North Wilkesboro - Again

[muggle not]

http://www.catchfence.com/2009/otherseries/10/31/north-wilkesboro-speedway-reopens-with-coveted-date-in-usaracing-pro-cup-championship-series/

North Wilkesboro Speedway Reopens With Coveted Date In USARacing Pro Cup Championship Series

October 31, 2009 – 1:35 pm SOUTH BOSTON, Va. (October 31, 2009) – North Wilkesboro N.C.]

Speedway, a cornerstone in stock car racing’s foundation and a track that occupies a special place in grassroots racing fans’ hearts, will reopen next year with a coveted date in the USARacing Pro Cup Championship Series, it was announced Saturday during the drivers meeting prior to the series season finale Strutmasters.com 250 at South Boston Speedway.

Scheduled for Oct. 3, 2010, the race will be on the traditional fall weekend that for many years hosted NASCAR’s Sprint Cup Series from NASCAR’s inception in 1949 until the track closed after its fall race in 1996. Its two Cup dates were then moved to New Hampshire and Texas. But with the dawn of the 2010 racing season, the 0.625-mile track will again assume its rightful place in the stock car racing community.

“We are extremely pleased to be the first national touring racing series to return to the true roots of stock car racing,” USARacing Managing Partner Larry Camp said. “We know the people of Wilkes County and the surrounding area of North Carolina have missed stock car racing on this storied track.
“All of us at the USARacing Pro Cup Series are proud to be a part of this rebirth. Personally, I know the Staley family, Junior Johnson and the many stock car racing purists will mark Oct. 3, 2010, as a red letter day in the sport. I know Benny Parsons would be extremely proud of (his wife) Terri for helping return stock car racing to the county that he and his family so dearly loved.”

In addition to Mrs. Parsons, the new ownership group consists of Alton McBride Sr., Alton McBride Jr., Dave Ehret, John Burwell and Bosco Lowe.

With the addition of North Wilkesboro Speedway, the USAR Pro Cup Series schedule contains five tracks that played key roles in NASCAR’s first 50 years. The series travels to Hickory [N.C.] Motor Speedway on May 1, Rockingham [N.C.] Speedway on May 15, South Boston Speedway on June 12 and for the season finale on Nov. 6, and Bristol [Tenn.] Motor Speedway on Sept. 11. Gresham Motorsports Park, site of the USAR Pro Cup Series season opener on March 27 and a Championship Series race on Oct. 23, is on the site of the old Peach State Speedway in Jefferson, Ga., which hosted NASCAR Cup races in the late 1960s.

“We are very excited to add the historic North Wilkesboro Speedway to the 2010 USARacing Pro Cup Series schedule as this completes our 2010 schedule and adds another high profile venue to our already impressive list of quality and historic tracks,” Vice President and Series Director Jimmy Wilson said. “In addition to North Wilkesboro, we have solidified our date with Hickory Motor Speedway, moving it earlier in the season compared to years past. This is truly a schedule everyone can get excited over.”

The USAR Pro Cup Series 2010 schedule has the nation’s premier short-track circuit visiting a dozen venues in eight states. The series’ return to Bristol Motor Speedway, the reopening of North Wilkesboro Speedway, and a companion race with NASCAR’s Nationwide Series at Iowa Speedway on July 30 highlight the 16-race schedule that boasts a five-event Championship Series.

Joining Gresham Motorsports Park, Bristol Motor Speedway and North Wilkesboro Speedway as added venues for the 2010 season are New Smyrna Speedway in New Smyrna Beach, Fla., on April 17; Lake Erie Speedway in Erie, Pa., on June 26; and Salem Speedway in Salem, Ind., on July 10.

The USARacing Pro Cup Series, formerly Hooters Pro Cup, is owned by Interstate Investment Group and is based in Concord, N.C. IIG is comprised of Jack McNelly, Gary Kale, Carl Hubbard, Chip Lofton and Larry Camp, who serves as the managing partner. For more information on the USARacing Pro Cup Series, go to www.usarprocup.com.

[call_me_andrew]

I'll believe that when I see it.

I thought Rockingham would do really well when Andy Hillenberg took over, but he can't get that place half full with only 30,000 seats.

[Mark in Oshawa]

I'll believe that when I see it.

I thought Rockingham would do really well when Andy Hillenberg took over, but he can't get that place half full with only 30,000 seats.

