I live and work about 45 minutes away from North Wilkesboro. I've been out of the racing loop for a long time. What has developed since this video if you don't mind my asking? I'd love to ride up the road and see a race at the track that helped start it all.
@@donjohnson5172 wilkesboro is returning for the all star date, safety barrior's being installed and new buildings at the facility Tickets sold out asap as they went live etc
S1ap on location idea: talk to nascar fans in north wilkesboro Edit: To make this more in depth, s1ap may go out to North Wilkesboro and talk to some citizens and ask what it was like when NASCAR left, their feelings, and what it's like today in North Wilkesboro today. I'd love to see this happen. ;D
This aged well, and probably had a part in the breaking news of the speedway making it’s return to grassroots racing. Well done and thank you for this!
I'd say this video aged very well! Just today, iRacing held its eNASCAR Pro Invitational race at the newly scanned North Wilkesboro Speedway, and damn was it great. This video and the scanning of the track has really put the old girl back in the spotlight!
@@BubbaBearGames It's possible. Hell, I'd say that with the recent new tracks being added to the schedule, it's even somewhat likely. Now, it would take a while. Even if work started right now, we'd probably have to wait until at least 2023 before we got a race. The track and surrounding area is in awful condition and would probably need to be completely made from the ground up. However, I think it is very possible that they could return in some way.
@@JohnSmith-mk5jt honestly they definitely could. Just keep the same track bank and size and everything but add the safety and modern stuff needed to make it a great speedway. Hell they could race actual stock cars there rather than what they race
Thank you for the thoughtful track documentaries. I would love to see North Wilkesboro thrive again. Call it an "Origin Race" - relax the rules outside of safety - heck make it a half points race with carbs and any body style used in the past thirty years - and see what one off teams can do against corporate NASCAR for one weekend on a short track. Now that I'd watch.
Agreed, that’s like if The packers left Lambeau field for a stadium closer to Milwaukee. Or if one of the triple crown races were moved to brand new facility because the old ones are getting to old
I’ve been a fan since the mid 2000s and I was hooked but as I got to watch it more and more I became a casual fan just watching all the top 3 series on tv basically almost every single weekend. I went to my first legitimate NASCAR race at Texas Motor Speedway in November of 2008 the first race was an indycar race in June of 2008 and I didn’t knew about Texas being an expansion until I saw this video and payed close attention to it.
“Hey, I have a little bit of clout, so let’s see if we can get this going again” -Slap Holy shit man, you’re the RUclips Dale Jr, thank you! I went last week and had one of the greatest racetrack experiences. That place was an absolute blast!
Like Kaohsiung aka emotionless city by former owner of Monkeys, Liu. Kaohsiung is second biggest city in taiwan, but all team set foot at there never have financial success, but Monkeys received massive success after they moved to chingpu, Taoyuan. Chingpu is very small town, and my protégé live at there, chingpu near to a airport(Taoyuan international airport), in past, no one give a damn to there, but after monkeys into the town, all things changed. now even Monkeys sold to a japanese company Rakuten, but the town even embrace them.
Yup . Totally It really is as simple as NASCAR leaving North Wilkesboro . Basically . It’s all part of the fact that NASCAR so worried about getting all the $ was more worried about South of The Border rather than they were worried about The South, The Core . I’m from Vegas, lived in Florence, SC for part of Jr High & HighSchool I have family from the south , still lives in Florence , ATL , Kentucky (Just got back from KY on Monday . So beautiful out there . ) My uncle Billy was a RaceCar Driver and the best part of NASCAR that always brought Me to it is The Heart of NASCAR , The Core , THE Bloodline 🩸, The ROOTS ! Coming from outlaws running moonshine all over The South and even further. That’s what NASCAR is and what it’s all about . Speed & Power & Can’t nobody stop Me . So NASCAR needs to embrace its ROOTS (again)& quit trying to front & push away The All American Heart ♥️ Passion that is NASCAR and it’s Real Core Supporters & Fans. . Yes, it’s different times now but nothing ever changes about what makes a Bad Ass and why We ALL Love a Bad Ass , especially an American and American Bad Asses 💪 My Grandfather flew the A-12 Blackbird & flew chase for The SR-71 out @ Groom Lake and is in The Nevada Aerospace HOF That’s A Real Bad Ass 🇺🇸 That won’t ever change , no matter how much they try to change the past . NASCAR Racing needs to remember what it really is and rep America & GOD to Thee Fullest 🇺🇸 🙏
When I originally saw the ending of this video, it gave me chills, believing in my heart it could happen. And with the recent announcements of the revival of the place, it pretty much brings tears to my eyes knowing it's actually going to live again.
I saw this track when I was visiting family in North Carolina a few years ago, and although I never went inside the track, I could tell by looking at the outside how poor of a condition it was in. The coolest part was that all the Winston Cup Series signs were still there, and I got a feeling of what it was like to be there on a raceday at the track.
its sloppy lazy boring racing with no actual racing conditions almost, to me its a perfect sleep aid, watch bonny colors go in an oval and wallah! off to kip. always tried to get into it but so many other forms that grabbed my attention more.
Cooperations are by design amoral. They can’t think about what’s right. Only what would be the best thing for their investors. The answer isn’t to ask them to perform against their function, but to pressure them in a way that makes the right decision also the most profitable decision.
Rockingham has had it's second chance. Unfortunately you have to choose between Wilkes or The Rock. The Rock got its chance because it wasnt too far gone but it proved it wasnt viable without a Cup race. Wilkes has a chance though if the effort was made since it's a smaller track and would have more action.
An investment group already bought it, and did some clean up, announcing they want racing back but first move if theirs was to hold a major multi day concert which totally overwhelmed them. I drive by the track about one a month and have seen some small but promising signs. Other good news is that the firm is based and represented by a business owner in Raleigh.
@Kevin Davis the stages and playoff format are a few of the things that is killing nascar. WTF kind of sport awards you for leading 1/3 of the way through???!?!
i found myself at this speedway a couple months ago exploring it purely because it was abandon, i only recently found out how historically significant this raceway was and it only makes me appreciate the experience more. being on the track where legends drove and in the stands where thousands once sat and history was made makes me appreciate the experience even more
I agree with this. Maybe you could make an argument for Martinsville, Richmond, and Michigan because you need the short tracks and the manufacturers all have offices in Detroit. If any other major market wants a second date it needs to be at a second local track to give the fans something else to watch (ex. go to Atlanta Motor Speedway and Road Atlanta, or Auto Club Speedway and Irwindale). This would solve much of the attendance issues since it would be a once a year event, and it frees up race weekends for more unique tracks. Particularly short tracks and road courses which have the best racing under the current car generation. The problem I see is that ISC and SMI aren't going to want to give up their dates (and profits) for other tracks not owned by the duopoly so it will be unlikely to happen
i think pocono should have 2 races cause it's a special track 1 of a kind.plus it's the only raceway in pa.i live about an hour from the track and on cup day its sold out like crazy
After seeing Darlington's midweek race earlier this year, I think it should have two dates as well. I don't typically support short races for the Cup Series schedule, but that was a great race. I think it should be a 400-kilometer (248.5-mile) race to revive the old Rebel 400 name.
UPDATE: (DO NOT FOR ANY REASON TAKE MY WORD AS FACT. I AM A SIM RACER HOWEVER I DO NOT USE IRACING THIS IS ONLY WHAT I'VE HEARD AND SEEN) Dale Jr and some other folks from iRacing went to this track in Dec of 2019 and cleaned it up so that iRacing could laser scan the track to put in it's Sim were it could live forever. What Dale Jr did is absolutely incredible and I'm not even a Nascar fan in the slightest, however I am a fan of good people and saving anything that has to do with the older style of racing either it be the tracks or cars. If any of you are interested theirs a video of this process being done on Dirty Mo (Dale Jr's channel) and you can race this track on iRacing. P.S I'm sure Dale watched this video and that's what inspired him to do what he did, and when you watch the video of them scanning the track you'll see what I mean and if that's true then you've done a very good thing S1apshOes =) Take care everyone.
Like you said, I really hope that this video gains traction like the Air Base Speedway videos did. Also, I didn't realize that Texas has had that many different configurations and repaves since it was built. 1997, 1998, 2001, 2017. I've always wondered why SMI just didn't build Texas to Atlanta's 1997 reconfiguration and leave Atlanta as an oval. Yes, Atlanta's new configuration did race well, but I've always wondered why they made that decision. Edit: Add 2023 to the list of Texas reconfigurations.
Because Bruton thinks he knows best. It's why he's jacked around with so many of his tracks, whether his own creation or bought. Bristol, Vegas, Kentucky, Texas, Atlanta, and Sonoma have all had massive over hauls in terms of reconfiguration. He has lots of ideas and nobody is there (or they're too afraid) to filter them for him and provide criticisms, so he goes through with almost all of them.
