|| *Comments on the 1996 Tyson Holly Farms 400:* View the most recent comment <#53> | Post a comment <#post> Tweet 1. James posted: 07.23.2004 - 10:56 pm Rate this comment: (2) (0) THIS WAS THE LAST Race held at North Wilkesboro Speedway and I taped it, and it was won by Jeff Gordon. 2. HomeDepotKid posted: 02.25.2005 - 4:35 am Rate this comment: (1) (0) NORTH WILKESBORO: A classic in history. We miss it. Bring it back! 3. ggg posted: 04.23.2005 - 6:56 am Rate this comment: (1) (1) Great win by the man 4. scdvn sn posted: 05.11.2005 - 3:16 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) No people went out on that race 5. je24go posted: 05.11.2005 - 6:22 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) North Wilkesboro holds the record for most cars riunning at the finish of all the races at any track. In 14 races, every car that started saw the checkered flag. This was also the last race as of 5/11/05 that every car was running at the finish of a NWC/NNC race. 6. SPENCER posted: 11.10.2005 - 12:04 am Rate this comment: (1) (0) WILKSBORO WAS AWSOME 7. Anonymous posted: 04.19.2006 - 5:17 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Is it correct that California did not sell all its seats this year? If so, why are Wilkesboro and "The Rock" off the schedule? From what I saw of Rockingham and North Wilkesboro, they had much better racing than Fontana can ever even come close to. 8. Anonymous posted: 04.30.2006 - 4:18 am Rate this comment: (3) (0) Gordon's last chance at victory at a track he hadn't won at and he ends up winning, making it still possible that he can win at every track in Cup that he has raced on. 9. Steve posted: 10.12.2006 - 6:36 am Rate this comment: (2) (0) Hey, NA$CAR, I've got an idea! Are you looking for another track to go to? Renovate North Wilkesboro!!! It's not like you guys can't afford to do it! Add 50,000 more seats, restructure the infield area, hold a Truck race there to see how the fans like the changes, and then bring the Busch and Cup Series back to Wilkesboro! Rockingham, too! 10. Matthew Sullivan posted: 12.08.2006 - 5:00 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) They're never going to race Cup cars there. I could understanding the Cup series leaving the track because they did lose money every time they showed up to race there, however, they could have still held Busch and truck events and kept the race track going instead of allowing it to deteriorate. 11. myself posted: 02.19.2007 - 4:20 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) It can be argued that the real Nascar started a slow process of dying after this race. Next came the axe on the Rock. Then the axe cut Darlington in half! I wonder what Brian Fance will chop next?! 12. DaleJrFan15 posted: 05.31.2007 - 8:35 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Go to Savethespeedway to sign a petition to well, save the speedway! WE MISS YA NW! 13. Anonymous posted: 09.04.2007 - 5:04 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) North Wilksboro unfortunatly has seen its last big league racing. What should have happened in 1997 is that they should have put lights on it and used it for weekly short track racing. If it is to ever hold any kind of racing again it is going to need a lot of work. Hopefully someone will be able to return some type of racing here again. 14. Steve posted: 10.06.2007 - 3:24 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) "They're never going to race Cup cars there. I could understanding the Cup series leaving the track because they did lose money every time they showed up to race there" It doesn't matter if they were losing money, they should still race there because I want them to. :( 15. myself posted: 02.26.2008 - 10:01 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) That's it, Steve! Tell 'em! 16. Steve.M. posted: 04.23.2008 - 4:28 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) The whole final race at North Wilkesboro 20 PARTS Part 1 = http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BO-4GeB9yMw Part 2 = http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-8P6ra3qlsY Part 3 = http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nfnoV7AkRmQ Part 4 = http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=flXzN8BnhHs Part 5 = http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWu5nkj0eIA Part 6 = http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xv5QtQn4gV4 Part 7 = http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7t4kIjJmQiQ Part 8 = http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nqFTJIcSfEk Part 9 = http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_-BQR65KXE Part 10 = http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3caw7SksYws Part 11 = http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9gdrdRhC23o Part 12 = http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRn5bCzI61Q Part 13 = http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q37vLl9cnMg Part 14 = http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpcCAN10o_U Part 15 = http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QD4QNY6OjJ0 Part 16 = http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WbJAnh9H9yU Part 17 = http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DeNLunVB-0 Part 18 = http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mw5COdQyE_s Part 19 = http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lpgDeCSwico Part 20 = http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fmXJihoiV4s Enjoy! 