Strange that Kyle Petty was talking about Nascar had to move to new markets, that is why they closed the track and moved the races to Texas\New Hampshire. I donno, but to me it seems like the crowd is having a blast and everything is sold out. Scratching my head...
Everything sold out for this race because the capacity of North Wilkesboro's grandstands was a fraction of what either of TMS\NH could manage. I'm not saying that because I prefer them in any way, merely to say that NASCAR abandoned its roots through the turn of the century because it could grow, and grow it did. I personally hope that Brian France sells NASCAR, someone takes over and breaks it down to a manageable size again; I don't know that short track racing could resume for the cup as it once was, but I think it might be sustainable with lowered team costs, subscription-based streaming and more diversity of tracks.
NWS only had 16,000 seats, and it wasn't close enough to any big cities to draw much more. NASCAR didn't want to sell 16,000 tickets when they could sell 50-100 thousand. NASCAR greed killed North Wilkesboro.
@@roberthanson579 NWS has 40,000 seats not 16,000. That's nearly as many as Kansas Speedway has. They could've always added more. NASCAR clearly has never heard of the saying "If it ain't broke don't fix it".
Bruton Smith bought half of the track when the owner died. He only bought half so he could take a date for Texas motor speedway. The owner of New Hampshire MS bought the other hand and took the other date. The rest is history.
I went there in 2011 for a PASS late model race. Although it was great to be there & see the track, it was heartbreaking to see the condition of it. RIP North Wilkesboro, you are sorely missed.
Ernie Irvan's 1st race since his near-fatal crash during practice at Michigan in August 1994. Had a good day finishing 6th All 36 cars that started this race also finished it. 1st race since 1959 that no drivers had a DNF Final race at North Wilkesboro for Junior Johnson as a car owner. His cars didn't do well. Brett Bodine finished 22nd, 5 laps down & Elton Sawyer finished 34th, 8 laps down
It wasn't attendance. If you've ever been in that area, it's only two lane mountain roads in and out. One of the roads behind the track is so, to this day, a single lane dirt road that's very rough. There wasn't much room to expand the track and make it more commercial either. So when Bruton Smith bought half and took a date, and the owner of New Hampshire bought the other half to take the other date, it sealed NWS fate. Nascar literally outgrew this track. And Bruton Smith is a greedy bastard who is locally dispised.
@@SpaceGhost999 No i havnt been there and good info about all of that. I didnt know those tid bits. Ive always heard it was mostly attendance issues and obviously not being expanded. I guess you can kinda see that now. Still i really liked that track. My desktop wallpaper is photos of the track abandoned and in disarray.
What a concept espn had back in the day, showing more than just the dan favorites.....actually talking about some other drivers and showing more position battles thru lap traffic and what not.....and to echo other people, no stage racing and no stupid track reconfiguration to "try and improve passing"
If NASCAR does not return to its roots, it will die. No one wants to see the leader getting a 6-7 second lead without someone being able to catch them. Jeff Gordon said we need more short tracks and I agree.
Now this is what I call stock car racing. Back when Nascar was good ole stock car racing and not the rigged marketing bullshit it is today. Hope this track makes a great comeback to the top level of Stock car racing.
+17Mattkensethdewalt I watched a video from a modified race here and there was a fight after the race. A real one I mean, they wern't accosting each other or throwing perrier bottles at each other. They wern't the million dollar prissies we watch in the Sprint Cup series. The sponsors today don't want their drivers be like Dale Earnhardt because that doesn't look good. Screw that, tracks like the "House Enoch Built" are what real race fans pay money to go to. I would go to a race here over Charlotte or its look a likes Texas, Atlanta and Las Vegas.
Cars actually able to race close to each other without being neutered, and without the aid of stage end cautions. Somebody in charge should study this race and write a new rulebook that would allow good racing just like this.
Nascar didn't have anything to do with closing this track. Bruton Smith did. Enoch never wanted him to have anything to do with his track. So once Enoch died Bruton weasled his way in and made sure no one else would ever enjoy that track just to spite Enoch.
