Bench Racing With Patrick Reynolds: Springtime in North Wilkesboro

If you’ve been a fan of NASCAR for more than two races, then you know that it has a rich and colorful past. Not only do the drivers, owners, promoters and fans contribute to that legacy, the places- namely the tracks- do too. Many of the old haunts that gave the racing it’s character are no longer active for Cup racing. You’ll hear names like Rockingham, Riverside and Langhorne come up from old schoolers who remember racing “back in the day.” Today, former NASCAR team mechanic Patrick Reynolds gives us a little tour of North Wilkesboro- a track with characteristics unlike any other on the circuit today.

If you close your eyes for a moment- you can still see Dale Earnhardt, Fonty Flock and Cale Yarborough taking the checkered flag.

Enjoy the ride. Here’s Patrick:

I get spring fever every year. When the chilly weather fades away and some hints of warm temperature grace the air, I get motivated to become active. Even so far as getting enthused to tackle the list of outdoor chores. Breathing in fresh air and having warm sunlight beam down into the yard overcome the fact that the list is actually work.

I also know what I really look forward to after getting outside and that is going to the races. With my heavy jackets being hung up for several months to come, and opening up a drawer full of shorts that has been closed for a few, this means the local short track scene is just around the corner.

I live far away from where I grew up. Stafford Speedway’s Spring Sizzler is an annual April weekend that many looked forward to in the northeast. Now I am from an area where thousands used to look forward to an annual April weekend in North Carolina’s Brushy Mountain region. The NASCAR Winston Cup Series’ 400 lap event at North Wilkesboro Speedway.

The speedway is a five eighths mile paved oval in the northwest area of the state. Fourteen degrees of banking would greet the drivers in the turns on each end. A unique feature the track had was the elevation change from one end to another. Down the front stretch was a ten foot drop and up the back stretch was a ten foot rise. This was not a dramatic, visible, roller coaster like quality. Just the grade of the land on which the facility was constructed.

“Old school” race fans in the area would head to North Wilkesboro Speedway for annual contests in the spring and autumn. The Cup stars had two Sunday afternoon events each season and Saturday support races varied over the years between the Truck Series, late models, modifieds, and Dash Series cars.

Some of the support divisions also had a weekend to their own a few times, sharing the bill with the Sportsman, now Nationwide, Series and street stock drivers.

The Wilkes County oval was able to be used by a variety of short track, asphalt stock cars. But the Cup Series was the major attraction up until the raceway’s closing in September of 1996. A crowd of about 40,000 watched Jeff Gordon cross under the checkered flag first for the circuit’s final visit.

My first experience seeing the speedway was scrambled, literally. I had read stories and saw pictures in the trade papers but had not viewed any film until 1982. My grandmother started receiving cable television at her home and one new channel was ESPN. I read in the TV guide where the network was airing live Grand National races. If I could arrange to be at her house on Sunday afternoons I would. And when I figured out which station I needed to be on, I viewed the North Wilkesboro Speedway on a scrambled signal.

My grandmother had not purchased the new network as part of her cable package. All the view I had was a picture that was mutilated by static and rolling test patterns. And every few moments I could make out an actual car. The audio came in clear so I could listen to the race commence. Bob Jenkins and Larry Nuber did a great job of calling the action.

I am a big enough race nut to actually sit through three hours of scrambled cable race coverage and listen to the audio. A race was being televised, which at the time was the exception rather than the rule, so to me it was a big deal. Any local radio station was still thirteen years away from being smart enough to become an MRN affiliate. The hard part was actually explaining to my parents to give me a ride over there and trying to justify what I was doing when other family members walked by. Doesn’t it make sense for a thirteen year old boy to sit in front of the television looking at a picture I could not distinguish, listening to audio of an auto race? It did to me.

Those were the days when Darrell Waltrip was piloting Junior Johnson’s Mountain Dew sponsored Buick Regal and put a shellacking on the field. Yes my North Wilkesboro memories go back a little bit and I would say are uncommon.

