we just gotta find out what that is.”
Many dominoes fell before Thursday’s announcement. Among them: A volunteer effort, spearheaded by Dale Jr., descended on North Wilkesboro to clean it up ahead of the racetrack being scanned so it could be put into the iRacing digital platform. The project — along with the documentary that dropped with it — got the attention of Speedway Motorsports President and CEO Marcus Smith, and that ultimately led to NWS scheduling “grassroots racing events” so Speedway Motorsports could “learn more about what needs to be done for a grand re-opening in the future.”
One of those events was a magical night at North Wilkesboro Speedway earlier this month. In that race, Dale Jr. finished third driving a lime-green Sun Drop No. 3 late model stock car in front of a sold-out crowd. The Hall-of-Famer said afterward that it “felt exactly like being here in 1990.”
That event garnered the racetrack even more momentum and attention — and it ultimately culminated in an announcement that Dale Jr., even Thursday, still couldn’t believe was truly happening.
“Whether you care about racing or not, this means economic revival and more money in the pockets of everyday North Carolinians,” Gov. Roy Cooper told the crowd.
Last November, the N.C. state budget earmarked about $18 million toward infrastructure improvements at the facility. It was an idea meant to help revitalize the state’s economy after the pandemic, and it was met with bipartisan support — ultimately paving the way for these grassroots racing events to exist.
“We are the birthplace of NASCAR,” Cooper added, wearing a blue and white retro-looking North Wilkesboro Speedway jacket. “You’re going to see this moonshine to motorsports heritage trail that’s going to bring people from all over the world to see the history of racing and NASCAR, and what a better place to concentrate it than the North Wilkesboro Speedway.”
North Wilkesboro Speedway will require ‘work’
Getting North Wilkesboro ready by May 2023 won’t be easy.
Although the grassroots racing events were a smashing hit — so much so that Dale Jr. told reporters that he hopes Speedway Motorsports will incorporate a late model stock car race over the All-Star weekend so he can race again — work is needed. The facility needs renovating. So does the track itself. The infrastructure around the racetrack, too, will be weighed and measured.
Smith told reporters that he is confident that the racetrack will be ready by the time the Cup Series comes to town.
“We’ve known internally about these plans for a few weeks, so we’ve had a chance to get a head start on it,” Smith said. “You’ve got all sorts of things: the infrastructure of plumbing, electrical, roads, parking — the fan-related things — and then you also have the racing-related things. Like safety improvements, the retaining fence and that sort of thing.”
In April, Smith reportedly said that he thought that the NASCAR Truck Series was the most likely option for the track, but even that wouldn’t arrive at North Wilkesboro in 2024 “at the earliest.”
What changed?
“A few weeks ago, after seeing the racing, with the Racetrack Revival we did with XR Racing... it really was amazing,” he said. He added that “tagging along with the 75th anniversary of NASCAR, this opportunity to revive one of NASCAR’s first speedways,” was too good to pass up.
For a moment at the event, Rep. Jeff Elmore, a Republican from Wilkes County, lingered by himself, staring at a newly unfurled banner that read “NASCAR All-Star Race, May 21, 2023, North Wilkesboro.”
He was at the sold-out race at North Wilkesboro, the one featuring Dale Jr. driving the No. 3 car, and he was in Raleigh on Thursday, witnessing history.
“The atmosphere, I didn’t see an angry person, everybody was smiling,” Elmore said of last week’s race. “We saw multiple generations, from folks who were in their late-80s all the way down to children in their families. It was remarkable, a unifying force.”
He added that he is not concerned about the track not being up-to-snuff come May 2023.
“When they ran the late models (last week), it showed that they can get a crowd of people there,” he said. “They had 23,000-plus. I think with the historical nature of the track, people will understand that going in. And I think many of the infrastructure improvements can be made by this date. Now, for the total vision that SMI has for the facility, of course not, but that will be more long-term.”
And “long-term” is exactly how long North Wilkesboro supporters hope NASCAR’s presence there lasts.