Charlotte used to be the only track of its kind before Bruton Smith decided to make Atlanta and Texas like it. Before that, Charlotte was the only 1.5 mile oval with a dogleg in the frontstretch in the country!
I remember when NASCAR left in 1996. I never understood for the life of me why NASCAR just didn't keep it open and add two new dates to the schedule for the new markets they wanted to move into. Like this says, when you alienate the people who are your core fans, nothing good happens. And I think about this often and feel like what happened to them was karma, between taking races away from their traditional strongholds, or caving to the politically correct crowd about their cigarette and beer sponsorships that served them well for decades. I don't like too far away from there these days, about an hour away. You can still see part of the track from the highway going by. And it ran races as late as 2011 in other series. Showing some respect to their roots by bringing back North Wilkesboro could be a big first step toward bringing NASCAR itself back.
John Cate it can also be said about how Tony George and IMS alienated the Indycar fan base in 1996 with the IRL and Tony George using thenIndy 500 to get PR for thinking it would be better than the more respected CART teams and drivers that MOST fans liked than the IRL in the 90s.
Fun Fact: This is the the track that Jeremy, Richard, and James went to on their third USA roadtrip. It's that wild ass episode where the mayor lets them race on the track and gets Jeremy a new tire for his SLS AMG hahahaha
@@robminmonaca indy car is also very much in some ways true to itself and it was never as popular as the cart series which in some ways the cart series being joined with indy pissed people off
It was the France family - specifically Brian that ran NASCAR into the red. The new president, Steve Phelps has shown to be VERY open to new ideas and rekindling NASCAR's relationship with fans. He has stated publicly that he is in discussions to change the 2021 racing schedule and track dates. He he said he can't do anything about 2020 because it's all been finalized legally and contractually. So there is hope. He even mentioned being open to possibly going back to "The Rock" if the situation was right.
In a recent Dale Jr. podcast (the one with Ron Hornaday I think) he mentioned he is pulling strings to get iRacing to scan this track before it melts into the dirt. Edit, made this comment before s1ap mentioned it
That's an idea let it go back to dirt then let the boys race it lol I know Tony Stewart would be in on that one .... Oh yeah there is one other track that deserves NASCAR to visit Bowman Grey Stadium ...
@@d.a.thorndike8772 yes yahhh I would love to see a huge dirt track again, since we lost the hoosier mile to horse racing, I understand the betting is lucritive, but they have held an auto race there for decades but after this year no more, they are limestoning the track so its less muddy and can race year round but the state fairgrounds mile has hosted an auto race for many many years and sprints winged or not cant race on stone too dangerous for them, so I ask you what do you think indiana is more famed for horses or cars and the equivlent of the indy 500 of dirt track racing? you tell me too much history heritage and golden eggs are sold just for a fast dinner or something quick and shiney, too much this is done. Heaven help us if the brickyard closes its the worlds largest sports venue by seating capacity at full stands at over 350,000 people, it would be like loosing our hoosier identity, like the fire at notre dame earlier this year its part of the french identity, so too is auto racing and cars to us hoosiers, as well as our corn, and steel production. so yes make a huge dirt track please
In fairness to Bruton, NASCAR deserves part of that blame. Had they agreed to add a date for Texas when it opened, North Wilkesboro would have kept one race and would still be on the schedule.
Get some good old fashioned small town muscle to get the place in serviceable condition, then hold the best damn race you’ll see. Oh and if there’s room nearby throw a dirt oval in, small time dirt speedway in Australia can draw a crowd (factory cars with old school mods and bad spray paint)
I blame the county for not doing something too for not helping old owner do something to keep the track open and going...track brought so much money to county twice a year..now Lowes is trying to move out and they have half the corporate offices to mooresville..they move and wilkes is officially done...commissioners and people of wilkes it's so important to shop local and support the businesses in your town...this is what happens when you dont
Seeing this today with North Wilkesboro on the 2023 schedule is just crazy. The love the entire sport has poured into the track to preserve a crazy amount of history has been amazing to watch.
I lived in Clemson for 13 years while/after I went to school their. I managed the kitchen @ Esso Club. If it weren't for the college, Clemson would be a flashing stop light town lucky to have a gas station.
@@mechanicallycreative9788 Some need to go or at least drop the Degrees all you can do with them ever is be a teacher of that degree, like Philosophy. Even the Music ones you can use the degree to do things in that field in real life but Philosophy Degrees are not worth a thing ever. The Government can do a part and keep the price as all post graduate schooling from being raised by more then 0.5% each year, not this mega inflation they do at the post Graduate schools to keep giving honking huge raises to the top people of the School, and give way less to most of the Undergrad professors that have now the professors starting after 1990-1999, sometime in there the Undergrad Professors started to not get payed well enough to live in better neighborhoods, they have to live in the same area the students most of who are low income/not rich families live off campus.
@@MotorsportsFan17 yeah the empty stands and fan base leaving proves that NOT!!! LMMFAO. You sound like NASCAR failing to admit the elefhant in the room is getting eat by buzzard's.
When the Winston cup went away it went down hill and keeps sliding, but there's more , changing the cars ,all the good guys retiring , the points system .......
While we're at it, how about we save Nazareth Speedway too! I loved that track it was the site of my first ever race! I live 20 minutes from Pocono but I would make the drive down every year to Nazareth!
Its still here and occasionally there are races there but the track hasnt seen much upkeep since the late 2000s..... I live in bensalem not too far from where the track is..... Its in pretty bad shape now
I live about a hour from Texas Motor Speedway and it is scary to see big gaps in the grandstands. NASCAR needs a revival, and I think North Wilkesboro would be a great start.
A fun game to play: find any NASCAR track on Google Maps, and count all of the empty concrete pads where grandstands used to be. Charlotte and Michigan in particular are pretty sad; they have less seating now than they did in the early ‘90s, pre-dating the attendance bubble.
I used to go to Texas with my dad since June of 08 and yes I saw Robbie Kinevel jump those Hummers on the frontstretch before the Indycar race. I remember my jaw dropped seeing the track getting closer and closer and I was excited and it was basically in the middle of nowhere before business started popping in 2017 and that was the last time I attended an xfinity race from free tickets from a friend who had a shop and got free tickets so he gave it to my dad and my brother and myself my dad and myself went to Texas from 08 but 09 is when I had first communion and sadly I didn't go to the spring Texas race but I understand that first communion was important 10 or 11 not sure I have that right my dad actually met a classmate who goes to a race I went in spring of 2012 and of course my dad decided to call his friend so my dad and I spent the night and Greg Biffle won we stayed to help a couple who lost their keys at the race and I remember sitting in my dads truck and see how quiet it was after that race but like I said it wasn't till November of 2017 of my last time I attended with my dad, my brother and myself and but back to the story... It wasn't until Halloween of 08 just 2 months after my brother was born and I saw the truck race that night the next day the Xfinity series, and then the cup series that November and that's when Kyle Busch became public enemy in the sport back in the day and I remember attending those races and hearing fans boo Kyle and I thought it was hilarious. When I went to Texas back in 08 I didn't knew about North Wilkesboro until I did research of my own as a kid and wondered why it's abandoned... I'm starting to be an old school NASCAR fan because some drivers don't have that background like the 1950s 60s era Winston Cup days was also great and the Nextel and Sprint Cup drivers were great too but I watch NASCAR every so often because I don't like the stages, the playoffs and I hope NASCAR goes back to the old Cup format and no stages...
Same with the NFL. I don't give a crap about "knee boy", what got me was when their representative made the statement that: "The NFL needs to be respected". Oh, really? A multibillion-dollar organization that was a tax EXEMPT "non-profit" from 1942-2015 that employs common thugs with lengthy criminal records. This, while generations of hard-working Americans were forced to pay taxes. Respect? Hardly.
I'm not a fan of motorsports but I really enjoy your videos. You're knowledgeable and passionate. Nascar really should secure its base and a move back to this track would send a message that needs to be sent (that Nascar respects and appreciates the fans that were there in the beginning). I'd fly down from NJ and watch my first Nascar event if and when it reports.
Well thought out and wrote videos? Good visuals? Earl Sweatshirt? By far, this is one of the best channels I've found in a long time. Love your videos man, keep at it dude. I hope North Wilkesboro comes back.
I live less than an hour from MIS and have never been there but l have been to North Wilkesboro over a dozen times before it closed along with going to Darlington. If they rebuild it l will be there.
Rockingham is being being worked on people from there insa page have posted a few picks of them picking weeds and getting a possible repave RUMORS have it coming back 2025 but idk
watching this is 2023 is so weird. the fact that at the time of this video we all figured this track was done and through a crazy set of events we are a couple of months away from its return to the cup schedule! it is so cool yet so surreal that we have basically gotten it back to its old form!
