North Wilkesboro:  Bless You, Deb Williams

It’s been quite a week so far after the All-Star Race. The gushing afterglow on social media and satellite radio says that North Wilkesboro delivered.  And the daily conversations on Sirius XM Channel 90 this week has been quite interesting as show hosts like “Pistol Pete” Pistone and Mike “Bagman” Bagley of The Morning Drive giddily engage callers recapping the past weekend’s on track product while speculating on its surely bright future.  Another All-Star Race there?  Surely a Points Race?  

The future’s so bright… well you can fill the rest.

Taking it all in, I can’t help going back about eighteen months ago when Petey and the Bagman were discussing this very same track and its future. Their discussion that day was so different from what we’re hearing today I couldn’t help but dust off this lengthy but previously unposted piece written to thank a guest who appeared later in that episode.

So, pour another cup and take this walk down memory lane, please understand the much of the content are comments made on the December 15th episode of “The Morning Drive” and were included in an attempt to give any readers who did not hear the original show a feel for the subject. And as you read along and go back to that day, think about just how different things sound today. I think you’ll see why the piece is still timely and further reinforces this writer’s original sentiments.  

Hope you enjoy-DN

Long-time award-winning NASCAR journalist, Deb Williams has been an important part of my NASCAR fan journey.  For as long as I can remember, no matter who she was writing for, her work was always the first piece I would read.  She is a journalist from a different era where getting the story right was foremost. She built trust through her content, delivery and style. Her objectivity provided the reality check I often needed.  

As it turns out, Friday, December 15, 2023 was again one of those days when I needed Deb Williams.   

It was on that day SIRIUS XM Channel 90 “The Morning Drive with Mike Bagley and Pete Pistone” opened Envelope #4 of the “December to Remember”.  The topic was “Reflections on North Wilkesboro’s Return in 2023”.  What I expected to be a feel good, upbeat celebration of the efforts of Marcus Smith, SMI, Terri Parsons, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Save Our Speedway and everyone else involved in resurrecting the beloved pioneer track was unfortunately, and unexpectedly far from it. 

Pete opened with his reaction to the return of racing on the long dead, now resurrected North Wilkesboro track as “improbable” that immediately went into “Personally, I got tired of hearing about it” to a reluctant “Didn’t think it would happen, but it checked all the boxes – they had a full house, and the place looked great.”

Then came the “BUT”… and you know how “buts” work – the BUT negates everything that comes before it, leaving only what follows.

Pete had two exceptions – 1) the racing wasn’t great as Kyle Larson stunk up the show (when has that ever happened before?) and 2) the return to the roots of the sport “didn’t help grow the sport beyond this universe”.  “It did solidify some of the fans who had been around a while who wanted something like this back on the schedule.”

He then basically dissed the effort by saying Recovery Act money made it happened and if Marcus Smith and company don’t get that money, it’s not happening.  He then acknowledged it was good use of government money, while never mentioning that the money given to NWS was not just to bring the track back for a race but was part of a bigger project and a greater vision by the state of North Carolina – the North Carolina Moonshine and Motorsports Trail of which North Wilkesboro was the anchor.

He closed by saying in almost a resigned tone that it put a racetrack that had a lot of significance to the sport and a lot of relevance to a lot of race fans back on the schedule.

Mike Bagley then opened his monologue with – “The calls to bring it back… those calls quite frankly got exhausting.  There was no possible way it was going to happen without the funding.”  He explained it was catering to both sets of fans of the sport in the scheduling department-Legacy and non-Legacy (or whatever the designation is for that group of fans).  He continued by asking us to remember that a couple of years or so, Atlanta got two dates and NASCAR President, Steve Phelps said that this was for the Legacy fans as Atlanta had been a part of the sport since 1960, North Wilkesboro longer than that.  So, there has been an effort in the scheduling department to go to new places as well as an effort to beef up the schedule for the older fans.  He thought North Wilkesboro did that.  

