 |
| Winston-Salem Journal file photo/Monte Mitchell |
I can't give any big reasons why I used to love to go to North Wilkesboro Speedway. There were just a bunch of small reasons.
Wilkesboro gave the feel of a local track. You almost felt like you were going to Hickory Motor Speedway, Myrtle Beach Speedway or Summerville Speedway (no longer with us). Or Tri-County Motor Speedway.
You didn't have to drive through a tunnel and find a place to park inside the track. You just parked outside the souvenir trailers and walked the short distance to the pressbox; or you waited until practice was over and walked across the track to the tiny infield media center.
I enjoyed going to Charlotte, Darlington and Rockingham, among others, but Wilkesboro was special to me.
I remember eating at Shoney's with my friend Mike Harris (then the auto-racing writer for The Associated Press), and people all around us were obviously listening to our conversation about Winston Cup drivers we knew.
Another nice thing: The Williams Motel charged its normal rates, about $27 a night. Cool. No price gouging there.
EMAIL: tgilli52@gmail.com TWITTER: EDITORatWORK
More entries from TARJ
(a book of great stories about the Intimidator)
(the book of great NASCAR stories)
EDITOR@WORK blog entries
Entries from The Dog Blog
More blog entries by Tom Gillispie
Anecdotes by Tom Gillispie