Well done Sir. I remember driving past the speedway while driving back/forth to Appalachian State on 421. In 1995, I felt like I was driving by "the" place to be. When I graduated in 2000, it was already in disrepair and I felt sad for N Wilkesboro each time I drove by. PS...Bruton and his family's greed have made them despised by those of us in the Mecklenburg, Cabarrus, and Union county greater Charlotte Metro area.
There's a reason I call the road to CMS as "BS Boulevard" - used to be called Speedway Boulevard, got changed in the late 2000s to appease SMI after they threw a fit over planned zoning changes (proposed based on noise concerns from locals, to stop/prevent building of what I believe became the Zmax Dragway) on the part of the city of Concord. I *think* they also made NCDOT pay for some road expansions near the speedway as part of this.
North Wilksboro was my favorite track even though it was in the middle of nowhere. It was great for all the reasons you mentioned. What I really loved was that in most places around the track you could really see the expressions on the drivers faces. You could see the drivers saw at the steering wheels. It broke my heart the day that I learned that North Wilksboro was closing. It only made it worse was the abandonment of of of the people who grew the sport into what it was. I know that I felt that I was betrayed. I went to my first NASCAR race at CMS in 1964 I have lived in Charlotte ever since then. Was a NASCAR fan since 1964.
Loudon, New Hampshire clearly didn't need that second date, since they ended losing that date to Las Vegas... And to compare Wilkes County losing it's vital economic lifeblood, it would be like my hometown of Wildwood, New Jersey losing its boardwalk, just all the businesses on the boardwalk just deciding to say screw it, and not open in 2020
Loudon didnt lose the date. After Bob Bahre sold the track to Smith, Smith moved the date to Vegas. Bahre and Smith only bought North Wilkesboro to scavenge the dates.
I’m very torn on this, as Texas is my home track and really the only reason I got into NASCAR. It’s very likely the sole reason I’m subscribed to your channel. And I don’t have other tracks I can easily go to, it’s ten hours to Talladega. But I know what North Wilksboro meant. I think a lot of tracks, including Texas, probably need to lose their second date. We clearly can’t support two dates up here anymore. If we were still drawing in 200k that’d be a different story. I think NASCAR made the mistake of assuming that the good things that were happening in the 1990s/2000s would keep on happening, but it was sadly just a decade long boom that went away.
Well that was a weekend, in less than four years the impossible became possible. I know the track was thanking Marcus, Dale Jr, and a number of other big personalities, but a big thanks to you dude. The Air Base Speedway Saga got this channel trending and before the algorithm fell off a bit you put this video out and the discussion greatly skyrocketed. Now we've got a revived track, a feel good weekend to remember (me walking up the dirt ramp to the track due to there being no gate admission tent set up yet and accidentally walking with Larson and Byron to the track and being panicked not knowing what to do), and all but certainty in this continuing
Awesome video as always! I hope that one day, NASCAR will return to North Wilkesboro... It's sad to see a great track like that abandoned and taken over by nature.
You also need to remember that when this happened, the Indy/Cart split was happening. This contributed greatly to NASCAR getting more racing audiences.
Update on the track. As many know now the track has gotten 18 million in funding and state help to fix the track and as of 11/26/21 the track has officially started it's renovation
Thank the Lord that North Wilkesboro is back!!!.... Having The Winston All star race there is the shot in the arm that NASCAR needed.... This should be their yearly event
Leaving this track, Rockingham & a Darlington race was the real beginning of the end for NASCAR. When you look at when this took place, Brian France was moving up the latter & was getting ready to take over for his dad!! He saw the money to be made at that moment & never looked ahead at what leaving these tracks could do!!! Brian France has single handedly taken NASCAR down & now that he’s gone, they don’t know what to do to fix his screw up!! One way to fix it IS get NW back up & running on the schedule with Rockingham!! Also what they need to do is revert back to what made the series the most popular spectator sport in the 90’s!! That means, ditch the technology on the cars because that’s really hurt the product, ditch the chase & stages so you don’t have an undeserving champion or have someone who finished 35th in a race but because they had finished in the top 10 during a stage walks away with more points than someone who finished 15th-20th!!!! Those are just some starting points on fixing the series before it’s to late!!!
@@brewbaker5547 it didn't, it made things stronger til they moved it back. plus it's the only real perk of the playoffs, that it can start at darlington and not fuck with that date.
The playoff format has been around for 15 years. It's not going away ever. It's a necessary evil because the no-playoff format had its own problems, namely that it was pretty routine for the champion to get far enough ahead in the points that he'd lock up the championship before the final race of the season, often rendering the last race or two as non-points battles for second place in essence.
I was a die-hard NASCAR fan in the 90's till mid 2000's the sport took a huge nosedive and was hard to even stay interested in! WAY TOO MANY changes to keep up with along with the politics ripped it away from its roots! He'll you could not gamble to buy the gear from your favorite drive because he may be driving for a different team of not at all the next week! I still have bedroom in my house done in 90's racing style including a tire and flags! It is now kind of memorial of a once great sport! It became no longer about the fans and imploded!
What needs to happen is the following: Jim France and Marcus Smith need to have a joint press conference and sincerely apologize to the core fans of the southeast and admit that they sacrificed them in pursuit of the bigger markets elsewhere and the money they thought was there. Then starting in 2021 they need to cut all race tracks back to one race and add North Wilkesboro, Rockingham back to the schedule. Plus add places like Memphis, Nashville Fairgrounds, Road America, COTA, Canadian Tire, Pikes Peak, Gateway, Mid-Ohio, and Iowa. Will they do that? Probably not, especially Daytona and Phoenix when ISC just sunk $400 million and $175 million in those tracks respectively, but it would be a good start to try and win back some of the core fans. And secondly the Gen 7 car has got to be a home run, it's got to not be aero dependent like the Gen 6,if not NASCAR may never get the fans back.
It’s CUP race week again in North Wilkesboro, something I thought I’d never hear again. This video aged badly, in such a good way and I’m so happy to see them come back!
Me and my Dad have had sooooo many conversations about this little speedway up in Wilkes county. We've talked about how NASCAR needs to make an attempt to go back one day. But even if that never happens, we could at least get it back in running condition for the local level. Look at Bowman-Gray, not too far from North Wilkesboro. They hold local races on the weekends during the summer and it's usually a packed house. Granted, it's not 60k packed, but for local racing it's a pretty good turnout. Tear down the old buildings and grandstands (because they're basically falling in anyway) and tear up the old track surface and run races on the dirt. All you have to repair is the walls and the catch fence. Have some basic highschool stadium style grandstands and even have the rest bring their own camp chairs until there's no room. Then maybe.... 10, 20, 30 years down the line, some crazy rich guy will take notice and take a chance on the track to get it NASCAR ready again.
New NASCAR fan from europe here and I'm really wishing for classic tracks like North Wilkesboro and/or Rockingham for example to return to the calendar. Also S1apSh0es is one of the main reasons I became interested in this great sport. Too bad I'm living too far away to attend one of the races anytime soon.
Nascar does have a euro series. I understand it's not the same, but it's far better than nothing. Maybe you could check that out. They stream live on RUclips I believe.
Watched this before the recent news, and watching it again now. As a young fan who wasn't around for that thank you because you probably helped the return
I live in Texas and attended the that first race and many since and I love going there. That said I agree with you 100% and I miss North Wilkesboro. Hoping that Dale Earnhardt Jr. Can bring it back.
The growth of NASCAR in the 1990s was so intoxicating the power players thought they were creating lifelong fans. But as you mentioned, for many it was no more than a fashion bandwagon. Deep down inside you have to love the sights, and sounds, and smells of racing...or you'll eventually turn toward something more trendy.
Thought I recognised the name from somewhere. Top Gear did a piece there in 2010 racing a 911, 458 and an SLS around the speedway. Mayor Robert Johnson even appears and helps Clarkson get new tyres for his SLS as he destroyed them on the speedway.
I was working in greensboro for a couple months and on a saturday drive, came across the wilkedsboro track in 1999.....it was really quite a throwback for sure....we have riverhead raceway on long island and its just a blast.....i could only imagine how great it was to see a nascar race there.....nascar greats on this little backyard track.
fwiw, Marcus Smith said on the Dale Jr download that the Nashville fairgrounds project is far from dead. Nashville just got a new mayor and it sounded like he was pretty optimistic about the upcoming meetings they had. If he can get the Fairgrounds Speedway back on the schedule, I feel like North Wilkesboro can return to racing in at least some capacity. Great vid as always, keep up the good work :)
You are correct about the new mayor, the problem Marcus and SMI are going to run into is the Metro Council. The council doesnt want the race track, they haven't for years. I'm hoping Jim Cooper stands by his words he uttered at the track during the election "I stand by the track and the race fans".
