Napoleon
05-21-04, 11:19 AM
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May 21, 2004
A Longtime Stock-Car Hotbed Is Left Behind as Nascar Spreads Out
By VIV BERNSTEIN
OCKINGHAM, N.C., May 19 - They call North Carolina Speedway the Rock, and there really is an eight-foot-tall granite rock that stands in front of the racetrack's offices. The names of all of the winners here, legends like Richard Petty, Dale Earnhardt and Cale Yarborough, have been engraved in the rock, an enduring symbol of the track in this rural town in the Sandhills region of the state.
Now that rock seems little more than a headstone for yet another North Carolina racetrack that has been abandoned by Nascar in its push to build a national following. Officials announced last week that North Carolina Speedway, which has held Nascar races since 1965, would no longer be host to a Nextel Cup event after this season. The date was transferred to Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth.
The news was expected by some, yet stunning for a small community that took pride in being one of the few Nascar race towns in the country.
"It makes us angry that we've been with Nascar since 1965 and have grown this sport," Bennett Deane, mayor pro tem of Rockingham and president of the Richmond County Chamber of Commerce, said in a telephone interview. "We were with Nascar before Nascar was popular and before it had seen the record levels of growth that it's achieving. That's really frustrating, that years ago no one was interested in Nascar or wanted to have Nascar in their backyard. We embraced it and stood by it all along."
But these days, Nascar embraces growth and the further nationalization of the sport, what it sees as an inevitable progression. Indeed, the death knell at North Carolina Speedway has been heard at tracks around the state for decades.
In the early years of stock-car racing, there were tracks throughout North Carolina holding as many as 21 races in a season. But with the elimination of North Carolina Speedway, the exodus is nearly complete. Lowe's Motor Speedway in Concord - which is host to the Nascar Nextel All-Star Challenge on Saturday, the Coca-Cola 600 on May 29 and the UAW-GM Quality 500 in October - is the only North Carolina track left on the Nascar circuit. And there is speculation that the All-Star Challenge will be moved at some point as well.
North Carolina, once called the heart of Nascar country, will be host to fewer Cup points races in 2005 than California.
"I've got mixed emotions," said Petty, a seven-time Nascar points champion who grew up in North Carolina and holds the record for career victories at the Rock with 11. "From North Carolina's standpoint, I hate that they lose it. But for the rest of the nation, I'm glad they're gaining it. For Nascar and Cup racing to go forward, we have to go to new venues and that means more people, and that spreads our sport.
"What we're going to lose is a lot of history, and we can't live off of history. We have to go to new fans."
In Nascar's view, the Southeast has been a saturated market. Despite last week's announcement, there will still be 16 races in the region next year, from Talladega, Ala., to Richmond, Va., many within driving distance for race fans in North Carolina.
As Brian France, the Nascar chairman and chief executive, said at a news conference last week: "The Southeast is important; it's historically where we started. We're never going to forget that. Goodness gracious, we are not going to forget the Southeast, and no one should mistake that."
Yet angry fans here might turn away from Nascar. That's what some have done in North Wilkesboro, N.C.
"I sit and watch it on television," Mayor Steven L. Foster of North Wilkesboro said in a telephone interview. "I don't go to the races now. Do I have ill will towards Nascar? Yes."
North Wilkesboro had been host to races since Nascar's inception in 1949. But when the Speedway was bought by O. Bruton Smith and Bob Bahre in 1996, the two split the race dates. Smith, who heads Speedway Motorsports Inc., moved one of the dates to Texas Motor Speedway. Bahre, owner of New Hampshire International Speedway, took the other date for his track.
Today, North Wilkesboro Speedway is idle and has fallen into disrepair. And Nascar is not such a big deal there anymore.
"They decided they had to go out west into larger markets, and I can certainly understand that," Foster said. "I think they forgot their roots. That's what really upset me. It was a southeastern sport. They've basically forgotten the Southeast."
"Martinsville will be gone in a number of years, and if anybody doesn't believe that they're crazy," he said of the Virginia raceway. "They'll use that speedway's dates to go to another larger market."
