NC Gov. Roy Cooper throws support behind North Wilkesboro Speedway revitalization
A month after an announcement about racing returning to long-shuttered North Wilkesboro Speedway, North Carolina governor Roy Cooper made a trip to the historic track in a show of support from the state.
The support wasn’t just in appearance. Wilkes County is among those set to receive a significant grant from the state’s Department of Commerce to benefit a revitalization project at its local racetrack, which is intended to improve the tourism economy hurt by the COVID-19 pandemic. For Wilkes County, the track is the 0.625-mile oval in North Wilkesboro.
“This place has been a fabric of our community and our state,” Cooper said at an event attended by Speedway Motorsports president and CEO Marcus Smith, NASCAR team owner Richard Childress, NASCAR driver Harry Gant and Wilkes County officials, among others.
“It’s part of our culture,” Cooper said. “It’s really spiritual when you come into this raceway. Someone likened it to a cathedral. It is, in many ways. I think people are going to be very excited to be back here and to some of the other speedways of North Carolina that are going to be revitalized and rejuvenated with these investments.”
The breakup of the Motorsports Relief Fund involves $45.8 million split among local governments to aid 17 North Carolina-based motorsports venues, with Charlotte Motor Speedway, Rockingham Speedway and North Wilkesboro being the three to benefit from multi-million dollar grants.
Speedway Motorsports owns Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, and North Wilkesboro. It announced plans last month with XR Events to bring multi-week grassroots racing to the smaller track in August (on asphalt) and October (on dirt) before a repave in 2023. A NASCAR race at the venue still appears a long way off given the necessary upgrades.
“I like old cars, but I like to make them resto-mods and this is gonna be a resto-mod of a speedway,” Smith said, referring to classic cars that are restored and modified with updated technology. “It’s going to have all the cool, old history, but underneath we’re going to have plumbing that works and electricity that works, and we’ll have a really safe and fun place that we can enjoy year-round racing, special events, you name it.”
The speedway has largely fallen into disrepair since regularly hosting NASCAR’s top series from the late 1940s to the mid-90s, but efforts to bring North Wilkesboro back to its former glory have picked up in recent years, especially after a conversation between Smith and NASCAR’s unofficial ambassador Dale Earnhardt Jr. piqued public interest when the two discussed the track on Jr.’s podcast.
Smith previously thanked the NASCAR Hall of Fame driver for prompting discussions about the project and did so again Tuesday in his comments. Cooper thanked Smith.
“You kept racing alive through all of this,” Cooper said of SMI’s efforts during the pandemic. “When it came time for recovery, we thought about one of the very best ways to invest in our people (and) use American Rescue Fund investments to invest in our economy and jobs and tourism.”
The North Carolina Department of Commerce said that Charlotte Motor Speedway, which will host one of NASCAR’s crown jewel events in the Coca-Cola 600 on May 29, hosted 1.1 million visitors throughout 2019 and generated more than $25 million a year in state and local tax revenue prior to the pandemic.
Cabarrus County, where Charlotte Motor Speedway is located, lost more than $24 million in hotel revenue between March and September 2020, which led to a loss of $540,000 in local taxes, the state Department of Commerce said.
“The (motorsports) industry contributes millions to our economy, employs thousands of North Carolinians and offers special training through our state’s colleges, universities and technical schools,” North Carolina Dept. of Commerce chief deputy secretary Jordan Whichard said. “With these new investments, motorsports can positively outpace its pre-pandemic impact.”
The money awarded as part of the Motorsports Relief fund can be used “for water, sewer and other infrastructure projects pertaining to the speedways,” the Department of Commerce said. It also named upgrades to grandstands, pedestrian walkways, bathrooms and “a variety of other facility needs.”
N.C. Department of Natural and Cultural Resources secretary Reid Wilson said that a “Moonshine and Motorsports Trail” will launch in 2023 as part of the plans to drive tourism in the state and benefit local economies. Details of the trail’s length and location were not disclosed.
In addition to North Wilkesboro ($18 million), Charlotte Motor Speedway ($13 million) and Rockingham Speedway ($9 million), the other tracks across the state benefitting from the grants are Tri County Speedway ($485,000), Hickory Motor Speedway ($568,254), Bowman Gray Stadium ($530,020), Farmington Dragway ($507,654), GALOT Motorsports Park ($583,586), Coastal Plains Dragway ($485,000), Orange County Speedway ($39,738), Dixieland Speedway ($85,600), Caraway Speedway ($485,000), Rockingham Dragway ($485,000), Wake County Speedway ($537,511), Outer Banks Speedway ($272,920), Southern National Motorsports Park ($557,770) and County Line Raceway ($196,232).
Those grants will move through the local level, but the tracks are closer to seeing the impact of the money. Cooper’s visit to North Wilkesboro on the eve of the 75th anniversary of speedway’s first race in 1947 showed his support for its long-awaited revitalization.