I live in Wilkes County. The Economy here is terrible and the Infrastructure is nearly in Shambles. We have a giant sinkhole in the middle of downtown Wilkesboro that's swallowing up a Tocobell and threatening to swallow up the nearby Aron's, and it keeps growing a couple of feet every month. Yet no one wants to fix it. The roads are bad, the nearby hills and such need a tree trimming becasue every time there is a storm trees keep falling into roads. Jobs are very hard to come by. I should know. I was let go of my job back in April and have been putting in applications left and right and still nothing. It's December now. I've been by the track a few times and sadly it's in VERY bad shape. Much worse than the guy here lets on. The entire track needs to be pealed up and a new track laid down. It literally crumbles in your hand. All the stands need to be torn down and built back from the ground up. If it wasn't for Tyson still willing to call this place home this place would be a complete ghost town and county by now. Wilkes county now ranks 65th in per capita income in NC. It use to be 23rd when Nascar was still here.
Thanks for the video man. I live in Wilkes county and would love to see a resurrection of the old speedway. I drive by it often with a heavy heart and think what a waste, so many small towns up on blocks for the wrong reasons. Mama always said what comes around goes around so maybe just one day we'll hear those roaring engines once again.
Slap, great video as always, though I do have a couple corrections based on my recollection. First, SMI bought its half of North Wilkesboro with the intention of using its date as a second date at Texas in 1997. When SMI built Texas, NASCAR did guarantee that Texas would get one date in 1997. SMI though wanted 2 dates at Texas in its first year so they bought half of North Wilkesboro to move that date. After the purchase NASCAR only gave Texas one date saying that the North Wilkesboro date counts as the date they said they would get. This led to many long years of SMI and NASCAR legally fighting over Texas getting a second date. Which finally ended in the early 2000s when it was resolved by ISC selling Rockingham to SMI to give it s date to Texas. From then on NASCAR has held stance that each track owner controls its dates, which has led to barely any any schedule changes in the last 15 years. This is also why Kentucky never got a date until it was bought by SMI and SMI moved a date to Kentucky. This all seems like its going to end in 2021 though with a big schedule shakeup. Another thing is that Las Vegas was not built by SMI, but they did purchase it a couple years after it was built.
I miss the NASCAR races at North Wilkesboro. They were always competitive. I have listened to Dale Jr's podcast on racing returning there, and it should. Nascar should help by giving their oldest division a date, the Modifieds. Pair it up with the truck series. Time for NASCAR to remember its past. Especially with the decline of the sport.
This aged horribly, and we're all glad it did ❤
When NASCAR comes back to North Wolfeboro.
The race should be called The Reunion 400
@@armron94 Homecoming 400
@@SashenkaKun that works too
ruclips.net/channel/UCCKtJ3mIdF_tpWhukGWKG-w
NASCAR returns to north wilksboro should be called ...the throwback to comeback 400 or 500
@@shannongrayRFK what about All Star Race
To Quote Urinatingtree.
"Don't abandon your core clientele to chase something that may not care for you"
great quote
Exactly. And this is exactly what nascar has done.
I really don’t think a new clockwise track is going to work out like they hope.
They kicked us diehards to the curb. For a chance at getting folks that won’t support stock car racing. Screw ‘em, I say
Don't leave your wife that loves you for a fling
this video has done so much. it’s been an unreal ride. we love you, Wilkes County. thank you for being patient with us.
I live and work about 45 minutes away from North Wilkesboro. I've been out of the racing loop for a long time.
What has developed since this video if you don't mind my asking? I'd love to ride up the road and see a race at the track that helped start it all.
@@donjohnson5172 it's going to host the allstar race next year. It's coming back into the roster
@@donjohnson5172 wilkesboro is returning for the all star date, safety barrior's being installed and new buildings at the facility
Tickets sold out asap as they went live etc
as a citizen of Wilkes county I appreciate it
S1ap on location idea: talk to nascar fans in north wilkesboro
Edit: To make this more in depth, s1ap may go out to North Wilkesboro and talk to some citizens and ask what it was like when NASCAR left, their feelings, and what it's like today in North Wilkesboro today. I'd love to see this happen. ;D
Agreed!
Evergreen, relevant, engaging content. I'd watch and share, HARD. Make this ep, Slap.
NASCAR still has fans?
@@jexmarro9 ha
I don't even like Nascar, i just like abandonded things....
So with that, i agree... talk to the people of North Wilke!
This aged well, and probably had a part in the breaking news of the speedway making it’s return to grassroots racing. Well done and thank you for this!
I'm just glad that it's returning for the all star race
I'd say this video aged very well! Just today, iRacing held its eNASCAR Pro Invitational race at the newly scanned North Wilkesboro Speedway, and damn was it great. This video and the scanning of the track has really put the old girl back in the spotlight!
Like him or not. You can thank Dale Jr. for that.
@@billdavis3152 Now, if only they could get North Wilkesboro Speedway back up and running in real life. That would be awesome.
@@BubbaBearGames It's possible. Hell, I'd say that with the recent new tracks being added to the schedule, it's even somewhat likely. Now, it would take a while. Even if work started right now, we'd probably have to wait until at least 2023 before we got a race. The track and surrounding area is in awful condition and would probably need to be completely made from the ground up. However, I think it is very possible that they could return in some way.
10 year iRacing member here DD wheel,triples and stuff like that
@@JohnSmith-mk5jt honestly they definitely could. Just keep the same track bank and size and everything but add the safety and modern stuff needed to make it a great speedway. Hell they could race actual stock cars there rather than what they race
We need to spread this video. North Wilkesboro deserves a new future.
What In Carnation? Exactly. They need to rebuild, reopen and get money
🗿
Woah, memes are getting serious
I mean we have a CFA so it’s not all a bad future haha
Thank you for the thoughtful track documentaries.
I would love to see North Wilkesboro thrive again. Call it an "Origin Race" - relax the rules outside of safety - heck make it a half points race with carbs and any body style used in the past thirty years - and see what one off teams can do against corporate NASCAR for one weekend on a short track. Now that I'd watch.
As a casual Nascar fan, I think its a huge sellout move to close whats essentially a historic landmark in the sport
Agreed, that’s like if The packers left Lambeau field for a stadium closer to Milwaukee.
Or if one of the triple crown races were moved to brand new facility because the old ones are getting to old
If Fenway and Wrigley didn't keep up with modernization then baseball would leave them. You have to keep up with the times.
I’ve been a fan since the mid 2000s and I was hooked but as I got to watch it more and more I became a casual fan just watching all the top 3 series on tv basically almost every single weekend.
I went to my first legitimate NASCAR race at Texas Motor Speedway in November of 2008 the first race was an indycar race in June of 2008 and I didn’t knew about Texas being an expansion until I saw this video and payed close attention to it.
What makes it a historical site there are houses older then that totem down daily building's you grow or you go by
All NASCAR could see at the time were dollar signs, and it backfired on them and the town of North Wilkesboro in the worst way imaginable.
“Hey, I have a little bit of clout, so let’s see if we can get this going again” -Slap
Holy shit man, you’re the RUclips Dale Jr, thank you!
I went last week and had one of the greatest racetrack experiences. That place was an absolute blast!
Greed has cost them a hell of a lot more than they made. Bad decision's have killed the sport.
Like Kaohsiung aka emotionless city by former owner of Monkeys, Liu. Kaohsiung is second biggest city in taiwan, but all team set foot at there never have financial success, but Monkeys received massive success after they moved to chingpu, Taoyuan. Chingpu is very small town, and my protégé live at there, chingpu near to a airport(Taoyuan international airport), in past, no one give a damn to there, but after monkeys into the town, all things changed. now even Monkeys sold to a japanese company Rakuten, but the town even embrace them.
Yup . Totally
It really is as simple as NASCAR leaving North Wilkesboro . Basically .
It’s all part of the fact that NASCAR so worried about getting all the $ was more worried about South of The Border rather than they were worried about The South, The Core .
I’m from Vegas, lived in Florence, SC for part of Jr High & HighSchool
I have family from the south , still lives in Florence , ATL , Kentucky
(Just got back from KY on Monday . So beautiful out there . )
My uncle Billy was a RaceCar Driver and the best part of NASCAR that always brought Me to it is
The Heart of NASCAR , The Core , THE Bloodline 🩸, The ROOTS !
Coming from outlaws running moonshine all over The South and even further.
That’s what NASCAR is and what it’s all about . Speed & Power & Can’t nobody stop Me .
So NASCAR needs to embrace its ROOTS (again)& quit trying to front & push away
The All American Heart ♥️ Passion
that is NASCAR and it’s Real Core Supporters & Fans. .
Yes, it’s different times now but nothing ever changes about what makes a Bad Ass and why We ALL Love a Bad Ass , especially an American and American Bad Asses 💪
My Grandfather flew the A-12 Blackbird & flew chase for The SR-71 out @ Groom Lake and is in
The Nevada Aerospace HOF
That’s A Real Bad Ass 🇺🇸
That won’t ever change , no matter how much they try to change the past .