At that point I was confused because the initial story we got was SMI moved its Kentucky dates to Atlanta not to satisfy the Legacy fans but because SMI wanted to beef up the product there as it was pursuing a casino at that location.  Additional races there would make it the destination they needed for that end.

“I don’ think you put it into the part of growing the sport, frankly you are in a very rural part of North Carolina that is hard to get to.  This caters to more of the core fan who has been there or is local.  So, to me, that going back there was catering to the Legacy fan.” (my emphasis added-keep this in mind for later)

He tipped his cap to Marcus Smith for “seizing the opportunity” and then recognized “Dale Jarret, Dale (Earnhardt) Jr. and whoever was involved in that, who were involved there.”  Then he moved to the funding – “Let’s go back, spend some money there, North Carolina wanting to spend some money, SMI spending some money there as well, so to go back and kinda breathe life back into the place… I’m fine with it.”

His words may be convincing on this paper but the tone over the airwaves was less so.

Then he gave older fans not any newer fans mind you, who may be interested, permission to go there.  “Hey, if you are an older fan, going to North Wilkesboro does it for you, then go get it. I’m all for that, but (there is always a BUT) I also at the same time don’t need an oversaturation of going back in the day because we have Legacy tracks already on the schedule-Martinsville, Daytona… Dover has been around since 1969.”

He goes on.  “So, you have those tracks that have been with us for a while, but I want to be able to go to newer places.  So, if that is one of those judgement calls-we give the Legacy fans Wilkesboro… we are also going to go to the Chicago Street Course, I’m cool with that. You are basically giving both sides. That’s the way it needs to be looked at.”

He then poked at the Legacy fans “Oh my, I can’t believe we’re going to Chicago.  What about us Legacy fans? Well, you got North Wilkesboro. Got a little something for you.  Got something for the newer fans.  I think we should continue to do that going forward with that. We’re going to new places. We’re going to be going to more new places coming up.”

Again, some of this reads reasonable, but it was the tone which cannot be captured in written words as the near disdain for the Legacy fans was hard to miss.  The underlying message was that if it wasn’t for you Legacy fans the rest of us could have new things and do new things.

Unfortunately, it’s an attitude that is becoming increasingly more prevalent.

He closed with a reluctant admission that “I’m cool with that.  Fans were cool with that.  Looks like everyone had a good time.  Field of Dreams moment that I think that a lot of fans yearn for. Those dividends were paid mightily when we went there for the All-Star Race.”

At this point I was dumbfounded. For what was initially billed when the 2023 Cup Schedule was released as a significant event – finally, the return of Cup racing to one of the earliest, one of its pioneer tracks (1949)… after being off the schedule since 1996… resurrecting a long dead pioneer track… to do so during NASCAR’s Diamond Anniversary season celebration… for an All-Star race… you would have barely known it from his initial comments. In many sports a Field of Dreams moment is something strived for and if achieved, treasured, but here it’s nearly an afterthought.  Instead of being that significant event as it was initially billed, it was presented as an aggravation and nuisance that was only being talked about today because that was unfortunately the contents in Envelope #4.  

The resurrection and restoration effort that had never before been attempted in the 75 year history of the Series was successfully executed by Marcus Smith, SMI, Terri Parsons, the Save the Speedway believers including long-time NWIS employee Paul Call, the folks of Wilkes County and the taxpayers of the State of North Carolina was not only barely celebrated for the accomplishment that it was, but almost treated with disdain and as big an aggravation and nuisance as the fans who had called their show wanting it back.

That may not have been the intent but that was the reception.  

Pete got the mic again for Round Two, taking things to the next level, way past the initial topic of remembrance but to the future beyond 2023 with, “As long as it sustains itself, I’m with you 100%.  I’m not going to go too far down the path but that it’s not a one and done.  They poured a ton of money into that place.”  