Back when racing was great, start to finish!!! Todays nascar is not even close to the great racing from the 70`s,80`s and 90`s!!! To many cookie cutter tracks for me, its like seeing the same race every week!!
@Bro Mark I get what your saying. It's easier for me to move along because I only started watching in 1997, I'm only 29 and use to the constant changes. I've watched plenty of races in the 90s over the past month and imo the racing hasn't drastically changed like some people will say. Yes it's gotten too technologically advanced for its own good. But that's engineering for ya. I wished they never put the chase in place and stages. If they do stages don't throw the caution, idk I'm just an optimistic thinker
Ill tell ya what they built more seats and filled them. It was part location, part track, the rest legendary drivers (and Jeff Gordon). If they ran here now with their Gordon clone youngboys i do believe the joint would be as empty as the others
@@donniebeadles7842 seating capacity is 40k. Not much less than Martinsville and no doubt there would have been more seats added by now. They always had good attendance at that track. They where continually adding grandstands.
I miss the days of knowing who the companies are that sponsor these cars. More than half of the sponsors that are on the cars today, you have no idea who or what they are. Most of them aren’t products, stores, or restaurants.
It still to this day, upsets me that they shut our track down. Back when we had races, our county was doing very well. Now it is just a cheap hick town with no real revenue. Several people have tried to buy the track over the years to hold time trials, old model races and still nothing has panned out yet.
Bruton Smith is being a greedy little bastard like always. He won't budge off the 12 million dollar price tag. I think he'd rather see Enochs track crumble completely to the ground than to let anyone else enjoy it. With the bad blood between them.
Hey man, I hope to make a recap of this race very soon... I have the intro to the race, and I'll be including it for sure! It'll probably be uploaded to my controlpadblues account, to which I already have a couple races.
Maybe Nascar should alternate between some classic tracks every year. I know a lot of them need some work but maybe that could be a realistic way to mix old and new. I was never a big Nascar fan but, I like Nascar at the smaller tracks.
I really really love watching these old Nascar races a whole whole lot and I still watch Nascar
Been a fan since 2010. Still love it today.
It was good to see Ernie back driving.
I love watching these old races
Same
I remember this...... I was a diehard Earnhardt fan, but for this race, I was all for Irvan to win it.........
Strange that Kyle Petty was talking about Nascar had to move to new markets, that is why they closed the track and moved the races to Texas\New Hampshire.
I donno, but to me it seems like the crowd is having a blast and everything is sold out. Scratching my head...
Everything sold out for this race because the capacity of North Wilkesboro's grandstands was a fraction of what either of TMS\NH could manage. I'm not saying that because I prefer them in any way, merely to say that NASCAR abandoned its roots through the turn of the century because it could grow, and grow it did.
I personally hope that Brian France sells NASCAR, someone takes over and breaks it down to a manageable size again; I don't know that short track racing could resume for the cup as it once was, but I think it might be sustainable with lowered team costs, subscription-based streaming and more diversity of tracks.
NWS only had 16,000 seats, and it wasn't close enough to any big cities to draw much more. NASCAR didn't want to sell 16,000 tickets when they could sell 50-100 thousand. NASCAR greed killed North Wilkesboro.
@@roberthanson579 NWS has 40,000 seats not 16,000. That's nearly as many as Kansas Speedway has. They could've always added more. NASCAR clearly has never heard of the saying "If it ain't broke don't fix it".
Bruton Smith bought half of the track when the owner died. He only bought half so he could take a date for Texas motor speedway. The owner of New Hampshire MS bought the other hand and took the other date. The rest is history.
NASCAR didn’t kill this track Burton Smith & Bob Barhe did
I went there in 2011 for a PASS late model race. Although it was great to be there & see the track, it was heartbreaking to see the condition of it. RIP North Wilkesboro, you are sorely missed.