NASCAR Racing needs to remember what it really is and rep America & GOD to Thee Fullest 🇺🇸 🙏
Amazing Speedways: North Wilkesboro
Also abandoned speedways: North Wilkesboro
;(
NASCAR Busts: Bruton Smith
Relics Of NASCAR: North Wilkesboro
NASCAR busts: a nut
#Poconosucks
#GetNorthWilkesboroBack
Spread it far and wide!
When I originally saw the ending of this video, it gave me chills, believing in my heart it could happen. And with the recent announcements of the revival of the place, it pretty much brings tears to my eyes knowing it's actually going to live again.
I saw this track when I was visiting family in North Carolina a few years ago, and although I never went inside the track, I could tell by looking at the outside how poor of a condition it was in. The coolest part was that all the Winston Cup Series signs were still there, and I got a feeling of what it was like to be there on a raceday at the track.
If I ever win the lotto I'll try to bring it back
I would yo
To
Me too
That's all it would take...one rich 1%er...
I would too!
And while you're at it, bring back Rockingham, too.
Good news!
YES!!!
ABSOLUTELY!!!
And Chicago and put Iowa and gateway in
Yes!
This is incredible and I wish North Wilkesboro was still on the schedule
Hey
What good would it do?
its sloppy lazy boring racing with no actual racing conditions almost, to me its a perfect sleep aid, watch bonny colors go in an oval and wallah! off to kip.
always tried to get into it but so many other forms that grabbed my attention more.
Does *anyone* in corporate America ask themselves if it's *the right thing to do* anymore?
No, that's Shane McMahon's music!
It's chasing that dollar...
Nope
Nope. Everything, even morality and legality, is subservient to shareholder returns.
Cooperations are by design amoral. They can’t think about what’s right. Only what would be the best thing for their investors. The answer isn’t to ask them to perform against their function, but to pressure them in a way that makes the right decision also the most profitable decision.
I remember watching this video 2 years ago and thinking North Wilkesboro would never return. But here we are today and the track is back.
How about getting Rockingham back, too. There will be NO PEACE in NASCAR until North Carolina has more Cup races than California!
If you factor in the All-Star Race, North Carolina does have more races than California now.
@@winningfreak1 Darlington is in South Carolina. :)
Rockingham has had it's second chance. Unfortunately you have to choose between Wilkes or The Rock. The Rock got its chance because it wasnt too far gone but it proved it wasnt viable without a Cup race. Wilkes has a chance though if the effort was made since it's a smaller track and would have more action.
North WIlkesboro hands down!~ I miss the Rock too, but it's not as unique as Wilkesboro~
An investment group already bought it, and did some clean up, announcing they want racing back but first move if theirs was to hold a major multi day concert which totally overwhelmed them. I drive by the track about one a month and have seen some small but promising signs. Other good news is that the firm is based and represented by a business owner in Raleigh.
After NASCAR left Wilkesboro and Rockinham I left my fandom of NASCAR behind. NASCAR totally forgot the fanbase that made it famous.
@Kevin Davis idiot the racing at Chicagoland has been great the last few years none of these changes would ever happen
@Kevin Davis the stages and playoff format are a few of the things that is killing nascar. WTF kind of sport awards you for leading 1/3 of the way through???!?!
@@nostracobb4814 preach
Fax
Trying to do the same thing to Darlington raceway
i found myself at this speedway a couple months ago exploring it purely because it was abandon, i only recently found out how historically significant this raceway was and it only makes me appreciate the experience more. being on the track where legends drove and in the stands where thousands once sat and history was made makes me appreciate the experience even more
The worst part of the expansion tracks is that there was zero imagination used in their design.
Such a great point. They are all pretty much cookie cutters. The tracks with unique designs like Darlington or North Wilkesboro get left behind
all of those tracks are basically copies of Michigan minus half a mile at the least. it's so dumb and is part of the problem definitely
@@xSoccerxCorex Texas and California are copies of Charlotte, not Michigan.
Never understood why they never tried a diamond shaped oval.
1.5 mile oval indistinguishable from the other 1.5 mile ovals, no imagination whatsoever.
The issue is having 2 dates at many of these tracks. Charlotte, Daytona, Talledega and Bristol are the only tracks that should have 2 dates.
I agree with this. Maybe you could make an argument for Martinsville, Richmond, and Michigan because you need the short tracks and the manufacturers all have offices in Detroit. If any other major market wants a second date it needs to be at a second local track to give the fans something else to watch (ex. go to Atlanta Motor Speedway and Road Atlanta, or Auto Club Speedway and Irwindale). This would solve much of the attendance issues since it would be a once a year event, and it frees up race weekends for more unique tracks. Particularly short tracks and road courses which have the best racing under the current car generation. The problem I see is that ISC and SMI aren't going to want to give up their dates (and profits) for other tracks not owned by the duopoly so it will be unlikely to happen
i think pocono should have 2 races cause it's a special track 1 of a kind.plus it's the only raceway in pa.i live about an hour from the track and on cup day its sold out like crazy
@@chrisg62406 its a shit race though
If Atlanta came back with the old config., I’d like to see them have a second date again too.
After seeing Darlington's midweek race earlier this year, I think it should have two dates as well. I don't typically support short races for the Cup Series schedule, but that was a great race. I think it should be a 400-kilometer (248.5-mile) race to revive the old Rebel 400 name.
UPDATE: (DO NOT FOR ANY REASON TAKE MY WORD AS FACT. I AM A SIM RACER HOWEVER I DO NOT USE IRACING THIS IS ONLY WHAT I'VE HEARD AND SEEN)
Dale Jr and some other folks from iRacing went to this track in Dec of 2019 and cleaned it up so that iRacing could laser scan the track to put in it's Sim were it could live forever. What Dale Jr did is absolutely incredible and I'm not even a Nascar fan in the slightest, however I am a fan of good people and saving anything that has to do with the older style of racing either it be the tracks or cars.
If any of you are interested theirs a video of this process being done on Dirty Mo (Dale Jr's channel) and you can race this track on iRacing.
P.S I'm sure Dale watched this video and that's what inspired him to do what he did, and when you watch the video of them scanning the track you'll see what I mean and if that's true then you've done a very good thing S1apshOes =)
Take care everyone.
the fact that dales efforts were mentioned in this video shows that he was gonna try it anyway
I know, I use iRacing and have raced at north wilkrsboro
Like you said, I really hope that this video gains traction like the Air Base Speedway videos did.
Also, I didn't realize that Texas has had that many different configurations and repaves since it was built. 1997, 1998, 2001, 2017. I've always wondered why SMI just didn't build Texas to Atlanta's 1997 reconfiguration and leave Atlanta as an oval. Yes, Atlanta's new configuration did race well, but I've always wondered why they made that decision.
Edit: Add 2023 to the list of Texas reconfigurations.
Because Bruton thinks he knows best. It's why he's jacked around with so many of his tracks, whether his own creation or bought. Bristol, Vegas, Kentucky, Texas, Atlanta, and Sonoma have all had massive over hauls in terms of reconfiguration. He has lots of ideas and nobody is there (or they're too afraid) to filter them for him and provide criticisms, so he goes through with almost all of them.
I think I remember that they changed Atlanta so they could add more seats and luxury boxes, but I don't want to look it up.
Yep the last one was junk
Charlotte used to be the only track of its kind before Bruton Smith decided to make Atlanta and Texas like it. Before that, Charlotte was the only 1.5 mile oval with a dogleg in the frontstretch in the country!
Not all heroes wear capes, thanks Paul Call.
NO CAPES!
Gtfo capes
Having a track like this back would be incredible, these mid-size and small tracks are so underrated
It's back! And thank God this video aged horribly
I remember when NASCAR left in 1996. I never understood for the life of me why NASCAR just didn't keep it open and add two new dates to the schedule for the new markets they wanted to move into. Like this says, when you alienate the people who are your core fans, nothing good happens. And I think about this often and feel like what happened to them was karma, between taking races away from their traditional strongholds, or caving to the politically correct crowd about their cigarette and beer sponsorships that served them well for decades.
I don't like too far away from there these days, about an hour away. You can still see part of the track from the highway going by. And it ran races as late as 2011 in other series.
Showing some respect to their roots by bringing back North Wilkesboro could be a big first step toward bringing NASCAR itself back.
John Cate it can also be said about how Tony George and IMS alienated the Indycar fan base in 1996 with the IRL and Tony George using thenIndy 500 to get PR for thinking it would be better than the more respected CART teams and drivers that MOST fans liked than the IRL in the 90s.
Fun Fact: This is the the track that Jeremy, Richard, and James went to on their third USA roadtrip. It's that wild ass episode where the mayor lets them race on the track and gets Jeremy a new tire for his SLS AMG hahahaha
Cody which season and episode was it
@@ashkechum101 , in season 15 , i think
@@henriquepaladino3779 the more you know lol
Are you talking about those bitch English who went to Alabama to go and make fun of them, then complained when they got pelted?