The April 1995 Cup race there was my first and only time I viewed a race in person there. I still lived in New England and made a weekend trip down to visit some friends who had tickets. The competition that day was good and Dale Earnhardt ended up in victory lane.

A couple of things grabbed my attention that day. The paved surface provided multiple grooves for racing. The 3400 lb. Cup cars had no problem competing side by side all the way around the course. This was not even close to being a single file parade. The other was the speed that the machines carried through the turns. As they roared down the front straight the decel seemed minimal as the drivers hammered into turn one. It was a very impressive sight that television simply cannot capture.

Earnhardt’s triumph was not a close, last lap thrilling finish, but the side by side action was good throughout the field most of the way. I left being impressed by this facility’s actual track surface.
Since living roughly an hour from the speedway for the last seven years I had not been back to see what kind of shape it was in. I have read about projects to reopen Wilkesboro and viewed photos of how much in disrepair the track and surrounding structures had fallen into. Wanting to see for myself I took a road trip on a recent spring day.

On the 1995 race date I attended there was a large crowd with cars and motor homes parked for several acres surrounding the grounds. Getting the lay of the land was difficult with the large number of people, vehicles, and activities present.

In 2009, on a March weekday, thirteen years since the last race engine roared to life, it was much easier to see the surroundings. I drove on a two lane road for three miles leading to the main driveway. There are several single wide homes that dot the landscape and hillside where the speedway rests. A home on the main drive has a view of the ticket booth that is closer than my view of my neighbor across the street.
This is quiet rural country. The racetrack seems almost dropped into a community. But as racing purists know, North Wilkesboro Speedway has a storied history in this region.

NASCAR’s Sprint Cup Series has long outgrown competing here. That is easily accepted. The track was a big part in getting professional stock car racing moving forward and up the national sports ladder to major league recognition. But to carry on the growth the sport needed at the time, NASCAR’s top series had to move on to other more metropolitan markets.

My son takes guitar lessons. After several months his instructor told his mother that he needs a new teacher. The instructor can play just fine, but his teaching skills could only take Sean so far. For my son to go any further as a guitar player he needed to move on to a more advanced educator. I view this as similar to Wilkesboro and Sprint Cup. For NASCAR’s premiere series to grow further, it needed to move on.
Some can argue that NASCAR deserted and turned its back on the track and the area. I can see and understand both sides of the coin.

For Sprint Cup to grow it needed the exposure Wilkesboro could not give it. But NASCAR repeatedly states that the on track product is what sells. North Wilkesboro provided actual racing action that exceeds several current facilities.

What is a shame is no other series are competing on the hillside oval. Just about any other asphalt short track racer could utilize the track. My mind’s eye can easily picture a field of USAC Silver Crown cars or PASS Super Late Models diving into turn three.

But my imagination will have to do for now. Years of sitting have taken such a toll on the facilities. There were as many birds and nests as I have in the woods in my backyard. A wall by a ticket gate has fallen and is propped up by wooden posts. Buildings are rotted and the grandstands have a lot of overgrowth. I did not get a good view of the speedway surface with all the gates being locked, but there are internet photos with weeds growing up through. There is plenty of rust to go around too.

A sign of the times: there are a few inoperative First Union ATMs still standing on the property. First Union is no more, being bought by Wachovia. Wachovia is currently in a transition to Wells Fargo. Everything in the world changes.

Playing the “What If” game leads me to wish a staff was preparing for next month’s season opener. But I wouldn’t be particular about the division. ARCA stock cars or ISMA supermodifieds would do just fine thank you very much. My Powerball Dreams will have to suffice for the present.

Fonda, New York, Bowman Gray Stadium in North Carolina, and Thompson, Connecticut are examples of where the Sprint Cup Series used to race that are still open for business. North Wilkesboro is one that I wish was still open for business.

Patrick Reynolds is a former NASCAR mechanic, most recently employed by Germain Racing on the team of Mike Wallace and the #7 Geico Toyota. Reynolds is an aspiring writer/broadcaster living in the Mooresville, North Carolina area. Reynolds also contributes for Race Talk Radio, dot com and Spin Out Zone dot com.