North Wilkesboro begin to rise from the dead
5:17 Start
15:55 Multi-Car Crash
2:09:06 Dale Jarrett crash
2:19:00 Final Laps
Ernie Irvan's 1st race since his near-fatal crash during practice at Michigan in August 1994. Had a good day finishing 6th
All 36 cars that started this race also finished it. 1st race since 1959 that no drivers had a DNF
Final race at North Wilkesboro for Junior Johnson as a car owner. His cars didn't do well. Brett Bodine finished 22nd, 5 laps down & Elton Sawyer finished 34th, 8 laps down
That 1st and second turn had to be my favorite along with Milwaukee Mile. Something about it
Was at that 🏁 so cool watching it again had a lot of fun road up there in a 1960 4 door Catalina
I love that going to commercial music
Who’s here after the 2022 announcement of the revival of the track?
Now it's official for the 2023 schedule. Just for the All-Star Race
Not me
so they say they didnt have the attendance? looks packed. so sad about this track. its a good one. i love how it looks and has that old feel
It wasn't attendance. If you've ever been in that area, it's only two lane mountain roads in and out. One of the roads behind the track is so, to this day, a single lane dirt road that's very rough. There wasn't much room to expand the track and make it more commercial either. So when Bruton Smith bought half and took a date, and the owner of New Hampshire bought the other half to take the other date, it sealed NWS fate. Nascar literally outgrew this track. And Bruton Smith is a greedy bastard who is locally dispised.
@@SpaceGhost999 No i havnt been there and good info about all of that. I didnt know those tid bits. Ive always heard it was mostly attendance issues and obviously not being expanded. I guess you can kinda see that now. Still i really liked that track. My desktop wallpaper is photos of the track abandoned and in disarray.
What a concept espn had back in the day, showing more than just the dan favorites.....actually talking about some other drivers and showing more position battles thru lap traffic and what not.....and to echo other people, no stage racing and no stupid track reconfiguration to "try and improve passing"
If NASCAR does not return to its roots, it will die. No one wants to see the leader getting a 6-7 second lead without someone being able to catch them. Jeff Gordon said we need more short tracks and I agree.
Back in the day Ned Jarret won at Darlington by 11 laps and NASCAR is still here and nowhere near dead.
@@nascar4842 No.Not 11 Laps.He Won The 1965 Southern 500 At Darlington By 13 Laps In The #11 Ford Galaxie.
RIP #3 The Intimidator
Now this is what I call stock car racing. Back when Nascar was good ole stock car racing and not the rigged marketing bullshit it is today. Hope this track makes a great comeback to the top level of Stock car racing.
17Mattkensethdewalt Got that right. NASCAR has turned into WWE on wheels.
+17Mattkensethdewalt I watched a video from a modified race here and there was a fight after the race. A real one I mean, they wern't accosting each other or throwing perrier bottles at each other. They wern't the million dollar prissies we watch in the Sprint Cup series. The sponsors today don't want their drivers be like Dale Earnhardt because that doesn't look good. Screw that, tracks like the "House Enoch Built" are what real race fans pay money to go to. I would go to a race here over Charlotte or its look a likes Texas, Atlanta and Las Vegas.
+Travis M Simpson Atlanta was great prior to it's 1997 renovation.
Cars actually able to race close to each other without being neutered, and without the aid of stage end cautions. Somebody in charge should study this race and write a new rulebook that would allow good racing just like this.
I still cant believe that France fools took this track away from us. They really didnt have a clue. My god i loved this place
Christopher Haas Burton Smith did not The Frances
Nascar didn't have anything to do with closing this track. Bruton Smith did. Enoch never wanted him to have anything to do with his track. So once Enoch died Bruton weasled his way in and made sure no one else would ever enjoy that track just to spite Enoch.
If France wanted to he (they) could have found a way. But, as always, they wanted to rule the world...
Thank you very much for this race. Been looking for it for many years...
I'm a huge Ernie fan. :)
I'll take Parsons, Jarrett, and Jenkins over Joy, Waltrip, and Gordon on the call any day ..
Ron L Or Alan, Wally and BP
Fine announcing crew. Rest In Peace Benny Parsons, such a fantastic personality gone too soon.
