The closure of North Wilkesboro was the beginning of the end for old school NASCAR. I was only 8 when they closed the track, but it was my favorite on the schedule.

So excited that we finally got the news we've been waiting for for 27 years and that we'll be racing at Wilkesboro in the cup series next year. It's amazing what everyone associated with the speedway has done to make it happen. Super, super excited to see this place come alive once more.

@thomashallman5436

11 ай бұрын

i agree too bad rednecks confederate flag privileges are gone bur i mean but at least old school has not entirely left

sadly 5/8 mile is really the ideal size for a track, and this was the last one that size

@TravisMSimpson

8 жыл бұрын

+rowdyeverylap Today's race is brought to you by Bruton Smith. Remember, if it ain't a boring mile and a half, it is not a real race track. I don't watch the cookie cutters, they suck.

@Probowler37

7 жыл бұрын

No kidding Travis. Love the plate tracks though.

@landonwilkes820

4 жыл бұрын

rowdyeverylap Martinsville is a fun short track

@Pullen.rallysport909

Жыл бұрын

This didn’t age well and that’s a good thing. See y’all next weekend!

yeah because since it was the final race at Wilkesboro, I thought everyone would enjoy all the extra stories about North Wilkesboro but you are right the first 47 minutes are pre-race

Bruton Smith you should be ashamed! Bring this track back in some fashion. Nationwide, truck, whatever. It could be profitable once again but on a smaller scale. You are the vindictive half of ownership that wont budge. NASCAR.. you should be ashamed of letting this track sit for all these years. Pitiful.

I used to tape these back in the day so that I could watch them later and I taped this one. It was very sad watching north wilksboro leave the circuit. There were so many great races there. Darlington, Daytona, north wilksboro

Taking NASCAR from being an empire to a joke and losing its loyal fans. This is where it started

@dannycoker6439

4 жыл бұрын

Champ39 Champ 39 so true it hurts to the core!...

It's official North Wilkesboro is back as the All-Star race in 2023

all the cool tracks are replaced with boring mile and a halves where the racing sucks

@skooby_doobie_doonkann3334

6 жыл бұрын

Anthony Kernich short tracks had a lot of loyal fans and there was great racing on those tracks. mile and a half tracks like Vegas and Miami and Chicago suck

@jacknapier8774

5 жыл бұрын

Cookie cutter tracks are replacing all the good ones

@AlonsoRules

3 жыл бұрын

Chicago and Kentucky are gone for 2021. Good riddance.

NASCAR isn't to blame for North Wilkesboro closing - Greedy Burton Smith and Bob Barhe are the ones too blame

@skooby_doobie_doonkann3334

4 жыл бұрын

Nascar would still be there if it was not for those assholes. Shame on them

@JJA1987

4 жыл бұрын

@@skooby_doobie_doonkann3334 Facts

Apparently Bruton Smith, Mike Helton, and, to a lesser extent, Braindead France, didn't want Charlotte to be the only 'true' 1.5 mile oval in the series (In case younger fans don't know, Atlanta was originally built in 1960 [ironically, the same year Charlotte opened, if I'm not mistaken] as a true 1.5 mile oval, but was re-configured for some strange reason which I'll never, ever get in 1970 to 1.522, and then in between the spring and fall finale races in 1997 to its current length of 1.540.)

it feels so foreign to see that many fans packed inside and outside the track, and that close to the wall. IT makes it look so crowded and amazing. It's been nearly 30yrs since I was last there with my dad. Too young to remember the racing, but I remember the car liveries, climbing the hill to reach the stands.... and those mens bathrooms lol

Oh and thanks for the commercials! I love the old commercials!

@amandashaul2059

4 жыл бұрын

Right

As a Jeff Gordon fan I was happy to watch him get his first win at north wilkesboro in the final race there ,but it was so tough watching the final event. That track should have stayed in the cup circuit

stands packed for the final race, nice job nascar

@AlonsoRules

7 жыл бұрын

and we have empty stands at Dover this weekend to look forward to

It was so sad to see North wilksboro leave the circuit. Always good racing there

Awesome stuff! Thanks for the RPM2day before the race!

20 years ago today...sad.