At this point I’m talking to the radio – “North Carolina spent $18 million at North Wilkesboro and NASCAR spent $50 million at Chicago, which has more to show for the money spent?  At least NWS has a raceable track that won’t have to be rebuilt each year at a sizeable cost.”

Pistone continued with “Again if you want those kinds of racetracks and I’m with you as well, Marcus Smith and SMI, remarkable, just remarkable to make that racetrack from what it was to what we saw past year, but (there’s that word again) it has to be supported.”

Then Pistone took a slam on the whole effort when he said, “…I will tell you infinitely that the Chicago Street Circuit and the LA Coliseum has done more in two and three years’ time to grow the sport then to go back to North Wilkesboro.  If that part of If we are going to do this so we can do that, that’s fine. But I do have a little bit of a hard time that everybody wants to go back to places that didn’t work the first time around.”  

At this point I found myself saying “North Wilkesboro didn’t die because it didn’t work or because no one showed up.  It was killed because they could take its dates to bigger tracks and meet the fans demands.  They could make more money elsewhere. What killed NWS is they couldn’t expand to meet the growing fan demand, not that no one showed up.”

He shifted to Rockingham, which was not initially part of Envelope #4 and began dissing them… “This Rockingham discussion now, we are going to go back to Rockingham, we’re going to go back there, a place we’ve been to twice.  People didn’t show up.  Why resurrect a place and go back to it that doesn’t, in my opinion, help grow the sport?”  

Bagley chimed in, “Another rural location.”  Again, keep that one in mind.

Pete took that and ran with it…” Exactly.  I don’t get it.  Go back to Kentucky. Where were you folks when Kentucky was operating?  I didn’t see you in the stands there then.  What’s going to be different this time around?”

Interesting that he omitted the little fact that only 105K fans bought tickets and tried to show up for the first Kentucky Cup race (which just so happens to be the same as this year’s Daytona 500) and SMI botched the traffic and the response so badly, most of the fans never came back.  Plus, I thought we were talking about remembering North Wilkesboro?  Why is he blurring the subject by talking about other tracks that aren’t even on the schedule yet and if left up to him will clearly never be?  

Pete did qualify things by giving the resurrected track in Wilkes County a bit of differentiation and some reluctant acknowledgement.

“So there’s a little difference, Wilkesboro is different than those two examples because it hadn’t been on the schedule since 1996 and here’s the other key Baggy, it’s a short track, which we all know are in short supply these days on the Cup side these days.  That’s the other box that North Wilkesboro checked in the successful return that NASCAR had there for the All-Star Race.  It wasn’t just going back to a place that hadn’t been on the calendar so long but going back to a place that is less than a mile, a short track and we’ll see what kind of race we get there-they paved the place.  There is going to be that wrinkle going forward…” (Never mentioning the Next Gen’s Short Track Package is struggling mightily which may be a bigger wrinkle going forward.)   “But I’m hoping that this Sunday in May, like this last Sunday in May, you still have that feel, you still have that energy, and you still have that big crowd that you had for the first All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro.”

Bagley then took Petey’s continued support and requirement to sustain to an even higher level.  “I have evolved in my response.  I expect it to be supported.  With all the outcry we heard from fans.  We heard it for years we want it back.  I expect them to support it.”

His condescending yet pompous monologue ended with,“If you don’t support it and it gets removed from the schedule, I don’t want to hear it!.  You have to support it!  You wanted it.  You stomped your feet and pounded your fists and you got it back.”  

“Don’t complain if you lose it. I don’t want to hear it…  Don’t call in.”

At this point I couldn’t help but wonder about all those Road America fans who supported their track while racing was there and lost their race to a smaller capacity venue.  Supporting their race guaranteed nothing as far as I could tell.

Whether it was intended or not, what I heard was basically… you Legacy fans… you wanted this… well, you got what you wanted… you got your old track in the middle of nowhere that only you and some locals want or will attend, that added nothing to the sport other than to shut you all up so that the rest of us can go off and do what we really want to do-all the new and shiny things that you Legacy fans can’t stand and don’t want anyone else to have.  I don’t want to talk about it anymore.  When (not if, but when mind you) it crashes and burns don’t bother calling… I don’t want to hear about it.