@@theblackhundreds7124 ?
This video, whether it be big or small certainly had an influence on this tracks return. I can’t wait for the all star race
Me too 🎉🎉 😅
For the last 20 years NASCAR has repeatedly shot itself in the foot.
Has one major decision worked out?
NASCAR left me, I didn't leave NASCAR.
Person Of Interest yet Nascar still gets national sports media attention like the nfl. While Indycar hasn’t since the 90s besides the Indy 500.
@@robminmonaca indy car is also very much in some ways true to itself and it was never as popular as the cart series which in some ways the cart series being joined with indy pissed people off
@@robminmonaca because of the split/IRL "winning" the split. both series did a lot of stupid shit in the 90's
wahhhhhh, cry baby
It was the France family - specifically Brian that ran NASCAR into the red. The new president, Steve Phelps has shown to be VERY open to new ideas and rekindling NASCAR's relationship with fans. He has stated publicly that he is in discussions to change the 2021 racing schedule and track dates. He he said he can't do anything about 2020 because it's all been finalized legally and contractually. So there is hope. He even mentioned being open to possibly going back to "The Rock" if the situation was right.
In a recent Dale Jr. podcast (the one with Ron Hornaday I think) he mentioned he is pulling strings to get iRacing to scan this track before it melts into the dirt.
Edit, made this comment before s1ap mentioned it
I was just about to say this. I'm surprised it hasn't happened already. Time is running out, that track is in rough shape.
Watch the Dale Jr. download with Marcus Smith. They mention it.
That's an idea let it go back to dirt then let the boys race it lol I know Tony Stewart would be in on that one ....
Oh yeah there is one other track that deserves NASCAR to visit Bowman Grey Stadium ...
@@cablepupp Great idea! Turn it nto a dirt track once the pavement dissolves
@@d.a.thorndike8772 yes yahhh I would love to see a huge dirt track again, since we lost the hoosier mile to horse racing, I understand the betting is lucritive, but they have held an auto race there for decades but after this year no more, they are limestoning the track so its less muddy and can race year round but the state fairgrounds mile has hosted an auto race for many many years and sprints winged or not cant race on stone too dangerous for them, so I ask you what do you think indiana is more famed for horses or cars and the equivlent of the indy 500 of dirt track racing? you tell me
too much history heritage and golden eggs are sold just for a fast dinner or something quick and shiney, too much this is done. Heaven help us if the brickyard closes its the worlds largest sports venue by seating capacity at full stands at over 350,000 people, it would be like loosing our hoosier identity, like the fire at notre dame earlier this year its part of the french identity, so too is auto racing and cars to us hoosiers, as well as our corn, and steel production.
so yes make a huge dirt track please
This place was awesome! My dad took me there as a kid, hopefully Cleetus buys this track next! Freedom factory 2!
I don’t think anyone is going to pony up $12m for this place in that condition. Sad...
@@curtkopp19 someone should, the government should, American politics is hell right now, but they need the track back
@@curtkopp19 If I win the lottery...hold my beer.
@@scottt3100 I’ll bring my tools brother!
I'm really sad to see an abandon track with so much history really hope some day it comes back to Nascar.
14:44
"huh that place looks awfully familiar"
....
"wait... the drone is right over where I live"
Is that true
Patriotic Pioneer yes
Wooo
10 year old me was there at that final race and all I can remember was it was a hell of a race and definitely is a track that needs to come back.
Hell yeah.
As of this past August, North Wilkesboro is back and soon to be better than ever.
That moment when a youtuber has more dignity or reason than any politician or businessman. Great video!
This is spot on. This stuff is so refreshing. Well put together and very informative without leaning one way or another.
Let’s be honest 99% of people have more reason and dignity than politicians
@@patrickmartin3322 lol true!
Having more dignity than most politicians isn't saying much. lol
Politicians lie for career. They are puppets to their donors
I've lived in North Carolina, everybody I know there, loved that event, and solely blame Bruton Smith
In fairness to Bruton, NASCAR deserves part of that blame. Had they agreed to add a date for Texas when it opened, North Wilkesboro would have kept one race and would still be on the schedule.
We do
Khori Jones start a crowd fund to buy the track.
Get some good old fashioned small town muscle to get the place in serviceable condition, then hold the best damn race you’ll see.
Oh and if there’s room nearby throw a dirt oval in, small time dirt speedway in Australia can draw a crowd (factory cars with old school mods and bad spray paint)
I blame the county for not doing something too for not helping old owner do something to keep the track open and going...track brought so much money to county twice a year..now Lowes is trying to move out and they have half the corporate offices to mooresville..they move and wilkes is officially done...commissioners and people of wilkes it's so important to shop local and support the businesses in your town...this is what happens when you dont
Seeing this today with North Wilkesboro on the 2023 schedule is just crazy. The love the entire sport has poured into the track to preserve a crazy amount of history has been amazing to watch.
I lived in Clemson for 13 years while/after I went to school their. I managed the kitchen @ Esso Club. If it weren't for the college, Clemson would be a flashing stop light town lucky to have a gas station.
At least it is much harder to remove a college/university.
Casey smith Don’t tell that to Wake Forest!
@@fliving70 at least Winston has Krispy Kreme...
@@caseysmith544 Too bad. It'd be nice if half of them disappeared.
@@mechanicallycreative9788 Some need to go or at least drop the Degrees all you can do with them ever is be a teacher of that degree, like Philosophy. Even the Music ones you can use the degree to do things in that field in real life but Philosophy Degrees are not worth a thing ever. The Government can do a part and keep the price as all post graduate schooling from being raised by more then 0.5% each year, not this mega inflation they do at the post Graduate schools to keep giving honking huge raises to the top people of the School, and give way less to most of the Undergrad professors that have now the professors starting after 1990-1999, sometime in there the Undergrad Professors started to not get payed well enough to live in better neighborhoods, they have to live in the same area the students most of who are low income/not rich families live off campus.
Fishing for viewers? Oh ya caught one: Me! This stuff is just amazing
So uh this aged super well
and with Dale Jr's love for s1apsh0es channel, this mightve played a bigger role than we all thought
That was the true beginning of the downfall
Let’s do it! Let’s get a movement going! I’m in!
Me too
Rusty Shackelford NaScAr Is DyInG!!
@Rusty Shackelford So leave if "it was getting boring anyway" I think you just like attention even if it means shining a negative light on others.
@@MotorsportsFan17 yeah the empty stands and fan base leaving proves that NOT!!! LMMFAO. You sound like NASCAR failing to admit the elefhant in the room is getting eat by buzzard's.
@@Lazyboy51 idiot
When the Winston cup went away it went down hill and keeps sliding, but there's more , changing the cars ,all the good guys retiring , the points system .......
While we're at it, how about we save Nazareth Speedway too! I loved that track it was the site of my first ever race! I live 20 minutes from Pocono but I would make the drive down every year to Nazareth!
Its still here and occasionally there are races there but the track hasnt seen much upkeep since the late 2000s..... I live in bensalem not too far from where the track is..... Its in pretty bad shape now
I live about a hour from Texas Motor Speedway and it is scary to see big gaps in the grandstands. NASCAR needs a revival, and I think North Wilkesboro would be a great start.
A fun game to play: find any NASCAR track on Google Maps, and count all of the empty concrete pads where grandstands used to be.
Charlotte and Michigan in particular are pretty sad; they have less seating now than they did in the early ‘90s, pre-dating the attendance bubble.
@@fishflake1209 Lets not forget the TALLADEGA super speed way decline in grandstands. Used to have all the way down the super stretch.
Need to have a soy and kale milkshake at the consession might have more interest from the current neutered male.
NASTY CANASTA For some, watching other people be incinerated on a weekly basis is their only way to affirm their own manhood.
I used to go to Texas with my dad since June of 08 and yes I saw Robbie Kinevel jump those Hummers on the frontstretch before the Indycar race. I remember my jaw dropped seeing the track getting closer and closer and I was excited and it was basically in the middle of nowhere before business started popping in 2017 and that was the last time I attended an xfinity race from free tickets from a friend who had a shop and got free tickets so he gave it to my dad and my brother and myself my dad and myself went to Texas from 08 but 09 is when I had first communion and sadly I didn't go to the spring Texas race but I understand that first communion was important 10 or 11 not sure I have that right my dad actually met a classmate who goes to a race I went in spring of 2012 and of course my dad decided to call his friend so my dad and I spent the night and Greg Biffle won we stayed to help a couple who lost their keys at the race and I remember sitting in my dads truck and see how quiet it was after that race but like I said it wasn't till November of 2017 of my last time I attended with my dad, my brother and myself and but back to the story...