That’s like comparing filet mignon to Salisbury steak
Man you are so dam right .When joy is announcing I mute the broadcast ! If I want to see or hear a clown ,I ll go to the circus. .
Id take them all not a fan of gordon though but damn Benny ned and bob was great
Jungle, you are the man! Love it.
Back when racing was great, start to finish!!! Todays nascar is not even close to the great racing from the 70`s,80`s and 90`s!!! To many cookie cutter tracks for me, its like seeing the same race every week!!
dang look at the crowd you don't see that anymore
I was at this race...........
I knew every name in the top 30 now I can't tell you but maybe 5 in the 2019 whole circuit.
That's your problem. Try learning the names
@Bro Mark I get what your saying. It's easier for me to move along because I only started watching in 1997, I'm only 29 and use to the constant changes.
I've watched plenty of races in the 90s over the past month and imo the racing hasn't drastically changed like some people will say. Yes it's gotten too technologically advanced for its own good. But that's engineering for ya.
I wished they never put the chase in place and stages. If they do stages don't throw the caution, idk I'm just an optimistic thinker
Ill tell ya what they built more seats and filled them. It was part location, part track, the rest legendary drivers (and Jeff Gordon). If they ran here now with their Gordon clone youngboys i do believe the joint would be as empty as the others
5:37 race start
15:59 first caution
18:32 second green flag
1:52:45 fun fact
2:09:01 second caution
2:12:45 third green flag
2:20:20 end of the race
nascar really needs to bring back this track and instead of doing a throwback race at darlington they should use this track to do a throwback race.
This track is too far gone. The buildings are literally falling in on themselves.
Hmmm, would you look at that. Pretty much standing room only crowd.
Also less grandstands. Less than 30 thousand people there. So when you see a half full Texas , it's 20 thousand more people in crowd than at wilksboro
Bruton Smith is a piece of shit.
@@donniebeadles7842 seating capacity is 40k. Not much less than Martinsville and no doubt there would have been more seats added by now. They always had good attendance at that track. They where continually adding grandstands.
THANKS FOR THE AWESOME POST
I miss the days of knowing who the companies are that sponsor these cars.
More than half of the sponsors that are on the cars today, you have no idea who or what they are.
Most of them aren’t products, stores, or restaurants.
It still to this day, upsets me that they shut our track down. Back when we had races, our county was doing very well. Now it is just a cheap hick town with no real revenue. Several people have tried to buy the track over the years to hold time trials, old model races and still nothing has panned out yet.
Bruton Smith is being a greedy little bastard like always. He won't budge off the 12 million dollar price tag. I think he'd rather see Enochs track crumble completely to the ground than to let anyone else enjoy it. With the bad blood between them.
old is gold
I used to go here many times as a kid with my dad and grandfather. Great memories. To bad Nascar killed most of the good tracks including rockingham.
Bruton Smith killed wilkesboro. Nascar actually had nothing to do with it.
Burton Smith and Bob Barhe did
Hey man, I hope to make a recap of this race very soon... I have the intro to the race, and I'll be including it for sure! It'll probably be uploaded to my controlpadblues account, to which I already have a couple races.
24:15 Nice Shot
DNQ: 75 Todd Bodine, 32 Greg Sacks, 98 Jeremy Mayfield, 22 Ward Burton, 8 Jeff Burton, 90 Mike Wallace, & 78 Jay Hedgecock*.
Do you have the '95 First Union 400 as well?
good racing there ty
i don't leave things out, i upload what i have
Should have never left.
And now it's coming back to host the 2023 NASCAR All-Star Race.
Maybe Nascar should alternate between some classic tracks every year. I know a lot of them need some work but maybe that could be a realistic way to mix old and new. I was never a big Nascar fan but, I like Nascar at the smaller tracks.
5:30
Anybody who thinks North Wilkesboro sucks should watch this race it's those crappy ass next gen cars that suck not the track!
The booth showing favoritism at 1:27:45
Not a fan of Rudd?
It seemed like they were aggravated by Dick Trickle holding up the line, maybe?
Favoritism my ass
@@jasonmauger343I think so