Don Alexander, the director of the Wilkes Economic Development Corp., had heard dozens of proposals for redeveloping North Wilkesboro Speedway.
Most involved people who didn't have the means to carry out their plans.
But he says he recognized early on that a proposal from a group headed by former racer Alton McBride Jr. was a serious bid to revive racing at the speedway. "This one had by far the greatest potential of becoming a reality," he said.
McBride and his group, Speedway Associates Inc., have signed a three-year lease on North Wilkesboro Speedway with an exclusive option to buy.
USARacing has announced a USAR Pro Cup race there for Oct. 3, 2010.
Terri Parsons, the widow of the late Winston Cup champion and broadcaster Benny Parsons, worked behind the scenes with both groups.
The group has scheduled a news conference at 2:30 p.m. Tuesday at the speedway. They are inviting the public to come.
"With so much skepticism in the shadow of the last person (to try to revive the speedway) they want as much as possible to do community outreach at the press conference to talk to people in Wilkes County and assure them this is real," Alexander said.
The previous potential developer, Charles Collins Jr., flamed out in spectacular fashion earlier this year when he was arrested in connection with financial problems and found to have fugitive warrants against him in Florida and Georgia.
He is in jail awaiting trial and has a court date set for Monday.
His problems at the speedway, along with earlier efforts, have made some people leery of efforts to reopen it.
But officials say that the latest proposal is a legitimate effort by serious people to bring racing back.
Linda Cheek, the president of the Wilkes County Chamber of Commerce, said that the announcement is exciting.
"I feel good about this particular one because of who it is," she said. "I know Terri Parsons well and she cares about this community because it was Benny's home…. Won't it be exciting to see a race out there again?"
It was Alexander, the county's Economic Development director, who introduced McBride and his Speedway Associates to Parsons nearly three years ago. Alexander said he knew Parsons had wide and deep connections in the racing community.
The meeting happened shortly after Benny Parsons had died in January 2007, and Terri Parsons had moved to Wilkes County, just down the dirt road from where her husband had been raised.
Her mind was still reeling from her husband's death, she said, and she was also busy with his dream of owning a vineyard.
But Parsons said she also grasped the potential in the proposal and what it could mean for helping revive an area that had meant so much to her husband.
She doesn't have a direct financial stake in the proposal, but thinks that the county, including the Benny Parsons Rendezvous Ridge vineyard, stands to benefit from increased visibility and tourism. She also said there's a sense of history there that is important to preserve.
"I think everybody in the county has a vested interest in it ...," she said. "We're looking at it to bring in economic development and not just a one-shot deal."
McBride and Parsons met with county commissioners to discuss the plans in closed session Tuesday.
Zach Henderson, the chairman of the Wilkes County Board of Commissioners, said he couldn't discuss details because he had agreed to keep things confidential for now.
He affirmed the county government's previous stand that the county doesn't want to own or run a speedway but would be willing to discuss assisting in infrastructure such as water and sewer.
There's still a lot of work to do.
When another group made a proposal four years ago, county staff prepared a 3-page list of problems that must be dealt with, such things as sewer and water to replace outdated septic and well systems, as well as work on seating, exits and food areas.
The news of the lease slipped out when next seasons' schedule was announced on Oct. 31 for the USARacing Pro Cup Championship Series and it included a race at North Wilkesboro Speedway.
mmitchell@wsjournal.com
667-5691
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