Tag: North Wilkesboro Speedway

Officials at North Wilkesboro Speedway believe a cave used for illegal moonshine in the racetrack’s early days may have been unearthed this week due to a sinkhole under the frontstretch grandstands.

The grandstands were going through a cleaning and inspection process when cracks were found in the concrete of the Section N seats. When the seats, which are toward Turn 1, were removed an open area of approximately 700 square feet was discovered underneath. North Wilkesboro still has its original concrete seats from when the track opened in 1947.

“When we began renovating and restoring North Wilkesboro Speedway in 2022, we’d often hear stories of how an old moonshine still was operated here on the property under the grandstands,” said Steve Swift, senior vice president of operations and development at Speedway Motorsports. “Well, we haven’t found a still (yet) but we’ve found a small cave and an interior wall that would have been the perfect location to not only make illegal liquor, but to hide from the law as well.

“We don’t know how people would have gotten in or out, but as we uncover more, there’s no telling what we might find.”

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Since the discovery, approximately 600 seats from Sections N and O have been removed. Officials now have to evaluate how to proceed with repairs before the Craftsman Truck Series and Cup Series All-Star Race return to North Wilkesboro Speedway in early May.

“Now we have a race before the race,” Swift said. “The area that’s been affected by the sinkhole is a frontstretch grandstand area with some of the best views of the track. We’ll have a lot of work to get done before NASCAR All-Star Race Week.”

North Wilkesboro Speedway is a beloved short track in Wilkes County, about 80 miles north of Charlotte. It was one of NASCAR’s original racetracks and hosted Cup Series until 1996 when it came off the schedule. It was revived in 2023.

Wilkes County, a mountain area, is one of the most well-known areas of moonshine running through the 1940s, ’50s and ’60s. It produced many moonshiners turned race car drivers. One of its most famous was Robert Glenn Johnson Jr., otherwise known as Junior Johnson. When Johnson was caught at the family moonshine still and sent to prison in the 1950s, he’d already won 50 races.

Johnson was inducted in the NASCAR Hall of Fame in 2010, the same year the building opened. And one of its most famous attractions is a life-sized whiskey still built by Johnson.

Christopher Bell breaks into a smile and can’t help but begin to answer the question before it’s finished being asked.

“I think it’s already a success just seeing the people here,” the Joe Gibbs Racing driver said of NASCAR’s return to North Wilkesboro Speedway. “When was the last time we had fans in the stands for practice? It’s already been a success. A huge success.”

Bell is one of many drivers who have praised the effort from Speedway Motorsports and NASCAR in making an improbable return to Wilkes County. It’s not often a track returns to the schedule, but it’s nearly unheard of to do so after 27 years. But this weekend, North Wilkesboro has been back in business with the Craftsman Truck Series and NASCAR All-Star Race.

Not that the racing even matters.

A consensus among NASCAR Cup Series drivers held that the sport just being back at North Wilkesboro makes the weekend a success. Unlike other first-time events, such as dirt on Bristol Motor Speedway or the Busch Light Clash at the L.A. Coliseum or going to St. Louis, there is no need to wait until the event is over to see how everything turned out.

“I think it’s already been a success,” said Kyle Larson, who won Saturday’s Truck Series race. “I think even going back to last year, and the races they had here make it all a success. I’m excited to kind of get through this weekend — not get through it, but see what improvements come for the following year and what they do.

“I think they were pressed on time to get a lot of this stuff ready for this weekend’s race, so I think more time and listening to the fans and teams and competitors, I think we can continue to make this event bigger and better. And I’m sure it’s going to be a great race, too. They’ve done a great job to this point, so I think for sure it’s been a success already.”

North Wilkesboro last hosted a Cup Series race in Sept. 1996. The facility has mainly sat dormant since then, although there was an attempted revival with grassroots racing in the early 2010s.

But the people of Wilkes County never gave up hope NASCAR would return to the area. Terri Parsons, the widow of NASCAR Hall of Famer Benny Parsons, played a large part behind the scenes with the Smith family. Then came Dale Earnhardt Jr. using his voice and Marcus Smith giving hope when he told Earnhardt on his podcast that he was listening and wasn’t giving up on the speedway.

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Earnhardt gathered some in the industry for a track cleanup day on a dreary day in Dec. 2019. iRacing scanned the facility to use on its platform. NASCAR ran a virtual race at North Wilkesboro during the COVID-19 shutdown.

Everything came together perfectly to make All-Star weekend happen.

“Hats off to the group,” Ross Chastain said. “I’ve driven by this (Turn 1) grandstand going to snowboard and snow ski up until about three years ago when I stopped doing that because I got scared, and it’s an incredible effort and feat from the trees that were growing up from the grandstand I would see to racing on it.”

Daniel Suarez has been at North Wilkesboro Speedway since Monday because he ran a late model race during the week. Suarez has been blown away by the fan support and energy he’s seen and felt.

“I feel like the fact that we are here, it’s already a success,” said the Trackhouse Racing driver. “The way I see this place, it’s almost like the Chicago street course. The fact that we’re going to go to Chicago to race downtown, once we start the race, regardless of what happens in the race, I think it’s already a success. It’s the same way here.

