NORTH WILKESBORO, N.C. — On the four-mile drive from U.S. Highway 421 down Speedway Road, past older homes and farmhouses that had been stationed along this two-lane road for generations, is when Ryan Preece began to understand the allure and mystique that North Wilkesboro Speedway holds over race fans. As he made a left turn to drive into the venerable track that first opened in 1947, he came to recognize why this one was different from all the others.
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Originally, Preece planned to find a modified race somewhere up north to compete in this week. But three weeks back, Jeff Preece told his son that it would personally mean a lot to him if Ryan raced at North Wilkesboro instead of at a track somewhere closer to their native Berlin, Connecticut.
With much fanfare, North Wilkesboro was finally reopening its doors after 11 years of being dormant, and Jeff, who had attended races there previously as a fan, wanted to be there for what he knew would be a special night. Ryan agreed. And boy was he ever happy that he had listened to his father.
“I wasn’t born and raised down here, so that feeling of memories as a kid is something I didn’t have,” Ryan Preece said. “And I’m going to be honest, the only reason I came here was because my dad looked at me three weeks ago and said, ‘Hey, it would mean a lot to me to come here.’ That made me want to come here because my dad’s done a lot for me. But when I drove down Speedway (Lane), I started to understand why I needed to come and support this event for what racing is and what it should be.”
Preece was one of an estimated 9,000 people who were on the grounds Tuesday night, and like most in attendance, he couldn’t believe this beloved short track was actually hosting racing again. For a long time, it felt like North Wilkesboro would become just another track to fade away, a footnote in history books representing something from a bygone era that had no place in the modern world.
Man, oh man. pic.twitter.com/5NGn4D4Sfr
— Racetrack Revival North Wilkesboro (@RTRevival) August 3, 2022
Since its last NASCAR Cup Series race in 1996, the track sat largely untouched. And over time, nearly everything at the facility became dilapidated. Grandstands grew wobbly and unsecure, suites teetered on collapsing, garages had caved in, windows were broken and blown out, and the paint had faded on every wall on the grounds. The track badly needed refreshing even before NASCAR exited. And in the years and decades since, the infrastructure only became more run down, to the point it felt like there was no reasonable way North Wilkesboro could ever be resuscitated.
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But many fans dreamed that North Wilkesboro would experience a rebirth. They never stopped believing that somehow, some way the track would not just come back, but again thrive. And here on this idyllic Tuesday night under a clear sky, that dream became a reality.
“I drove past North Wilkesboro Speedway for probably 15, 20 years watching the trees grow, not knowing what was going to happen, and so it’s really special to come back here,” said Ryan Newman, the 2008 Daytona 500 champion who won the Tour Type Modified main event Tuesday night.
“This place is special and holds so much history with NASCAR. It’s just a really special place.”
As Newman spoke, he looked around to take in the scene, something so many did on this evening. Kevin Harvick did the same as he and his wife watched the race on top of the roof of a building that also serves as an elevated victory lane. The 2014 Cup champion was here because these kinds of tracks are important to him, and if North Wilkesboro was indeed back, he wanted to witness it firsthand. Dale Earnhardt Jr., who played an instrumental role in this happening, watched the action standing in a scissor lift in the infield along the backstretch — when a race was about to start, he’d hit a button to elevate himself so he could see the whole track. And the grandstands were filled with folks across the NASCAR industry who were here because they wanted to be part of this moment.
That this was actually happening was something former NASCAR crew chief Jeff Hammond struggled to comprehend. It all felt a bit surreal. He considered North Wilkesboro his home track, and when NASCAR left in 1996, he was pretty certain it would never reopen.
“When NASCAR left here, I really thought this racetrack was done for,” said Hammond, who twice led teams to a Cup championship.
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And just a few years ago, it felt like North Wilkesboro would absolutely cease to exist. Then, in Sept. 2019, Earnhardt had the idea of iRacing scanning the .625-mile racing surface so that it could then be replicated virtually, thereby preserving its legacy so that future generations of NASCAR fans could experience the track’s legacy.
Three months later, he led a team of friends and volunteers — including Speedway Motorsports president and CEO Marcus Smith, whose company owns North Wilkesboro — who showed up to clean the racing surface so that iRacing could accurately scan the track. On that cold, wet December morning, no one there actually thought North Wilkesboro would ever again host a real-world race.
Although the push to bring North Wilkesboro back took on new life that day, restoring the track would require significant financial investment, a hurdle that proved daunting. But in 2021, as part of the American Rescue Plan Act passed to stimulate the economy following the COVID-19 pandemic, North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper allocated $40 million dollars for infrastructural improvements at three iconic racetracks within North Carolina — Charlotte Motor Speedway, Rockingham Speedway and North Wilkesboro.
Suddenly, a realistic pathway existed to make North Wilkesboro operational again.
“Marcus Smith and all the staff at (Speedway Motorsports) have kept this place alive,” Newman said. “And COVID-19 gave him some money to do what we’re doing tonight. It’s like the only positive thing (to) come out of COVID.”
Smith deserves much credit for making this happen, a fact many folks repeatedly told him Tuesday night as he walked around watching the racing. As he and the Harvicks walked down from victory lane, Kevin Harvick turned to Smith and congratulated him on what he accomplished.
“When we came up on a really cold December day, we had a lot of fun with that,” Smith said. “But I never thought it would actually come to what we had today. It’s really amazing. I think it’s just a huge wave of support from the community and from race fans, and here we are today. It feels really good.”
The Tour-type Modifieds led off the @RTRevival at @NWBSpeedway Tuesday night with spectacular side-by-side action over the 50-lap feature.
Full highlights are now on https://t.co/S4MfBet6tA: https://t.co/bWrVMOLTOC pic.twitter.com/EtU7GQnxR8
— Racing America (@RacingAmerica) August 3, 2022
Who knows about North Wilkesboro’s future beyond these next few months when it will host races on the asphalt surface throughout August, with the asphalt then being removed so that races can be held on dirt in October. A repaving is planned for 2023, and no races are yet on the schedule beyond this year.
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And much work remains to be done, even if in some respects the track possesses a bit of rustic charm. The paint on the walls that was faded 26 years ago desperately needs a fresh coat or two, the only restrooms on-site accessible to fans were portable toilets that were brought in just for the races, new concession areas need to be built while other buildings need to be demolished, and a new scoreboard is needed as the one still standing has missing panels and is inoperable. One still-existing suite has wood paneling and furnishings that gives the impression you’re sitting in grandma’s basement.
These infrastructure issues are planned to be addressed in time. Many of the suites had already been torn down, and so too had the garage bays that had collapsed. Sections of grandstands had either already been fixed or were in the process and the track again had running water.
“It gives you hope,” Hammond said. “It goes to show you that where there’s a will there can be a way. We’re working toward trying to bring this racetrack back into full operating condition and get one of the NASCAR elite series (Cup, Xfinity or Trucks) back here. I’m not ever going to go as far as to say we’ll see a Cup race here, but stranger things have happened. So I’m encouraged, I’m encouraged.”
It may be a pipedream to think North Wilkesboro would ever see the Cup Series return. Except on this night, it was OK to dream big because the impossible had already happened. North Wilkesboro had been transformed from the epitome of a “lost speedway” to a track now open where racing was again taking place.
“We’re working on our continuing renovation and cleaning up the facility and making a lot of improvements,” Smith said. “And we’re working on plans for what the future can be.
“We’ll see.”
(Photo: Jordan Bianchi / The Athletic)
