A surreal moment...

PorkPieGuy

Platinum Member
Hey everyone, I thought I'd share what happened this weekend.

I'm not going to get into the story too much, but our local racetrack was abandoned back in the mid-1990s. For years it sat. There was talk of tearing it down or trying to run smaller races on it (which it did for a while), but for most of the time it just sat and rotted. There are tons of pics and videos about the track online, so I'm just going to share a couple.



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Within the past couple of years, there was REAL talk of bringing the track back, and renovations began.

The campaign to get the track back was tagged with the slogan "We Want You Back." Alex was tasked at writing the theme song for it. We were able to shoot the music video for it at turn #2 on the track. Here's a link to the video if you want to watch:


Shortly after this, our county received the incredible news that we were going to host the 2023 All-Star race, so renovations kicked into high gear! So this past weekend was the race and here are a few pics I pulled from various places.


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Between races at various times throughout this weekend, there were concerts held at the stage just down from the track which included Chase Rice, Midland, and Dierks Bentley.

It was amazing to be able to play "We Want You Back" on the same stage as these guys while looking at a completely renovated North Wilkesboro Speedway. It was an incredible moment I won't soon forget. Here's the video of us playing it live.

Thanks for allowing me to share with you!

 
Here are a few more pics from this past weekend. A couple are from Fan Fest which was in downtown Wilkesboro on Thursday night.

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Before this past weekend, I only went to one race there. I was teen back in the 1990s, and I didn't even have a seat, so I had to walk around the whole time. This time, I was given VIP passes and was able to bring my family. The first thing my youngest son did was load up 3 plates of free food, grabbed a Coke, and watched.

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Friday concerts


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Soundcheck the day of our short set. Another drummer let me borrow his kit and cymbals, so I took nothing.

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VIP room for lunch and more racing.

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Just your average Saturday hanging out with Rusty Wallace.

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The best part of the whole weekend was when we were out walking around enjoying everything, my daughter turns around and tells me, "Thank you dad, for playing music." It meant the world to me.
 
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That's awesome! I knew there was talk about bringing the racetrack back but I didn't realize it was happening now. I'm glad you got to take part in that!

:D
 
This whole story is wonderful. And the video is beyond terrific - impeccably well-done, moving, and so well-directed. (Big tip of the hat to Dawson Schmidt.)
The video and your posts brought tears to my eyes. Thank you.
 
Great story! Thanks for sharing something positive. Peace and goodwill.
 
Rusty Wallace!!!! i loved him, but Darrell Waltrip was my most fav #17 baby!!!

what a GREAT story!!1 We need more renovation and less demolition in America. So great to see the old track full again as a community center, like it should be

and all of the playing and VIP treatment and plates full of food!!!!

awesome story my friend!!!
 
Man that must have been great, so cool.
 
Rusty Wallace!!!! i loved him, but Darrell Waltrip was my most fav #17 baby!!!

what a GREAT story!!1 We need more renovation and less demolition in America. So great to see the old track full again as a community center, like it should be

and all of the playing and VIP treatment and plates full of food!!!!

awesome story my friend!!!

I met Darrell Waltrip on the elevator this weekend. :)
 
I met Darrell Waltrip on the elevator this weekend. :)

:love::love::love:🤩🤩🤩

I got to meet him once very briefly in the pit back in 91....a friend of mine's brother was on Davey Allisons pit crew and we were invited to hang out on the Sunday morning of the race. It was the Michigan Spark Plug 400. Just got to wave and say "hi" as he walked pass, but it was a fanboi moment for sure

I spent a decent amount of time at the Michigan Motor Speedway and Bristol back in those days...

my uncles raced for Oldsmobile in the 50's and 60's, so I grew up around local tracks as well.
 
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