Friday 5: North Wilkesboro Speedway’s return reinvigorates community

NORTH WILKESBORO, N.C. — Brian Call would shake his head when he’d leave his home on Speedway Road and look at the decaying race track that was a short walk up the hill. 

What once was a personal playground that Call shared with NASCAR fans, served as a reminder the last quarter century to a past long gone. North Wilkesboro Speedway became more synonymous with the economic struggles of Wilkes County than racing duels that featured Richard Petty, Dale Earnhardt and local favorite Junior Johnson.

The track’s rebirth last month reinvigorated special memories for Call and others located along the eastern slope of the Blue Ridge Mountains.

“Now when I look (at the track),” he said, “I’ve always got a smile on my face.”

Thursday’s “mind-boggling” announcement that the 2023 NASCAR All-Star Race will be held at the historic track left Call shaking his head in wonder. So happy and so surprised.

There are many like Call, the owner of the Call Family Distillery, who were raised in Wilkes County. Some who left later returned. The track they knew sat vacant. Jobs went away. Lowe’s moved its headquarters from Wilkes County. 

North Wilkesboro Speedway remains special here because it was among the main gathering spots for the community. Memories were created. With no new experiences at the track to replace them, those memories endured.

Nostalgia is a powerful tool. While other tracks left behind might have had just as special memories, they didn’t have the advocates North Wilkesboro Speedway did. Enough voices kept the memory of the speedway alive even as part of the track fell into disrepair.

Among Call’s fondest memories of the track was qualifying day. His father would get him out of school on those Fridays and take him to the track.