“Seeing the fans — I’ve seen so many fans being old school and so many people excited, the sponsors are excited. The grandstands have been packed since Tuesday. It’s been very cool. I haven’t been living in the United States long enough to know all the history of every single track but I have learned the history of North Wilkesboro in the last couple of months, so it’s been a lot of fun to be a part of.”

Martin Truex Jr. has also been struck by what he’s seen from the community.

“Seeing it on TV, the excitement,” the driver of the No. 19 of Joe Gibbs Racing said. “The crowd for the Truck (Series) race was awesome; probably one of the better crowds they’ve had all year. So, I think everyone is excited to be back here. Driving through town (seeing) all the signs and parking, it seems like a big deal. It’s been fun to see it.”

It also can’t be forgotten that North Wilkesboro Speedway was given approximately $18 million to be revitalized. Gov. Roy Cooper allocated the funds through the state budget, which split roughly $40 million from the American Rescue Plan between North Carolina racetracks.

“The amount of work that’s gone into getting this place back and just the efforts by all those involved to not really give up on it,” said Tyler Reddick, “really being persistent to get a Cup date back here. It was really cool to see more and more people jump on it, and it’s just crazy a couple of years later what it looked like then and what it looks like right now.

“From my point of view, an absolute success.”

Five Cup Series drivers were in the Craftsman Truck Series race at North Wilkesboro. There will be 24 drivers who can say they ran in the first All-Star Race held at the track.

Said Bell, “Hopefully, the truck race was good, and I think the Cup race will be good.”

It likely won’t be referenced in a history book, but when Tyler Reddick drove out of the North Wilkesboro pitlane for Tuesday’s Goodyear tire test, he was the first NASCAR Cup Series driver to do so at the historic racetrack since 1996.

“I mean, it wasn’t a competition, but yes, I was,” Reddick said with a laugh.

Reddick was the Toyota representative at the test, which is another step in the preparation process for the All-Star Race on May 21. Chris Buescher (Ford) and Austin Dillon (Chevy) were the other drivers in attendance.

“It’s pretty dang cool,” Buescher said of being at the test. “I made a few laps here in a pickup (truck) when we were cleaning the track with Dale [Earnhardt Jr.] and Marcus [Smith] a while back. It looks a little better now; definitely pretty nice out here.

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“The track is wore out, just like everyone had hoped. The best thing I can compare it to is like a Berlin from my ARCA days, to where you don’t get a whole lot wide-open, but it definitely moves out a lot and you’re chasing it around.”

NASCAR has not sanctioned a race at the facility since ’96, and when the series returns in May, it will do so on the same pavement. While the track is undergoing modernization, keeping its historic feel has been key, and the rough pavement is a favorite.

Buescher was surprised, however that it wasn’t as bumpy as he expected. Dillon said it’s easy to feel how rough the track is with your hand, but when it comes to driving on it, described it as feeling like two inches of asphalt were taken off Homestead and Fontana and shaved like a cheese grater.

“That’s what it reminds me of, “Dillon said.

All three drivers noted there was significant tire fall-off throughout the day. However, it’s still unknown where Goodyear will land with the tire chosen for the All-Star Race and how it will affect the racing.

“It was slick out there,” Dillon said. “You really had to take care of the tires. But it was fun.”

Buescher said there were several seconds of fall-off during a run. Reddick said it was like driving on ice.

“This place has a lot of aging and character to it,” Reddick said. “You’re having to pedal it pretty good. The first lap, you have to kind of be careful squeezing the gas down and as you run, it’s hard to get back to wide-open throttle, but I think we were seeing a second and a half fall off or so over 50 laps. And that was kind of surprising. I figured we’d have more fall-off.

“But one little miscue into Turn 1 or Turn 3, you lose a second sliding up out of the groove and losing control of your car. And that’s with no traffic and no mistakes. So, maybe with more traffic and everything, the fall-off will be more. But we’re out of control from lap 10 on. You have to really take care of your car.”

Another unknown is the format of the All-Star Race, as those details are expected in the new few weeks. As much as Reddick, Dillon, and Buescher had at the test, they aren’t sure what it will produce in race conditions with a pack of All-Star Race drivers.

“It’s not easy to drive, I’ll tell you that,” said Dillon. “If you use up your tire too early, you’re going to be in trouble. You really have to try and make those four tires live. I think it’s going to be one of those races where the line really matters; it seems like if you come off the bottom a foot, then it’s hard to get the car to cut back left. You’re just kind of hanging out there.

“It reminds me of a dirt car on a really slick dirt track, going down the backstretch, just the wheel spin. You can light the tires up at any time. I got talked to all day by Andy Petree about how soft I have to be on the throttle when we come back. Fortunately, I’ve been pretty decent on some weird tracks in my life – the shorter tracks, the smaller tracks. We’ll figure it out.”

The three drivers did run together during the test. However, Reddick said there isn’t much to take from it because they weren’t on equal tires.

“We didn’t go out there on fresh tires and race,” he said. “The track is slick enough, and the lack of grip will make handling important, and the people who hit it right are going to be strong, and the people who don’t will be off. And depending on how strategy plays out with who gets tires and who does, you could see a lot of comers and goers on the long run. Other than that, I don’t know.

“There are a lot of unknowns. I had a lot of run racing on it all by myself that’s for sure. I haven’t had that much fun testing in a while.”

All three drivers are expected to be back on track at North Wilkesboro on Wednesday, weather permitting.