It wasn't until Halloween of 08 just 2 months after my brother was born and I saw the truck race that night the next day the Xfinity series, and then the cup series that November and that's when Kyle Busch became public enemy in the sport back in the day and I remember attending those races and hearing fans boo Kyle and I thought it was hilarious.
When I went to Texas back in 08 I didn't knew about North Wilkesboro until I did research of my own as a kid and wondered why it's abandoned...
I'm starting to be an old school NASCAR fan because some drivers don't have that background like the 1950s 60s era Winston Cup days was also great and the Nextel and Sprint Cup drivers were great too but I watch NASCAR every so often because I don't like the stages, the playoffs and I hope NASCAR goes back to the old Cup format and no stages...
Today was the practice for the all star race at North Wilksboro
Can’t believe it’s back
NASCAR has got too big for their britches now look at them I don’t even care to watch anymore!!!
Haven't watched since 2015 and don't miss it.
This and the changes in the races..segments etc... fuhgettabout it ! Gone for the past 3 yrs !
Same with the NFL. I don't give a crap about "knee boy", what got me was when their representative made the statement that: "The NFL needs to be respected". Oh, really? A multibillion-dollar organization that was a tax EXEMPT "non-profit" from 1942-2015 that employs common thugs with lengthy criminal records. This, while generations of hard-working Americans were forced to pay taxes. Respect? Hardly.
Bob Bastion EXACTLY Bob... respect is earned... NOT bought !
It's like a circus show and not a race nowadays
I’m from Ireland so having an interest in NASCAR is quite unusual. Your videos are very very interesting and are of high quality keep it up.
Jack Murphy
You’re not the only Irish NASCAR fan :)
I'm a Swedish NASCAR fan.
Bryan Keenan what part of Ireland you from. I’m from newry Co Down
Johnny4388 I’m a Swedish car fan. I have 3 Volvo 940 and 1 340
@@jackmurphy7080 That's pretty cool, too young to own a car though, just sim racing and karting for now.
I'm not a fan of motorsports but I really enjoy your videos. You're knowledgeable and passionate. Nascar really should secure its base and a move back to this track would send a message that needs to be sent (that Nascar respects and appreciates the fans that were there in the beginning). I'd fly down from NJ and watch my first Nascar event if and when it reports.
Well thought out and wrote videos? Good visuals? Earl Sweatshirt? By far, this is one of the best channels I've found in a long time. Love your videos man, keep at it dude. I hope North Wilkesboro comes back.
I thought my phone had started playing music again. Ive never heard earl or guild in a video before.
LowNB
BlackFlagsMatter has been using them in videos for a while now.
@@japotak99 ive been meaning to check them out now i know i will
Random answer for that question at the start of moral aspect: Eldora. It's the only race that gives me interest in the calendar now
I live less than an hour from MIS and have never been there but l have been to North Wilkesboro over a dozen times before it closed along with going to Darlington. If they rebuild it l will be there.
Used to watch, went to a race every few years, but the move to the large cookie cutter super speedways has left me wanting.
While we're at it. Rockingham should be saved too
@the everything channel I'm sorry but Nashville was such a boring track.
I saw articles a few months back saying that Nascar and Rockingham were in talks for a potential return in the future.
@@Buynot The current owner seems to be doing all the right things. I believe the state of North Carolina awarded a grant to the track as well.
Rockingham is being being worked on people from there insa page have posted a few picks of them picking weeds and getting a possible repave RUMORS have it coming back 2025 but idk
@@bendtfender2894 Nashville Superspeedway was boring but the fairgrounds speedway in Nashville had awesome races.
watching this is 2023 is so weird. the fact that at the time of this video we all figured this track was done and through a crazy set of events we are a couple of months away from its return to the cup schedule! it is so cool yet so surreal that we have basically gotten it back to its old form!
Well done Sir. I remember driving past the speedway while driving back/forth to Appalachian State on 421. In 1995, I felt like I was driving by "the" place to be. When I graduated in 2000, it was already in disrepair and I felt sad for N Wilkesboro each time I drove by.
PS...Bruton and his family's greed have made them despised by those of us in the Mecklenburg, Cabarrus, and Union county greater Charlotte Metro area.
There's a reason I call the road to CMS as "BS Boulevard" - used to be called Speedway Boulevard, got changed in the late 2000s to appease SMI after they threw a fit over planned zoning changes (proposed based on noise concerns from locals, to stop/prevent building of what I believe became the Zmax Dragway) on the part of the city of Concord. I *think* they also made NCDOT pay for some road expansions near the speedway as part of this.
North Wilksboro was my favorite track even though it was in the middle of nowhere. It was great for all the reasons you mentioned. What I really loved was that in most places around the track you could really see the expressions on the drivers faces. You could see the drivers saw at the steering wheels. It broke my heart the day that I learned that North Wilksboro was closing. It only made it worse was the abandonment of of of the people who grew the sport into what it was. I know that I felt that I was betrayed. I went to my first NASCAR race at CMS in 1964 I have lived in Charlotte ever since then. Was a NASCAR fan since 1964.
I went to the race last Wednesday night! I hope you had a chance to go see it or watch it from home. Great work
Loudon, New Hampshire clearly didn't need that second date, since they ended losing that date to Las Vegas... And to compare Wilkes County losing it's vital economic lifeblood, it would be like my hometown of Wildwood, New Jersey losing its boardwalk, just all the businesses on the boardwalk just deciding to say screw it, and not open in 2020
Loudon didnt lose the date.
After Bob Bahre sold the track to Smith, Smith moved the date to Vegas.
Bahre and Smith only bought North Wilkesboro to scavenge the dates.
I’m very torn on this, as Texas is my home track and really the only reason I got into NASCAR. It’s very likely the sole reason I’m subscribed to your channel. And I don’t have other tracks I can easily go to, it’s ten hours to Talladega. But I know what North Wilksboro meant. I think a lot of tracks, including Texas, probably need to lose their second date. We clearly can’t support two dates up here anymore. If we were still drawing in 200k that’d be a different story. I think NASCAR made the mistake of assuming that the good things that were happening in the 1990s/2000s would keep on happening, but it was sadly just a decade long boom that went away.
Well that was a weekend, in less than four years the impossible became possible. I know the track was thanking Marcus, Dale Jr, and a number of other big personalities, but a big thanks to you dude. The Air Base Speedway Saga got this channel trending and before the algorithm fell off a bit you put this video out and the discussion greatly skyrocketed.
Now we've got a revived track, a feel good weekend to remember (me walking up the dirt ramp to the track due to there being no gate admission tent set up yet and accidentally walking with Larson and Byron to the track and being panicked not knowing what to do), and all but certainty in this continuing
2 years later we bring North Wilksboro Back. Glad to see where it all started
Awesome video as always!
I hope that one day, NASCAR will return to North Wilkesboro... It's sad to see a great track like that abandoned and taken over by nature.
I very much doubt they’ll even be able to, it’s wrecked and would be more expensive then it’s worth to fix it up.
@@KitKata507 I have to say, I agree with you.
If they rehabbed VIR into the world class facility it is today from the dump it was by the mid 90s. Then Wilkesboro can be made usable
@@superass113 Correct. (^_^)
Nothing is impossible.
I just got home from a sold out revival night of the first race back at Wilkesboro speedway. It lives!
SLAP IS OUR SAVIOR!
You also need to remember that when this happened, the Indy/Cart split was happening.
This contributed greatly to NASCAR getting more racing audiences.
Update on the track. As many know now the track has gotten 18 million in funding and state help to fix the track and as of 11/26/21 the track has officially started it's renovation
Yay! Tysm for the update!
Destruction of old building and collapsed property's at the track currently being demolished
Repave gonna start after the demolishing
@@jackhammerjt I hope it can make it back on to the schedule
Good, hope it goes well and they can at least get some ARCA races going to lure NASCAR back. These short tracks were always fun to watch.
@@Quickshift28 they didn't even need ARCA as they are going to host the all-star race
I live 25 minutes from North Wilkesboro, my answer is easy. Been the 10 times. I was at the last race.
Alleghany county here
when you go hollywood it's over,, there greed pushed the core fans from going, miss NW was my local track
Thank the Lord that North Wilkesboro is back!!!....
Having The Winston All star race there is the shot in the arm that NASCAR needed....
This should be their yearly event
Leaving this track, Rockingham & a Darlington race was the real beginning of the end for NASCAR. When you look at when this took place, Brian France was moving up the latter & was getting ready to take over for his dad!! He saw the money to be made at that moment & never looked ahead at what leaving these tracks could do!!!
Brian France has single handedly taken NASCAR down & now that he’s gone, they don’t know what to do to fix his screw up!! One way to fix it IS get NW back up & running on the schedule with Rockingham!! Also what they need to do is revert back to what made the series the most popular spectator sport in the 90’s!! That means, ditch the technology on the cars because that’s really hurt the product, ditch the chase & stages so you don’t have an undeserving champion or have someone who finished 35th in a race but because they had finished in the top 10 during a stage walks away with more points than someone who finished 15th-20th!!!!