North Carolina Speedway, which rises from the sandy dirt amid the pine trees in this former farming community that has made a transition from textiles to manufacturing, had fought that same fate. The Rock had lost one of its two race dates after last season when Nascar officials moved a race to California Speedway in Fontana for this year. Local officials worked to raise money and were planning to install lights in the belief that night racing would draw more fans to the Rock. There also was hope that Nascar would give North Carolina Speedway a more favorable race date. The track has annually been host to a February race the weekend after the Daytona 500, with the weather often unfavorable at that time of year.
Gov. Michael F. Easley of North Carolina stepped into the fray as well, sending a letter to Nascar's president, Mike Helton, dated May 5 pleading for the race date to remain. "Losing the remaining Nascar race at the Rock would be a severe blow to the tourism industry of North Carolina," the governor wrote.
Nine days later, Nascar announced the race would be moved to Texas.
Now Easley is pushing the state legislature to provide $15 million to build a test track in North Carolina, hoping that will prevent the departure of the many race teams that make Nascar a billion-dollar industry in the state. With so many races leaving, there is fear the teams will go as well.
Petty, president of the newly formed North Carolina Motorsports Association, said teams are already being lured by Tennessee, South Carolina and Virginia.
Meanwhile, the fate of North Carolina Speedway is undetermined. The track, which has been sold to Smith, is still being used by several driving schools for instruction, and it will continue to stay open for now. But that's little consolation for Nascar fans.
When the announcement was made last week that Nascar was done holding races at North Carolina Speedway, Herb Long said he took all of the racing posters and plaques off of the walls of his home in Rockingham and his office in nearby Ellerbe. Long, vice president and general manager of Ellerbe Telephone Company, packed up his miniature race cars and every other bit of memorabilia he spent a lifetime collecting.
It's all in boxes now. And Long, who figures he shelled out at least $50,000 to $75,000 over the years attending races, vows never to buy another ticket.
"It's changed what I think of Nascar," said Long, 50, who said he has attended close to 200 races. "I will not buy Charlotte tickets. I will not buy Darlington, Martinsville. And I've been to all of those tracks in the past.
"I'm looking at it as punishing Nascar. I've lost all respect for them. Greed and money has taken over the headquarters in Daytona."
May 21, 2004
A Longtime Stock-Car Hotbed Is Left Behind as Nascar Spreads Out
By VIV BERNSTEIN
OCKINGHAM, N.C., May 19 - They call North Carolina Speedway the Rock, and there really is an eight-foot-tall granite rock that stands in front of the racetrack's offices. The names of all of the winners here, legends like Richard Petty, Dale Earnhardt and Cale Yarborough, have been engraved in the rock, an enduring symbol of the track in this rural town in the Sandhills region of the state.
Now that rock seems little more than a headstone for yet another North Carolina racetrack that has been abandoned by Nascar in its push to build a national following. Officials announced last week that North Carolina Speedway, which has held Nascar races since 1965, would no longer be host to a Nextel Cup event after this season. The date was transferred to Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth.
The news was expected by some, yet stunning for a small community that took pride in being one of the few Nascar race towns in the country.
"It makes us angry that we've been with Nascar since 1965 and have grown this sport," Bennett Deane, mayor pro tem of Rockingham and president of the Richmond County Chamber of Commerce, said in a telephone interview. "We were with Nascar before Nascar was popular and before it had seen the record levels of growth that it's achieving. That's really frustrating, that years ago no one was interested in Nascar or wanted to have Nascar in their backyard. We embraced it and stood by it all along."
But these days, Nascar embraces growth and the further nationalization of the sport, what it sees as an inevitable progression. Indeed, the death knell at North Carolina Speedway has been heard at tracks around the state for decades.
In the early years of stock-car racing, there were tracks throughout North Carolina holding as many as 21 races in a season. But with the elimination of North Carolina Speedway, the exodus is nearly complete. Lowe's Motor Speedway in Concord - which is host to the Nascar Nextel All-Star Challenge on Saturday, the Coca-Cola 600 on May 29 and the UAW-GM Quality 500 in October - is the only North Carolina track left on the Nascar circuit. And there is speculation that the All-Star Challenge will be moved at some point as well.
North Carolina, once called the heart of Nascar country, will be host to fewer Cup points races in 2005 than California.
