When Enoch Staley, John Masden and Charlie Combs watched a bulldozer operator carve North Wilkesboro Speedway from North Carolina farmland in 1946, there wasn’t anything scientific about the race track’s design.
Hundreds of dollars from their wallets to the operator’s hand dictated the exact distance and configuration of the dirt oval. As the heavy machinery was loaded on its trailer, what sat before the gathering would become one of the most storied tracks in NASCAR history.
With Bill France as the promoter, North Wilkesboro Speedway hosted its first race on May 18, 1947, some 10 months before NASCAR was created. Georgia native Fonty Flock topped the modified feature that afternoon in front of 10,000 fans.
NASCAR’s Strictly Stock Series – now known as the NASCAR Cup Series – concluded its inaugural eight-race season at North Wilkesboro on Oct. 16, 1949. Bill Blair led 180 of the 200 laps before a failing engine handed the lead and victory to Bob Flock.
When Leon Sales of nearby Winston Salem won there on Sept. 24, 1950, Staley had increased the track size from a half-mile to .625 miles in length.
From that first race in 1947 until Sept. 29, 1996, residents of Wilkes County filled the track on Sunday afternoons to see the best drivers in the world trade paint.
Thirty-eight drivers won 93 NASCAR Cup Series races during a period of 47 years.
Beginning in 1951 when Fonty Flock won both races, NASCAR made annual April and October visits to the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains.
Speedy Thompson, Buck Baker, Lee Petty and local star Junior Johnson were North Wilkesboro’s top drivers during the 1950s. Californian Dick Rathmann and Oregonian Hershel McGriff also collected victories there in 1954. The track’s racing surface was paved between the two NASCAR dates in 1957.
Petty celebrated victories at North Wilkesboro in 1959 and twice in 1960. His son, Richard Petty, an eventual seven-time Cup Series champion, won 15 races at the track from 1962 to ’81.
“Anytime we went to North Wilkesboro, we expected to win,” Richard Petty said. “That’s the way it was with everywhere we went, whether it was Martinsville or Richmond Raceway or wherever we were next. We went there and raced and won, then another and then another and so on. We took them one race at a time.”
Eight-time Cup Series championship crew chief Dale Inman remembers a great deal about the early days of North Wilkesboro Speedway.
“We didn’t have a lot of setup work to do on the car (at Petty Enterprises) back in the early days of North Wilkesboro because the track was dirt,” Inman said. “Then, they paved it and there were no pit road walls or anything at that time. It was such a different world back then. Back in those days you really depended on your car to go the distance. If you could win the race, you were doing good.
“There weren’t many places where Richard wasn’t good,” Inman added. “He understood the car and knew how much abuse it would take. We worked hard to make sure the car would finish and it was just a big team effort. He was the big key to all of it.”
Johnson added two visits to victory lane at North Wilkesboro in 1965 for a total of four wins as a driver. After retiring the following year with 50 career victories, he turned his attention to team ownership with his shop located a short drive from the track.
Cale Yarborough, Johnson’s driver from 1973 through 1980, won Cup Series championships in 1976, ’77 and ’78. He collected five of his 83 victories at North Wilkesboro.
Darrell Waltrip won all three of his Cup Series championships with Johnson in 1981, ’82 and ’85. His 10 victories at North Wilkesboro include five consecutively between October 1981 and October 1983.
“North Wilkesboro Speedway was in Junior’s backyard, so we always wanted to dominate,” Waltrip said. “We raced there twice a year and everyone expected one of Junior’s cars to win and so did Junior. He was such a great team owner and did so much for my career. He taught me not only how to win races, but he also taught me how to win championships.