17. KB posted: 05.04.2008 - 12:43 am Rate this comment: (2) (0) I found John Kernan's post-race commentary interesting, essentially saying the type of good racing found at tracks like N. Wilkesboro would not be found at the larger tracks Cup was starting to move towards (Texas, California, etc.). What a prophetic statement that would turn out to be. I totally agree that this race was the first step toward the downfall of good NASCAR. Winston leaving and the "realignments" finished it off. I was fairly new to the sport when they stopped racing here, so I didn't appreciate this race as much then as I do now. This track has been so shamefully mistreated since. 18. DieselDan posted: 06.04.2008 - 10:32 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) North Wilksboro closed because Bruton Smith and Bob Bahre bought it to shut it down. It wasn't NASCAR or anyone else but these two assclowns. That was how New Hampshire got a second race and Texas Motor Speedway got its first race. 19. jp posted: 03.28.2009 - 11:27 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Smith is the biggest crook in NASCAR. I never saw a North Wilkesboro race. I agree with the guy who posted the comment about NWS under the lights. They did have a truck race there in '95. 20. Kirk posted: 06.19.2009 - 8:02 am Rate this comment: (1) (0) I've already told my wife that I'm buying North Wilkesboro if we ever win the lottery. I'm not holding my breath (or making plans to move), but it's fun to think about. 21. Art D posted: 06.26.2009 - 9:11 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Three consecutive wins! 19th career win for J. Gordon. 22. 18fan posted: 09.16.2009 - 7:04 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Rick Mast had one of the fastest cars in this race as he picked up his third consecutive top 10 in three straight Jeff Gordon wins. Also, following this race Jeff Gordon collapsed, allowing teammate Terry Labonte to catch him and win his second Winston Cup championship. 23. Clayton posted: 11.03.2009 - 8:47 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Now the Hooters Pro Cup Series will come back in 2010 to North Wilkesboro! AWESOME!!! 24. SoxFan24 posted: 11.18.2009 - 3:42 am Rate this comment: (1) (0) 19th win for Jeff Gordon as previously posted. Also 1st and only win at North Wilkesboro as he will go down as the final major Nascar winner at that track. First time that Gordon won back to back to back races in a season. First time that Gordon also would win 10 races in a season. GREAT NEWS Hooters Pro Cup and ASA racing (not the ASA from the 90's that aired on TNN) will bring racing back to N Wilkes!!! 25. Anonymous posted: 02.09.2010 - 2:05 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Wasn't this the last Cup race for a long time that all the drivers finished until 2006 in Loudon? 26. Ryan posted: 03.21.2010 - 9:45 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Hopefully the truck series considers racing at Wilkesboro next year with all the renovations they are doing. 27. 18fan posted: 09.06.2010 - 11:16 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I was only 1 at the time, but watching the tape of this race, as I did a few hours ago, makes me emotional. 28. DaleSrFanForever posted: 10.05.2010 - 5:54 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) For a long time I really thought this would be the last ever race at this wonderful track. I figured it would fall apart, and they'd put a shopping mall or something here. Luckily they have begun racing lower level Series here. And I've gotta tell you: This place is just like it was when it got shut down 14 years ago. Yeah, the paint has really faded, but it is amazing how much time has stood still here. And yes, this race marked the beginning of the end of fun NASCAR Cup racing. It was definitely a turning point for the worse. It wouldn't fully manifest itself until '04 and '05, but you can point to this race as the final day of NASCAR's glory years. This race, and when NASCAR approved the new, sleek Monte Carlo and other missle shaped car models that made "aero push" and "clean air" constant buzz words. Compare how exciting the 1994 Brickyard 400 was and how much the racing in the 1995 Brickyard 400 sucked (and this is ME saying this, Earnhardt won!!!). 