Those are just some starting points on fixing the series before it’s to late!!!
Gary Newcomb I feel like taking Labor Day away from Darlington will lead to that tracks demise..
@@brewbaker5547 it didn't, it made things stronger til they moved it back. plus it's the only real perk of the playoffs, that it can start at darlington and not fuck with that date.
The playoff format has been around for 15 years. It's not going away ever. It's a necessary evil because the no-playoff format had its own problems, namely that it was pretty routine for the champion to get far enough ahead in the points that he'd lock up the championship before the final race of the season, often rendering the last race or two as non-points battles for second place in essence.
@@brewbaker5547 But it's on Labor Day
Bingo
North wilkesboro speedway is making a comeback this year by dale Earnhardt jr.
And in 2023 NASCAR racing returns. They finally learned years after the last race. And it’s a great thing it’s back.
I was a die-hard NASCAR fan in the 90's till mid 2000's the sport took a huge nosedive and was hard to even stay interested in! WAY TOO MANY changes to keep up with along with the politics ripped it away from its roots! He'll you could not gamble to buy the gear from your favorite drive because he may be driving for a different team of not at all the next week! I still have bedroom in my house done in 90's racing style including a tire and flags! It is now kind of memorial of a once great sport! It became no longer about the fans and imploded!
What needs to happen is the following: Jim France and Marcus Smith need to have a joint press conference and sincerely apologize to the core fans of the southeast and admit that they sacrificed them in pursuit of the bigger markets elsewhere and the money they thought was there. Then starting in 2021 they need to cut all race tracks back to one race and add North Wilkesboro, Rockingham back to the schedule. Plus add places like Memphis, Nashville Fairgrounds, Road America, COTA, Canadian Tire, Pikes Peak, Gateway, Mid-Ohio, and Iowa. Will they do that? Probably not, especially Daytona and Phoenix when ISC just sunk $400 million and $175 million in those tracks respectively, but it would be a good start to try and win back some of the core fans. And secondly the Gen 7 car has got to be a home run, it's got to not be aero dependent like the Gen 6,if not NASCAR may never get the fans back.
It’s CUP race week again in North Wilkesboro, something I thought I’d never hear again. This video aged badly, in such a good way and I’m so happy to see them come back!
So glad to see your channel getting soo much attention and your efforts paying off. Definitely a great video :) look forward to the future of it all
Me and my Dad have had sooooo many conversations about this little speedway up in Wilkes county.
We've talked about how NASCAR needs to make an attempt to go back one day.
But even if that never happens, we could at least get it back in running condition for the local level.
Look at Bowman-Gray, not too far from North Wilkesboro.
They hold local races on the weekends during the summer and it's usually a packed house.
Granted, it's not 60k packed, but for local racing it's a pretty good turnout.
Tear down the old buildings and grandstands (because they're basically falling in anyway) and tear up the old track surface and run races on the dirt. All you have to repair is the walls and the catch fence. Have some basic highschool stadium style grandstands and even have the rest bring their own camp chairs until there's no room.
Then maybe.... 10, 20, 30 years down the line, some crazy rich guy will take notice and take a chance on the track to get it NASCAR ready again.
Man I am so glad to have found your channel. We need more of this straightforward story telling.
Because it set a precedent for abandoning what made the sport great.
New NASCAR fan from europe here and I'm really wishing for classic tracks like North Wilkesboro and/or Rockingham for example to return to the calendar.
Also S1apSh0es is one of the main reasons I became interested in this great sport. Too bad I'm living too far away to attend one of the races anytime soon.
Nascar does have a euro series. I understand it's not the same, but it's far better than nothing. Maybe you could check that out. They stream live on RUclips I believe.
@@Zeppelin0731 Thanks, I think I will check it out!
Watched this before the recent news, and watching it again now. As a young fan who wasn't around for that thank you because you probably helped the return
I live in Texas and attended the that first race and many since and I love going there. That said I agree with you 100% and I miss North Wilkesboro. Hoping that Dale Earnhardt Jr. Can bring it back.
The growth of NASCAR in the 1990s was so intoxicating the power players thought they were creating lifelong fans. But as you mentioned, for many it was no more than a fashion bandwagon. Deep down inside you have to love the sights, and sounds, and smells of racing...or you'll eventually turn toward something more trendy.
The moral of the story: dance with the one tha "brung" ya'.
The old song is never truer: "Save The Last Dance For Me".
Not necessarily. If you don't keep you get left. And in the world of business, getting left means going out of business.
Thought I recognised the name from somewhere. Top Gear did a piece there in 2010 racing a 911, 458 and an SLS around the speedway. Mayor Robert Johnson even appears and helps Clarkson get new tyres for his SLS as he destroyed them on the speedway.
I live in Dallas, more specifically Garland County, Dallas TX and saw the 1997 race and oh boy that lap 1 crash was embarrassing.
I was working in greensboro for a couple months and on a saturday drive, came across the wilkedsboro track in 1999.....it was really quite a throwback for sure....we have riverhead raceway on long island and its just a blast.....i could only imagine how great it was to see a nascar race there.....nascar greats on this little backyard track.
fwiw, Marcus Smith said on the Dale Jr download that the Nashville fairgrounds project is far from dead. Nashville just got a new mayor and it sounded like he was pretty optimistic about the upcoming meetings they had. If he can get the Fairgrounds Speedway back on the schedule, I feel like North Wilkesboro can return to racing in at least some capacity. Great vid as always, keep up the good work :)
You are correct about the new mayor, the problem Marcus and SMI are going to run into is the Metro Council. The council doesnt want the race track, they haven't for years. I'm hoping Jim Cooper stands by his words he uttered at the track during the election "I stand by the track and the race fans".
Watching this after North Wilkesboro got renovated and seeing NASCAR return is great.
Good call I say
I agree...
Wow I was blown away by how you well you explained the north wilkesboro speedway's closing and eventual abandonment. I salute you
How amazing is this now that we are on the precipice of an All Star race happening at North Wilkesboro?
I live in Wilkes County. The Economy here is terrible and the Infrastructure is nearly in Shambles. We have a giant sinkhole in the middle of downtown Wilkesboro that's swallowing up a Tocobell and threatening to swallow up the nearby Aron's, and it keeps growing a couple of feet every month. Yet no one wants to fix it. The roads are bad, the nearby hills and such need a tree trimming becasue every time there is a storm trees keep falling into roads. Jobs are very hard to come by. I should know. I was let go of my job back in April and have been putting in applications left and right and still nothing. It's December now. I've been by the track a few times and sadly it's in VERY bad shape. Much worse than the guy here lets on. The entire track needs to be pealed up and a new track laid down. It literally crumbles in your hand. All the stands need to be torn down and built back from the ground up. If it wasn't for Tyson still willing to call this place home this place would be a complete ghost town and county by now. Wilkes county now ranks 65th in per capita income in NC. It use to be 23rd when Nascar was still here.
Thanks for the video man. I live in Wilkes county and would love to see a resurrection of the old speedway. I drive by it often with a heavy heart and think what a waste, so many small towns up on blocks for the wrong reasons. Mama always said what comes around goes around so maybe just one day we'll hear those roaring engines once again.
Slap, great video as always, though I do have a couple corrections based on my recollection.
First, SMI bought its half of North Wilkesboro with the intention of using its date as a second date at Texas in 1997. When SMI built Texas, NASCAR did guarantee that Texas would get one date in 1997. SMI though wanted 2 dates at Texas in its first year so they bought half of North Wilkesboro to move that date. After the purchase NASCAR only gave Texas one date saying that the North Wilkesboro date counts as the date they said they would get. This led to many long years of SMI and NASCAR legally fighting over Texas getting a second date. Which finally ended in the early 2000s when it was resolved by ISC selling Rockingham to SMI to give it s date to Texas. From then on NASCAR has held stance that each track owner controls its dates, which has led to barely any any schedule changes in the last 15 years. This is also why Kentucky never got a date until it was bought by SMI and SMI moved a date to Kentucky. This all seems like its going to end in 2021 though with a big schedule shakeup.
Another thing is that Las Vegas was not built by SMI, but they did purchase it a couple years after it was built.
Yes, the other aspect of this is the anti-trust legal battles between nascar/isc and SMI. But, that's more for the demise of Rockingham
I remember those races. I loved that track! Nascar shit on us.
I miss the NASCAR races at North Wilkesboro. They were always competitive. I have listened to Dale Jr's podcast on racing returning there, and it should. Nascar should help by giving their oldest division a date, the Modifieds. Pair it up with the truck series. Time for NASCAR to remember its past. Especially with the decline of the sport.
Oh boy do I have good news for you.
I say that from the next race till they announce that they'll return, we all make signs to persuade them to bring back North Wilkesboro speedway.