Abandoned - North Wilkesboro Speedway

[Music] what's up guys my name is Jake welcome to abandoned episode 37 this is the show where we talk about some of the most interesting abandoned places in the world NASCAR is an incredibly large sport in North America it's even arguably the largest spectator sport in the world it's synonymous with American sports culture especially in the south and generates revenue worth billions of dollars an aspect of the sport every bit as important as the cars and drivers themselves is the track multi-million dollar facilities built to withstand enormous crowds and the cars but what happens when one of these NASCAR tracks are left in the dust today I wanted to talk about the legendary North Wilkesboro Speedway in 1945 a man named Enix tailee had attended a small stock car race when he realized that the town where he lived North Wilkesboro needed a track of its own so along with some investors the North Wilkesboro Speedway was born when it was constructed for fifteen hundred dollars the dirt track opened in 1946 and quickly gained popularity and notoriety with newspapers claiming that North Wilkesboro was the new racing mecca for North Western North Carolina an estimated 10,000 people came to the inauguration event and the tracks popularity in capacity he only grew from there many of the drivers who later drove in NASCAR were from or around the area of North Wilkesboro and grew up either watching races there or driving in them it wasn't long after when the National Association for stock car auto racing was born in Daytona Beach from creator Bill France who wanted a more uniform racing organization over in North Carolina the Wilkes for a speedway continued in popularity and became a very well respected dirt track through the 1950s Enoch Staley was firmly behind NASCAR's creation and was enthusiastic on races taking place at North Wilkesboro and that's exactly what happened the track was extremely popular with fans and as NASCAR grew so did the speedway with new grandstands and accompanying facilities the speedway could now hold up to 60,000 people who many claimed had the best views of any nascar facility although even with these modernisations in the 70s and 80s the track and its facilities were still a little behind of the NASCAR standards honestly though fans didn't really care because the track was much smaller relative to other NASCAR tracks top speeds would only reach around 150 miles per hour instead of 200 plus at tracks like Daytona the slower speeds and smaller track meant there was just a lot more action with competitive legendary drivers racing for first not only did the track produce a great show for fans but for many visitors even details down to the concession stands didn't cheap out on what others did it's small details like that which set the track apart from most and with that there was much more of an emotional connection to the Speedway from its homegrown feel Junior Johnson had described race weekends like a big fare kind of like Disney World for race fans although things started moving downhill for the Raceway longtime creator and owner Enoch Staley had passed away on May 22nd 1995 less than one month later owner of Speedway Motorsports Inc Brunton Smith had purchased 50% ownership from the family and by early 1996 the remaining 50% was sold to Bob Baer a track developer and marketer for an alleged seven million dollars the family now had no control of the track and speculation arose on the possibility of Wilkesboro losing its Winston Cup race dates with NASCAR while the new owners had hoped to add new races to the track the odds were enormous ly stacked against them and had been building like that for some time by this point the popularity of NASCAR exploded which just met the organization required more NASCAR began building new tracks that would fit exactly their needs in terms of facilities and also with the added benefit of adding more people like Texas Motor Speedway which was able to hold a staggering 180,000 people while the Wilkesboro track was only able to hold around 60,000 people this along with this very inconvenient location and it's out-of-date facilities just made it a poor choice for NASCAR to continue races there so the final NASCAR race to be held at North looks Speedway took place on September 29 1996 with Jeff Gordon taking first the Speedway was now without a NASCAR future and even a future of racing as a whole the dates for next season's race were given to the newly open Texas Motor Speedway and following the last race at North Wilkesboro the track was closed both owners had attempted to find possible events and races to be held at the track but to no avail the track was put up for sale in 2003 for 12 million dollars despite the evaluation suggested price of 5 million dollars because of the steep price of course the Speedway was never sold for the next couple of years the tracks at vacant and rotting with very few events until 2009 when racing finally returned goodyear had actually stepped in to sponsor the track for another three years with the name now changed to the very catchy the historic North Wilkesboro Speedway presented by Goodyear the track held several 300 lap races all considered to be a success however behind the scenes things were a lot more grim in May of 2011 Speedway associates abruptly ended their partnership and closed the North Wilkesboro Speedway for the last time now the track sits vacant and in awful condition after being abandoned for more than seven years the Speedway is slowly deteriorating with paint peeling and steel rusting grandstands structurally unsound and buildings with walls and roofs caving in the pavement which cars screamed across on going a hundred and fifty miles an hour now has grass creeping through the deterioration has gotten to the point now where it's likely that the facilities in their current form will never be used again so what is going to happen to the legendary Speedway well actually nothing there are no serious plans to bring back the speedway or even demolish it the track will however live on in Disney Pixar's Cars 3 now I'm serious in that decently marginal film they visit an abandoned racetrack that heavily resembles the North Wilkesboro Speedway and that's not a coincidence the track was actually a huge inspiration to that scene in the film the Speedway was also used in the of the east coast road trip in Top Gear's sixteenth season that episode which I highly suggest you go watch aired in 2010 just a year before the tracks permanent closure but now the legendary Speedway is left with no future some hope that a wealthy individual will step in and buy the property but the logistical nightmare that the track presents makes that dream rather unlikely if a demolition is ever proposed I have a strong belief that people are going to fight it and maybe that's a good thing the North Wilkesboro Speedway for many is a reminder of the old NASCAR before it grew into the Mako organization it is now and I'm not saying that's a bad thing but many race fans certainly miss the homegrown feeling of the races from the past the North Wilkesboro Speedway is essentially where NASCAR began it's just something that couldn't keep up with the speed of the organization in the beginning it made popular anyway guys my name is Jake follow us on Twitter Instagram and snapchat and thank you very much for watching [Music] you [Music]

Channel: Bright Sun Films

Views: 1,507,154

Keywords: family, sport, racing, NASCAR, fun, statium, track, raceway, racetrack, kids, PG, abandoned, drone, 2018, update, speedway, North Carolina, Wilkesboro, North Wilkesboro Speedway, vice, creepy, urbex, vintage, disney, pixar, cars 3, movie, exploring with josh, abandoned track, abandoned racetrack, disney movie, animation, areial, new

Id: nfM95OEug2I

Length: 8min 26sec (506 seconds)

Published: Fri Feb 09 2018

Reddit Comments

[u/JClementsfan51]

I love this channel!

[u/jzajac24]

I love bright sun films! I’ve been watching since he was originally bright sun gaming. His abandoned videos are the best but I never expected him to do a video on North Wilkesboro!

[u/Kevinm0388]

Bright sun films! Watched this guy forever, all of his videos are great

[u/1432Stewart]

This guy makes great content. Check out his other videos you won't be disappointed.

[u/Ellenberg88]

Just saw it on my Sub feed and came to post it. Glad BSF is getting more exposure.

[u/kahnefan95]

I wish I was wealthy enough to just buy the place and fix everything there...

[u/TMan1236]

I know his focus isn't on tracks (this is his first video on a track I believe), but I kinda want to see him do a video on Nazareth

[u/nsmass6]

I thought I was the only one who watched Bright Sun Films, but I'm so happy to see that's not the case. This dude does great work and he nailed this one

[u/donnyrkj]

We have/had Augusta Speedway, they actually built a memorial out there where the track used to be.