Now I'm just as excited as everyone else to see NASCAR return to North Wilkesboro but if you ask me I think there's gonna be some issues with the track. First of all, North Wilkesboro is a small town and I'm sure all the hotels are already booked. The Track is right next to a highway and traffic will probably be a nightmare. I think that NASCAR should return to Rockingham because it's faster has more capacity and the area is capable of handling the crowds and traffic. I love North Wilkesboro Speedway but times have changed and the area hasn't.
Care to change my mind? Have your own thoughts?
"The NASCAR" wow my English is on point today
slefain
UltimaDork
10/21/22 11:18 a.m.
I never cared for these shorter tracks, it just ends up being a conga line. I'm shocked they aren't making it a stunt race by dumping dirt on the track.
In reply to slefain :
They are making a dirt track temporarily lol
Having run Wilkesboro and rockingham at speed, either one is going to be rough on equipment. Additionally, the infrastructure in Wilkesboro is actually better these days due to tourism than it was in the late 90s.
At least thats my take.
In reply to Dusterbd13-michael :
I've driven by the track and you gotta drive a decent amount to get into town
I have completely dropped out of following NASCAR, simply because I'm too busy to pay attention. I'm stunned to hear they're returning to N. Wilks. From my understanding, the place was in absolute shambles. Who's footing the bill to rehab it?
In reply to SKJSS (formerly Klayfish) :
Governor Cooper
Maybe this is just what "the NASCAR" needs. Get back to your roots. Re-vitalize some old tracks. Run more events in smaller markets.
Those pics are North Wilkesboro at it's worst. They made some decent improvements to get it ready for the late model race last month.
I think going back to the roots is good regardless of what tracks they do it on. Both of those tracks are good, I prefer the short tracks. To avoid a people mess NASCAR will have to consider logistics of people in and out and limit ticket sales to some extent. Whatever NASCAR does I think they need to limit race length. 3-4 hours is a long time to watch a race in today's world. If they can drop race times to 2 hours like F1 I think that would help tv and fan engagement.
Many top-three NASCAR series tracks are not exceptionally close to hotels and have traffic congestion issues. It's just part of the territory.
P.S. - The track canceled putting dirt on it when they announced the NASCAR event.
SpeedwayFan said:
In reply to SKJSS (formerly Klayfish) :
Governor Cooper
Sort of. He allocated funding that was provided as part of the (Federal) American Rescue Plan, i.e. COVD 19 2021 Stimulus
Wasn't Dale Earnhardt Jr. involved in the resurrection of North Wilkesboro? I think there was a video a while back where he went there with a crew to do some cleanup of the vegetation overgrowth.
stuart in mn said:
Wasn't Dale Earnhardt Jr. involved in the resurrection of North Wilkesboro? I think there was a video a while back where he went there with a crew to do some cleanup of the vegetation overgrowth.
I think that was for scanning the track for I racing of I remember.
Atendence of nascar races is way down from the hay day in the 90s and early 2000s. I bet traffic and what not will be much less of an issue these days than it was. I am excited to se the place get a data back. I lost interest in NASCAR when they went to the 1.5 mile and bigger tracks and left all the smaller home tracks out to dry. Maybe this will start a trend back to where they started.
dean1484 said:
stuart in mn said:
Wasn't Dale Earnhardt Jr. involved in the resurrection of North Wilkesboro? I think there was a video a while back where he went there with a crew to do some cleanup of the vegetation overgrowth.
I think that was for scanning the track for I racing of I remember.
Atendence of nascar races is way down from the hay day in the 90s and early 2000s. I bet traffic and what not will be much less of an issue these days than it was. I am excited to se the place get a data back. I lost interest in NASCAR when they went to the 1.5 mile and bigger tracks and left all the smaller home tracks out to dry. Maybe this will start a trend back to where they started.
North Wilkesboro barely exists as a town. It has a population of 4000 people. Even a poorly attended NASCAR race would be many times the population of the town.
Martinsville, VA has a population of 12k people, but the capacity of their track is 45-65k.
I cannot imagine the traffic nightmare some of these tracks could generate.
First NASCAR race I ever attended with my dad was at North Wilkesboro, around 1990. I think it's cool they're going back.
Crowds are much smaller now, ever since they changed from season long points to the chase gimmick - so traffic shouldn't be worse than a couple hours long problem.
I would have rather seen Rockingham too but I'm very excited. I wish I knew about the late model race when I planned my vacation.
Puddy46
New Reader
10/22/22 8:03 p.m.
dean1484 said:
stuart in mn
Atendence of nascar races is way down from the hay day in the 90s and early 2000s. I bet traffic and what not will be much less of an issue these days than it was. I am excited to se the place get a data back. I lost interest in NASCAR when they went to the 1.5 mile and bigger tracks and left all the smaller home tracks out to dry. Maybe this will start a trend back to where they started.
As someone that went to the race at Gateway this year, I disagree on the traffic not being an issue. It was a nightmare. Although, I'll assign some of the blame on Illinois' finest, and their inability to direct traffic with any efficiency.
Y'all need to stay out of Rockingham, it makes getting to my in-laws place a huge nightmare. 
That flippant reply out of the way, a non-trivial number of people in Rockingham, NC were *furious* when NASCAR pulled out. I know a few that just stopped following the series completely afterwards. It'd be interesting to see what a return would look like.
In reply to Brett_Murphy (Agent of Chaos) :
Well perhaps the upcoming repave is a foreshadow to NASCAR's return.