"I've got mixed emotions," said Petty, a seven-time Nascar points champion who grew up in North Carolina and holds the record for career victories at the Rock with 11. "From North Carolina's standpoint, I hate that they lose it. But for the rest of the nation, I'm glad they're gaining it. For Nascar and Cup racing to go forward, we have to go to new venues and that means more people, and that spreads our sport.
"What we're going to lose is a lot of history, and we can't live off of history. We have to go to new fans."
In Nascar's view, the Southeast has been a saturated market. Despite last week's announcement, there will still be 16 races in the region next year, from Talladega, Ala., to Richmond, Va., many within driving distance for race fans in North Carolina.
As Brian France, the Nascar chairman and chief executive, said at a news conference last week: "The Southeast is important; it's historically where we started. We're never going to forget that. Goodness gracious, we are not going to forget the Southeast, and no one should mistake that."
Yet angry fans here might turn away from Nascar. That's what some have done in North Wilkesboro, N.C.
"I sit and watch it on television," Mayor Steven L. Foster of North Wilkesboro said in a telephone interview. "I don't go to the races now. Do I have ill will towards Nascar? Yes."
North Wilkesboro had been host to races since Nascar's inception in 1949. But when the Speedway was bought by O. Bruton Smith and Bob Bahre in 1996, the two split the race dates. Smith, who heads Speedway Motorsports Inc., moved one of the dates to Texas Motor Speedway. Bahre, owner of New Hampshire International Speedway, took the other date for his track.
Today, North Wilkesboro Speedway is idle and has fallen into disrepair. And Nascar is not such a big deal there anymore.
"They decided they had to go out west into larger markets, and I can certainly understand that," Foster said. "I think they forgot their roots. That's what really upset me. It was a southeastern sport. They've basically forgotten the Southeast."
"Martinsville will be gone in a number of years, and if anybody doesn't believe that they're crazy," he said of the Virginia raceway. "They'll use that speedway's dates to go to another larger market."
North Carolina Speedway, which rises from the sandy dirt amid the pine trees in this former farming community that has made a transition from textiles to manufacturing, had fought that same fate. The Rock had lost one of its two race dates after last season when Nascar officials moved a race to California Speedway in Fontana for this year. Local officials worked to raise money and were planning to install lights in the belief that night racing would draw more fans to the Rock. There also was hope that Nascar would give North Carolina Speedway a more favorable race date. The track has annually been host to a February race the weekend after the Daytona 500, with the weather often unfavorable at that time of year.
Gov. Michael F. Easley of North Carolina stepped into the fray as well, sending a letter to Nascar's president, Mike Helton, dated May 5 pleading for the race date to remain. "Losing the remaining Nascar race at the Rock would be a severe blow to the tourism industry of North Carolina," the governor wrote.
Nine days later, Nascar announced the race would be moved to Texas.
Now Easley is pushing the state legislature to provide $15 million to build a test track in North Carolina, hoping that will prevent the departure of the many race teams that make Nascar a billion-dollar industry in the state. With so many races leaving, there is fear the teams will go as well.
Petty, president of the newly formed North Carolina Motorsports Association, said teams are already being lured by Tennessee, South Carolina and Virginia.
Meanwhile, the fate of North Carolina Speedway is undetermined. The track, which has been sold to Smith, is still being used by several driving schools for instruction, and it will continue to stay open for now. But that's little consolation for Nascar fans.
When the announcement was made last week that Nascar was done holding races at North Carolina Speedway, Herb Long said he took all of the racing posters and plaques off of the walls of his home in Rockingham and his office in nearby Ellerbe. Long, vice president and general manager of Ellerbe Telephone Company, packed up his miniature race cars and every other bit of memorabilia he spent a lifetime collecting.
It's all in boxes now. And Long, who figures he shelled out at least $50,000 to $75,000 over the years attending races, vows never to buy another ticket.
"It's changed what I think of Nascar," said Long, 50, who said he has attended close to 200 races. "I will not buy Charlotte tickets. I will not buy Darlington, Martinsville. And I've been to all of those tracks in the past.
"I'm looking at it as punishing Nascar. I've lost all respect for them. Greed and money has taken over the headquarters in Daytona."