This was such an emotional day in motorsports

Bill Weber was a great narrator especially on Wilkesboro memories segment of NASCAR Today. Now the track is in Cars 3 as Thomasville Speedway which I thought was damn awesome. Edit 2022: Now the track is back for All Star Race 2023. Field of Dreams race.

I get the whole NASCAR big market push in the 1990's, but why couldn't NASCAR have built tracks like North Wilkesboro in these big markets?

@RsRj-qd2cg

3 жыл бұрын

They caught the "everything's bigger in Texas" mindset.

18:13 Who knew then Burton would be in the NBC booth almost 20 years later?

So sad that they closed this track. This was a terrible example of corporate bullshit. to build Texas and Las Vegas where there is no market for auto racing. This track had a huge loyal following and there would still be cup races here today since its right in the part of the country with its huge market. but this was a great race and it's so good to see racing from when it was a great sport and a real sport. NASCAR sold out to the corporate world. north wilkesboro speedway could have undergone renovations to accommodate modern needs and demands

On September 30, 1996, NASCAR visited the North Wilkesboro Speedway for one last time when Jeff Gordon won the final NASCAR race at North Wilkesboro for Hendrick Motorsports by defeating the late Dale Earnhardt. The 1996 Tyson Holly Farms 400, the most dramatic race of the 16th year of NASCAR Racing on Philippine Television, was jointly produced by Television and Production Exponents, Inc. and SilverStar Communications, Inc. and aired live, nationwide, and via-satellite on GMA Network and simulcasted on Citynet Television 27, DZBB 594 Radyo Bisig Bayan, and Campus Radio 97.1 WLS FM. It was aired live at 2:30 A.M. on GMA-7 and Citynet Television 27 with an encore telecast at 3:00 P.M. right after Valiente on GMA-7 and at 6:30 P.M. right before Citynet Television News on Citynet Television 27

Kyle petty entire career was being in the way even today

@blainebarker

6 жыл бұрын

LOL, that is so true.

@jacknapier8774

5 жыл бұрын

Or ending up in the garage

@AlonsoRules

4 жыл бұрын

to be fair, he did lead 490 laps at Rockingham in 1992 - he wasn't absolutely terrible

@dannycoker6439

4 жыл бұрын

Cod Life Lol,cod life I enjoy Kyle he’s a wizard when it comes to knowing the sport of Nascar (Shame he couldn’t drive as good as he talks) Lol

@DupontandLowesWarrior

4 жыл бұрын

Adam would've been better

Back in the day before the commentators needed to constantly remind us what kind of tires and fuel Nascar uses

@RsRj-qd2cg

3 жыл бұрын

Because there were more interesting things to talk about.

Wow 20 years ago.

42:00 (book mark for later to finish watching) I love all of the interviews before the race starts (the first 42 minutes) this is great.. We need to get racing back at Wilkesboro! 1:25:24 What the heck? lol

Do you have any other full North Wilkesboro races?

The Winnipeg Jets moved to Phoenix that same year signifying the NHL's similar failures to expand into trendier markets. If Winnipeg can get their NHL team back, then North Wilkesboro can hopefully one day return to BASCAR.

Last race until Saturday may 9 2020 well virtually

GREAT RACE

@Spannerhead29 I believe because the small track, especially the pit road, could not accommodate any more cars. Around this time and earlier, smaller tracks like Wilkesboro, Martinsville, Bristol had smaller fields than the larger tracks.

@danielmoorefield4891

4 жыл бұрын

Sometimes field at Martinsville up road over border was at 31 cars before they expanded pit lane.

Add more races Gordon's the man

they use to run 36 cars plus champions provisional on all the short tracks

Terry foreshadowing playoffs

Well, Wilkesboro is coming back.

Dale Jr. is trying to get it revived. Hope it works

@TheRacingGenius88

4 жыл бұрын

Well for IRacing so they did a ton and I mean a ton of work.

47:50 for the start of the race.

Evan, all NASCAR fields back then only ran 36 cars on the short tracks.

