NASCAR Should Place More Emphasis On Preserving History
It’s hard to believe that NASCAR last raced at North Wilkesboro Speedway 19 years ago. On that day in September 1996, Jeff Gordon started second, led 207 of the 400 laps, and beat Dale Earnhardt to the line by 1.73 seconds on a day that saw the end of an era for one of NASCAR’s most famous tracks. This was a speedway that saw winners from the Flock brothers, to Rex White, to Cale Yarborough, to Earnhardt, to Mark Martin. It was the track where Harry Gant’s 1991 drive-for-five straight wins was ended. It was the track where Earnhardt’s run for the 1989 Winston Cup championship was derailed by an errant move by Ricky Rudd. Ernie Irvan made his triumphant return to the cockpit at this track in late 1995, a little over a year after his near-fatal accident at Michigan in 1994.
In short, it was a track full of history.
NASCAR has done a lot to honor it’s rich history; there’s no questioning that. Along with the NASCAR Hall of Fame, there are other ways that some of NASCAR’s greatest drivers are still involved in the sport. Richard Petty, for example, continues to partake by running the Richard Petty Motorsports organization. Darrell Waltrip is one of the sport’s most colorful announcers. There’s even the wildly successful throwback weekend that recently happened at Darlington Raceway, with throwback schemes, throwback firesuits, throwback slicks, even throwback announcers like Ken Squier and Ned Jarrett.
But what about the venues that made NASCAR what it is today? Take another speedway for example, like Rockingham Speedway. It was only 11 years ago that Matt Kenseth barely fended off rookie Kasey Kahne in the track’s last Cup race. These days, it’s hard to believe that this is the track that gave Kyle Larson his first Camping World Truck Series win in 2013.
These are only two of the many venues that gave NASCAR a boost towards being a premiere racing series. Both tracks were wildly popular and rarely failed to deliver at providing a good product. Both speedways even enjoyed temporary revivals in the last five years, as North Wilkesboro was briefly reopened in 2010 for the ASA Late Model Series, the USARacing Pro Cup Series, and the PASS Super Late Model Series before closing again in 2011. Rockingham reopened for the NCWTS in 2012, but after 2013 it closed again. Rockingham did host some ARCA races in 2008 as well as CARS Pro Cup races, but it wasn’t enough to keep the speedway going.
Both tracks hold a special place in the hearts of longtime fans across the world. These are where our racing heroes cut their teeth and fought side-by-side for wins. These tracks are just a couple of former NASCAR tracks in the heart of stock car racing country, and both continue to decay, as if forgotten. Do these tracks deserve that fate?
No, they don’t. It’s a given that the Sprint Cup Series and the Xfinity Series aren’t going to be making a return to either track any time soon. North Wilkesboro is so outdated that it would cost more money than NASCAR would allow in order for the track to be renovated to sustain a major racing event. As for Rockingham, same thing. There’s no way NASCAR would fork over the money to fix the track for another major racing event.
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So why not turn them into tributes? Museums that honor stock car racing’s checkered past, giving the fans a detailed history of the rise of NASCAR and other variations of stock car racing? It can happen. It should happen. It needs to happen. It’s one thing to claim that “we love our history.” It’s another to actually come up with a sanctioned plan to keep this places from falling apart and ultimately demolished to make way for something mundane like a strip mall or a housing development.
Sites like SaveTheSpeedway.net have managed to keep stuff like that from happening, which is more than can be said for the incessant “Oh, we miss this place, wish they would bring it back” posts that seem to be on the resumé of just about every popular NASCAR blogger/writer/reporter out there. But while these places did so much for the growth of NASCAR, NASCAR should return the favor and initiate a plan to keep these tracks afloat as shrines to the past. Daytona, as great as it is, isn’t enough. Darlington isn’t enough. Martinsville isn’t enough. Rockingham and North Wilkesboro should be turned into museums to ensure that they won’t be forgotten. Museums, or something resembling the sort.
April 14, 1996. Terry Labonte (No. 5) would go on to win that day.
It’s heartbreaking to see these tracks looking like the result of some major catastrophe. Bring them back, NASCAR. Show that you truly honor the past by keeping these tracks going, if only just for spectators to come by for a brief look. There’s nothing wrong at all about making these tracks true tourist attractions. Stop letting them cheapen with age.
A special thank you to Seph Lawless (sephlawless.com) for use of his photos.
Be sure to check Seph Lawless’s book The Last Lap for more images from North Wilkesboro Speedway as it is today: http://sephlawless.com/the-last-lap-north-wilkesboro-speedway-2