Overall, the whole segment was hardly a glowing remembrance of a significant event in 2023 but an opportunity for divisiveness.   Legacy fans vs newer fans.  Old vs new.  Growing this sport through division and subtraction.  

Interesting.

As they went to commercial, I’m trying to determine if what I just heard is how two of the main mouthpieces for the sport truly feel about NWS and Legacy fans or are they just saying this to stir things up and get calls and clicks?  Are they fronts for NASCAR and just mouthpieces for the Sanctioning Body’s true attitudes toward Legacy fans and an SMI track?  Is it a MRN (employers of Pete and Mike) vs PRN (North Wilkesboro and SMI) or NASCAR (LA Coliseum and Chicago Street Course) vs SMI (North Wilkesboro) angle?  Would their attitudes be different if it was on their broadcast schedule vs. Doug Rice and company?  

Or since I am a card-carrying Legacy Fan was, I just being too thin-skinned and reading too much into it?  As I pondered all this, I heard them excitedly mention that Deb Williams would be on later.  That snapped me out of my funk.  Wonder what her take would be?

The Deb Williams segment opened with the welcomes and standard introductions highlighting her impressive 40-yearcareer in journalism.   It continued with the first question about the latest event she covered-the Alan Kulwicki Driver Development Awards Ceremony the night before.

She described the nights events devoted to the program established to keep Alan’s legacy alive though this premier short track driver development.  She explained the parties involved – Alan’s former PR director, Tom Roberts who now heads up the program, Geoff Bodine, who bought Alan’s team after his death who held court that night, America’s Crew Chief and the night’s MC, Larry McReynolds and finally members of Alan’s 1992 Championship Crew who returned for the ceremony.

They asked her about drivers she would be watching for in 2024 and her selection surprised me as it was Noah Gragson.  Deb explained that she saw a lot of Tim Richmond in Noah, the difficulty in adjusting the Cup series, how Tony Stewart of SHR had troubles adjusting as well and how SHR is the perfect place for Noah to grow at this point in his career.  She drew similarities in Noah and Tim’s flamboyance both in the driving styles and the way they do things.  It was an interesting perspective and unexpected comparison for sure.   

Then the TMD team got down to business and discussed North Wilkesboro with her.  It went something like this –

Mike Bagley: “Chatting with Deb Williams of Autoweek.  Deb, before you joined us, we’ve been on an exercise to where we call this the December to Remember.  And we’re going back and remembering things we forgot.  Well, one of the things that kinda got lost in shuffle, the later we got later in the season with the Playoffs and all that was one of things we were talking about was the return of North Wilkesboro.  You’ve been around the sport for a while.  You’ve seen a lot of people come and go, you’ve seen a lot of tracks come and go, North Wilkesboro was here.  It went.  And now it’s back.  What did that mean to the sport in your opinion to get North Wilkesboro back to cater to those Legacy fans that are amongst us.”  

Deb Williams: “I think it was extremely important.  And you know it’s not as difficult to get to North Wilkesboro.  I was listening to you all earlier and it’s not difficult to get to North Wilkesboro now as it was back when we had that last race back in 1996, because Hwy 421 is four lanes from I-77 to Boone, which goes right beside the racetrack.  So, it’s the main thoroughfare for a lot of people going to Appalachian State University and going to the high country to the ski resorts.  So, you have a whole different group of people going by there now.  And I know they plan to build an exit ramp off of HWY 421 that will dump you right there at the track where you don’t have to go the two-lane road from 421 to the track, so that will help.  The Highway Patrol worked extensively there.”  