Real racing when drivers mattered

When someone says wilkesboro you immediately think racing, who the hell in Chicago, las Vegas cares about racing, nascar has completely lost its roots

@allabouthewaves4354

4 жыл бұрын

If that’s the case, why is Bobby Labonte the last driver to win a Cup Championship from the South? Busch Brothers have won Championships and their from Vegas. Chad Knaus grew up a hour out of Chicago and he’s a 7 time Cup Champion. Southern Fans act like NASCAR didn’t exploded in popularity in the 90s.

And they will be back in 7 days!

@Acedfest

Жыл бұрын

I spent the last decade calling into Sirius/XM NASCAR Radio, and on Twitter saying we need to go back to NASCAR racing Cup Series at North Wilkesboro, excited for the drivers in the other series including Truck Series, the whole week will be a total sell out, the whole energy is going to be epic

Why do people say the attendance is why they left? This place is fucking packed and is every time I look up a race .

@JJA1987

4 жыл бұрын

Greatest Brand It was greedy ownership

0:26 oh god, oh man, oh god oh man...

yeah 1992 First Union 400

@dannycoker6439

4 жыл бұрын

rowdyeverylap Was that the one K.Petty won and they had to give him oxygen in the car Lol

Larry mac was pissed! Funny nostalgia

Now its sits vacant Rotting away almost beyond repair.. what a great track that now goes to waste

Why was there only 37 cars instead of 43?

I miss dr jerry punch and bob jenkins

@wesleyloroff2736

4 жыл бұрын

I still have to wonder what Jerry is a doctor of. ESPN has never gotten back to me on that

@amandashaul2059

4 жыл бұрын

@@wesleyloroff2736 uhm.... A doctorate degree from a college. In broadcast journalism or something... You must be young or stupid.

@wesleyloroff2736

4 жыл бұрын

@@amandashaul2059 47 years old 25 of them watching Nascar. No one really said what he was a doctor of and obviously you don't know either (or something). Might be retoricle like calling a heavy weight "Slim" or a tall person "Shorty". The need to be an being an idiot is?

@amandashaul2059

4 жыл бұрын

@@wesleyloroff2736 uhm ok so here's the deal. He's actually a doctor of medicine. And worked both as a emergency doctor for nascar and a sports caster for espn etc. Dumb, thats for being too lazy to google it. Its 2020. Any question you have. Can be answered by searching for it. Dumb is how you think age has anything with IQ. Dumb is for actually thinking espn would answer you. Lmfao.

@amandashaul2059

4 жыл бұрын

@@wesleyloroff2736 he actually has another degree in zoology. And he was a back up QB in college.

Green flag at 47:57

2:51:05

Green flag 47:58

Dale Earnhardt was my favorite driver. It's too bad his son was a fucking disgrace tho.

@JJA1987

5 жыл бұрын

Too bad you're the definition of a disgrace

1:21:16

Unfortunately the track itself was much too small, they had to have to have shortened fields because the track could not accommodate 43 cars and teams at one time. What they did back then made sense, but they could have renovated Wilkes, but I have read it was difficult even then to get all the teams in there. The sport itself got too big for North Wilkesboro.

@downnice95

7 жыл бұрын

Bristol and Martinsville is smaller than this track

@dougbollacker5444

6 жыл бұрын

You think 8 extra cars would of made a difference?

@DupontandLowesWarrior

4 жыл бұрын

Las Vegas 2nd Race should be North Wilkesboro Spring Phoenix will become Rockingham in the Future if the Coronavirus ever leaves

@evanwilliams6406

4 жыл бұрын

@@DupontandLowesWarrior They aren't holding races there currently. The track needs a ton of work to be race ready.

@DupontandLowesWarrior

4 жыл бұрын

@@evanwilliams6406 Iracing has amazing racing

40:32 If DW knew this back then, how did NASCAR not? Wishful, greedy thinking on their parts I guess.

Nascar is ruined now.

Ugly Cars Boring racing I'm glad this track is gone

@m1co294

4 жыл бұрын

Atleast its better than the identical 1.5 mile ovals and empty stands we have today..

@amandashaul2059

4 жыл бұрын

God forgive this fool

@thomashallman5436

11 ай бұрын

he needs it bad amanda@@amandashaul2059

long live ol wonder boy and the itimidator