When Bill Blair cranks up his 1940 Ford coupe and heads out for a 20-lap Legendary Flathead Ford Series race tonight at North Wilkesboro Speedway, he'll be a link between the track's history and future.
The speedway has a schedule of races of 200 or more laps in the fall, and drivers have tested cars on the track, but tonight will mark the first time that spectators will be in the stands for races since the speedway closed in 1996.
"It's a historic thing and it's something we all look forward to," Blair said. "It's an honor, especially since my father raced there in the first race in 1947."
His late father, also named Bill Blair, was one of NASCAR's pioneers, and is featured with other early Piedmont race drivers Jimmie Lewallen and Fred Harb as subjects in the independent movie Red Dirt Rising. The movie will make its premiere tonight on a big screen outside, after the races and a concert.
Fans will be in the stands along the front straightaway. Work on re-opening other portions of the stands and complex will continue in the future.
Blair, who lives on Speedway Drive in Thomasville, said he expects about 10 or so cars in the race, and figures they'll be running about 100 mph at the short track. The cars are modified coupes, with interior roll bars and other safety features, but look like the cars the old bootleggers used.
The elder Blair preferred driving to farming.
"He'd rather go race and go places than be stuck in one place milking a cow," Blair said.
His father was arrested while hauling moonshine on Christmas Day 1932 in Martinsville, Va.
He got caught when it started snowing, and authorities boxed him in, then shot out his tires.
He was fined $100. That's the story the younger Blair said he heard from his parents.
The Matt Dylan Band will perform a live concert after the races, starting shortly after 7 p.m. Dylan's song "Carolina Moonshine" is on the soundtrack for the movie. A music video shot at the speedway can be seen on YouTube, where it's gotten more than 28,000 hits.
After the concert and just before the movie showing, plans will be unveiled for the Benny Parsons Memorial Sports Complex in Wilkes County.
Terri Parsons, the widow of the late Winston Cup champion, was instrumental in helping Alton McBride Jr. and his Speedway Associates Inc. in the effort to revitalize North Wilkesboro Speedway.
mmitchell@wsjournal.com
336-667-5691
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Today's festivities at North Wilkesboro Speedway will run all day. Tickets to the race are $20 for adults; $8 for ages 6-15. Children younger than 6 will be admitted free. Here are some of the highlights:
• All morning: Buck Baker Race School.
• Noon. A cruise-in car show begins.
• 3-4 p.m.: Southern Truck and Tractor Pullers Association exhibition pull.
• 4-4:45 p.m.: Cruise-in awards.
• 5 p.m.: Race practice begins.
• 5-5:30 p.m.: Autograph session, cast of Red Dirt Rising.
• 5:30-5:45 p.m.: Southern Truck and Tractor Pullers Association exhibition.
• 5:45 p.m.: Invocation and National Anthem.
• 6:10-6:30 p.m.: Carolina Vintage race group.
• 6:35-6:55 p.m.: The Legendary Flathead Ford Series 20-lap race.
• 7:10-8:10 p.m.: Matt Dylan Band.
• 8:10-8:30 p.m.: Unveiling of plans for the Benny Parsons Memorial Sports Complex.
• 8:30 p.m. Premiere of Red Dirt Rising.
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