(Me to myself:  So in just a very few sentences she professionally used facts to blow up their “rural” and “difficult accessibility” portrayal that did nothing but discourage any new or unknowing fans from even trying to go to the track.  The fact that showed that she, unlike the hosts, had been there, was boots on the ground during the event, could speak to it with firsthand knowledge, not memories from over a quarter of a century ago, all provided much needed reassurance that hey, if you want to come, it’s OK. You can get there.  It’s not a big deal and it’s only going to get better.)  

Deb continued – “But what I thought was interesting was how many people came from outside the area.  I was talking to people before the Moonshiners Reunion and they were from the Midwest. We had people from Missouri and Montana. You know it’s not like when you just had just local people coming to support this track and I think North Wilkesboro brought back a vital piece of history.  

(Me again:  So you mean that this isn’t just a track for only locals and Legacy fans like Mike and Petey described?  I knew the answer to that.  My cousin and her husband made their first trip there from Western Kentucky, just to see its revival and are making plans to go back.  It was nice for the audience, and more importantly the hosts to hear it from an industry expert with massive “cred”.)

She went on, “And we’re getting that balance now where the fans feel like they’re important. We went through a phase there where we catered to Corporate America and the TV markets because that’s what the sponsors wanted, and the fans felt left out.  And now we’re getting that balance that you are talking about where we can grow the sport, but we also cater to those fans.  

(Me one more time:  Trying to grow a sport through including former fans, salving wounds, making them feel important and uniting rather than creating further division, like “we gave you what you wanted and if it doesn’t work out don’t call.  I don’t want to hear it!”  we heard earlier… my, what a refreshing and novel concept!)

She drove home that point with “And you know I saw and talked to people (Me: There she goes again speaking from firsthand knowledge) who remembered being there as a child and now they were bringing their children or now bringing their grandchildren and there were a lot of children there and I think we have forgot when we grow the sport that the children are the future fans and they can’t drive themselves to the track and they can’t buy their ticket, they have got to have their parents and their grandparents and when the fans got angry with NASCAR we lost an entire generation.  (My emphasis) And its time, we’ve got to work to get that generation back.  (Again my emphasis)(Me:  That means everyone, including you Mike and Pete who steer and influence fans daily)  And reconnecting parts of NASCAR’s history like we’re doing with expanding and I’d like to see us in Canada, but doing that we’re getting a good balance.

(Me once again:  Sounds like Deb believes Legacy fans are an important component to the growth of the sport.)

At this point Pete asked, “Looking into your crystal ball, if the All-Star Race continues to be a success there do you see North Wilkesboro ever getting a points Cup race here down the road?  

Deb Williams: “I’ll be surprised if it does. I don’t know, it’s like we talk about, you know, you have to take one (race date) from somewhere to make a points race and right now, I think what we need to look at is maybe, is taking one, I still want us, want us to go to Canada.  I don’t think a lot of people, you have to go back and look in history…this series was racing in Canada in the 1950’s.   And we were racing in Oklahoma and all across the United States, and in states now that don’t even have racetracks.  So, we just got to find that balance and I think North Wilkesboro is the perfect place for the All-Star Race.”

And with that, the conversation and the remainder of the segment moved into some “war” stories and interesting remembrances.  

Deb had said her piece.  It was no surprise how the remainder of the show that day took on a much different tone and attitude than it had earlier.

In those few brief moments, Deb Williams gave North Wilkesboro it’s due, allayed misguided fears cast by Mike and Pete about the track’s accessibility issues, provided insight to fans that the access was only going to get better. Through her firsthand knowledge, she blew up the entire “locals and Legacy fans only” portrayal the show’s hosts had painted and again through firsthand knowledge updated the changing demographics now passing within a few miles of the track.  (Me:  It’s not a bunch of hillbillies and gray hairs-my words not theirs but the impression given.)

She outlined the need for balance and restoring the need to make once discarded fans feel important again, while driving home the much overlooked but critical point that without parents and grandparents (aka Legacy fans – my words not hers) to take children, our future fans, to the track, they can’t go. Without them going, we’re going to continue to lose the next generation of fans.  