C'mon Andrew, we all know That EVERYONE used to go to Rockingham, just listen to any afternoon on Sirius NASCAR radio when tracks and races in the south are talked about. If half the people who whine and b!tch about the Rock and Wilkesboro off the sched went to either, they still would be on the sched.

That said, the USAR works on a track like North Wilkesboro and it is a small track. This could work....

[BobbyC]

And for all of the Chase haters -- the USAR was the organisation that developed the Chase in 2001. If it wasn't for USAR, NASCAR would have never considered that.

Terri Parsons, Benny's second wife (married 1992-2006), is in this organisation that wants to race at the historic circuit in the #1 market for NASCAR that once was the home for Jimmie Johnson's sponsor, which has its first store there, and many offices, but in 2001 moved to Iredell County. Mrs. Parsons is the proprietor of the nearby Rendezvous Ridge winery.

[muggle not]

North Wilkesboro now has 3 races lined up.

http://www2.journalnow.com/content/2009/nov/10/fans-turn-out-celebrate-speedways-new-life/sports-professional-auto-racing/
Fans turn out to celebrate speedway's new life

Published: November 10, 2009

NORTH WILKESBORO
Junior Johnson was there, and Bobby Allison and Ned Jarrett and other former drivers, and race engines revved and firetrucks wound their sirens and people leaving the infield garage took up the offer to drive a lap around North Wilkesboro Speedway.

About 200 people turned out in a steady rain Tuesday to hear about plans to revive racing at the historic 0.625-mile oval that closed in 1996. Speedway Associates Inc., the group that has a three-year lease on the track, had already announced that a USA Racing Pro Cup race (the former Hooters Cup series) will be held here Oct. 3, 2010.

Alton McBride Jr., president of SAI, announced that two more series are coming. The American Speed Association Late Model Series will bring its 300-lap Kings Ransom televised finale here sometime in November 2010, he said. Also coming is the Pro All Star Series (PASS) late model touring series. Both dates are still be finalized.

McBride also said they want to host a fair at the speedway, and have letters of intent from two major festivals he didn't name.

There weren't a lot of new details announced at the event, which lasted more than an hour. But it was a festive atmosphere, like a pep rally, with people talking of fond memories and hopes for the future.

Wilkes County resident Terri Parsons, the widow of Winston Cup champion Benny Parsons, pulled people together to make the deals happen. As she faced the crowd Tuesday, she asked former drivers to stand, then race team owners and volunteers and past spectators, and so on, until nearly everyone there was standing and applauding when she introduced McBride.

"After all that I feel like I should have a cape on," McBride said.

[call_me_andrew]

And for all of the Chase haters -- the USAR was the organisation that developed the Chase in 2001. If it wasn't for USAR, NASCAR would have never considered that.

Yes, but when USAR does it, they split the regular season among a North Division and a South Division. The eliminated teams stop racing after the regular season ends.

[muggle not]

Today's paper quoting Kevin Harvick:

BACK IN ACTION: Kevin Harvick spent Thursday testing at North Wilkesboro Speedway for this weekend. It was Harvick's first time at the historic track, which will be open for some racing later this season.

"The surface is fine," Harvick said. "They've done a really good job of cleaning it up. Obviously, they still have a lot to do with some of the facility. We were one of the first ones there just trying to feel out what it would be useful for and things like that."

[muggle not]

Today's paper quoting Kevin Harvick:

BACK IN ACTION: Kevin Harvick spent Thursday testing at North Wilkesboro Speedway for this weekend. It was Harvick's first time at the historic track, which will be open for some racing later this season.

"The surface is fine," Harvick said. "They've done a really good job of cleaning it up. Obviously, they still have a lot to do with some of the facility. We were one of the first ones there just trying to feel out what it would be useful for and things like that."

When harvick tested the mayor came out to watch since kevin was the first cup car to run the track since 1986. i can imagine what Harvick felt like driving the historic track.

[BobbyC]

He never raced it, but his late father-in-law (John Linville) raced it in the Nationwide tour. And that's good for Phoenix testing since that's coming quickly, and it will, like Rockingham, be used for testing since any National Series may test on a non-NASCAR track. Junior Johnson talked about testing at North Wilkesboro frequently before NASCAR's testing restrictions began in the 1990's.