North Wilkesboro Speedway Revival Gets Big Momentum, Big Benefactor
Marcus Lemonis has pledged a million dollars towards reopening NASCAR s once oldest track. Barcroft MediaGetty Images
A quarter of a century after its last NASCAR event, Wilkes County, North Carolina has been heard loud and clear. We want you back.
Of course, they never wanted NASCAR to leave in the first place, but that’s long bygones by this point. With the NASCAR industry embracing its roots with a pursuit of additional short track events and a road relevant race car, North Wilkesboro Speedway aligns with the concurrent push to revive Fairgrounds Nashville Speedway too.
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Gunnar Smith, 6 of Washington, holds a checkered flag for the final lap of a heat race Saturday at Wiscasset Speedway. His mother Dakota Maddocks had a full set of flags in her boot and would hand off the green, yellow, white or checkered flags as the race went along. Joe Phelan/Kennebec Journal
WISCASSET About an hour before the green flag dropped to begin the 2021 season, Josh St. Clair spotted Garrett Hall near the pit gate and asked Hall if he was in town to pick up an easy win.
Turns out, it was St. Clair who made simple work of the Opening Day field at Wiscasset Speedway.
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Auto racing: With fans back in the stands, tracks prepare to open for 2021
Wiscasset Speedway and Oxford Plains Speedway open this weekend; Johnny Clark takes New Hampshire win in PASS.
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Johnny Clark of Hallowell (54) leads Brandon Barker and Mike Hopkins in the PASS Northeast Classic 50 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon, N.H., last weekend.
Contributed photo/PASS
It’s official: 2020 is in the rearview mirror.
Wiscasset Speedway and Oxford Plains Speedway both open their gates Saturday with the start of their weekly racing series, with Beech Ridge Motor Speedway and Speedway 95 each holding practice days before taking the green flag on Saturday, May 1.
Auto racing: With fans back in the stands, tracks prepare to open for 2021 sunjournal.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from sunjournal.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
We Haven t Given Up on North Wilkesboro, Says Marcus Smith If we can think of a way to do something there, we re going to.
North Wilkesboro Speedway is the legend that just won’t die.
Despite inactivity for a decade and no NASCAR events in a quarter of a century, a subset of the fandom has not given up hope that something can be done with the hallowed grounds of what used to be the oldest continually operating stop on the Cup Series schedule.
Of course, that title now exclusively belongs to Martinsville Speedway in Virginia, but also applied to Wilkes County, North Carolina until 1996. That’s when the track was sold to Speedway Motorsports Inc. and its dates given to Texas Motor Speedway and New Hampshire Motor Speedway, respectively.