Deb properly identified and unmistakably charged that “we’ve”, and that includes her, the hosts, Steve Phelps and company and anyone who cares about the sport including this writer, have got to work to get that lost generation of fans back if this sport is to grow.  It can’t and won’t happen by discarding or dismissing a group of people who some folks just don’t want to hear from.  And she reminded us how it’s going to take a reconnection with NASCAR’s history to remind fans that the NASCAR footprint once extended far beyond where it is now or where it has been in recent times and expansion into places especially Canada is OK.  We’ve been there.  Done that… well, maybe we didn’t, but our grandparents or maybe great grandparents did and if the sport is to expand, it’s OK, it really is, to go back.

When she was finished, all I could say was Bless You, Deb Williams.  

Before Deb Williams came on the air, I felt like this “December to Remember” discussion on North Wilkesboro’s resurrection was just another opportunity for the hosts to use their platform to take another shot at a group of NASCAR fans, many whose most offensive trait is they loved the sport enough to stay with it through good times and bad, and in doing so got too old to be classified in some arbitrary, desirable demographic.  

I wonder how many of those listeners who are in that group just heard Mike’s earlier words about fans wanting the track back – “You wanted it.  You stomped your feet and pounded your fists and you got it back.” and thought “Mike, you want us gone.  You have stomped your feet.  You have pounded your fists and I’m going to give you what you want!”  Click.  Never to return.  

Is the new business model to grow the sport truly through division and subtraction?  

Mike and Pete are entitled to their opinions and if this is what they truly believe, so be it.  They have their reasons and a platform to share those.  

Through Deb’s comments, her focused and professional delivery of facts, her firsthand knowledge, and a career of reporting the story and getting it right that has spanned longer than most of the desired fans have been drawing a breath on this Earth. she gently corrected her hosts where they “misspoke” either from their lack of knowledge or unwillingness to admit, acknowledged where the sport had made mistakes, identified how those could be corrected, and cast a vision for a sport growth model that was inclusive, one built on all fans, not just a select group, being a part of the solution.   

And guess what? After she reported the rest of the North Wilkesboro story, I began to believe I could once again be a valued part of this sport, which was a far cry from where I was before she started.

Growth through addition and multiplication.  What a novel concept.  Who would have thought?

And unlike her hosts, she did it all without once using the term – Legacy Fan.

What saddens and concerns me are all the fans who only heard the first part of that day’s show and only had its divisive narrative to form their opinions and impressions of North Wilkesboro and their future with the track.  They never got to hear from someone who was there, who experienced it firsthand and as a result had a markedly different take to juxtaposition that against.  It left me wondering, if a fan who had never been to North Wilkesboro, who wasn’t a gray hair or a local who Mike and Pete had said the event was for, had only heard the first part, would they even be interested in taking in a race there?  I seriously doubt it.  I know if that’s all I was left with I wouldn’t.      

Luckily, I got to hear the rest of the story and for me, on that Friday, Deb Williams provided a much-needed reality check and a balanced report that I needed going into the new season.  But still, the marked difference in opinion and presentation left me asking how and why.  

But even with those questions, I’m glad I stuck around.  I hope many others did as well.  

So again, Bless You Deb Williams.  

May you have a magnificent 2024 race season and many more to come!

And that’s how it went down that 2023 December Friday.  Fast forward eighteen months and look at the difference.  Not only has the attitude toward Wilkesboro seem to have improved but guess what… there’s racing at that other rural inaccessible anchor track on the Moonshine and Motorsports Trail in the oversaturated market-Rockingham.  Imagine that.  

Who knows, maybe Deb’s onto something by growing the sport as she described.  Only time will tell, but one thing I know for sure-she’ll be there to report it and it’ll be right.

Thanks for your time.

Thunder On… and Stay Safe!

David Nance

Photo Credit (cover): The Post