29. jessie henry posted: 05.28.2011 - 9:46 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) good race sad see a track see the end 30. chris o posted: 07.03.2012 - 10:19 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Sad to see one of the first tracks to hold a cup event, it was replaced by Loudon not bad, but texas why bother. 31. mj posted: 04.12.2014 - 11:09 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Last race ever that had fewer than 40 cars in Sprint Cup racing. 32. Andre posted: 03.10.2015 - 9:57 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Until Kevin Harvick's win last Sunday at Las Vegas (March 8, 2015), this was the last time a driver reached 6 consecutive top 2 finishes. Jeff Gordon's finishes were; 2nd at Bristol (to Rusty Wallace) 1st at Darlington 2nd at Richmond (to Ernie Irvan) 1st at Dover 1st at Martinsville 1st at North Wilkesboro With Harvick being incredibly strong at Phoenix (and everywhere else, it seems), I wouldn't doubt that streak gets to seven this coming Sunday. 33. awesomebillfan9 posted: 12.28.2015 - 3:52 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Webmaster- The qualifying results for this race show that Maxime Martin qualified fourth, not Mark Martin. 34. Minnowfur posted: 12.28.2015 - 3:58 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) Whos Maxine Martin? 35. nascar_vd / racing-reference.info posted: 12.28.2015 - 6:14 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) A belgian GT driver, son of Jean-Michel Martin, multiple winner of Spa Francorchamps 24h race. 36. Tylor Thaber posted: 12.28.2015 - 7:31 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Maxime currently races in DTM. He placed 7th in the 2015 points, with one win and two third place finishes. 37. Anthony posted: 02.23.2016 - 9:01 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) With 39 cars at Atlanta this weekend, this last Wilkesboro race marks the last time that fewer than 40 started a top level race 38. StickguyMB posted: 07.22.2016 - 1:31 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) While NASCAR was building all of those cookie cutter tracks that were the exact same around this time, they could've spent some of that money on some kind of super-renovation for this track or use it to find some way to keep this track going. 39. Football Fan posted: 07.22.2016 - 2:52 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Great race, but it had the dark feeling all day. Wish I could of been alive to ever visit the track. 40. Josh posted: 07.26.2016 - 5:28 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) In the NASCAR Press Guide with the '96 results in it, the photo for this race shows all 37 drivers posing for a photo on the frontstretch of the track. 41. Anthony posted: 09.29.2016 - 6:41 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) 20 years ago today. NW is still missed. Meanwhile the 1.5 mile tracks have become a cancer in the series. 42. blackgold42 posted: 04.12.2017 - 6:55 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) One idea I've heard tossed around is on some of the 1.5 mile tracks that have two dates is to run one of the two using the infield road courses that a lot of them have supposedly Charlotte is considering holding its fall race on their roval 43. RaceFanX posted: 05.30.2017 - 12:47 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) An era in NASCAR ends as an era in video games begins, this race was run the same day that the Nintendo 64 video game console launched in North America (although many stores had started selling it a few days earlier). Two NASCAR-themed video games, NASCAR 99 and NASCAR 2000 from EA Sports, would later be released for the console in future years. 44. Anthony posted: 02.12.2018 - 12:24 am Rate this comment: (1) (1) This track is now in the same state as the sport that abandoned it for the 1.5 miler. 45. Tim posted: 02.23.2019 - 10:21 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) The whole North Wilkesboro thing set a terrible precedent by the France family and NASCAR. Up until that point they claimed that no tracks owned Cup dates instead each track was an independent contractor. Suddenly people could buy tracks and move dates. I think France was secretly happy that Bahre and Smith bought Wilkesboro. France didn't have to be the bad guy and he didn't have to disappoint the original owner Enoch Staley who died the previous year. I have heard some of the building structures were falling apart and NASCAR looked the other way on code violations. NASCAR could of held Bahre and Smith to the fire and said no Cup race at Texas or 2nd at Loudon without BGN or a truck race the following season and an agreement to upgrade facilities. They handed Smith way too much power in my opinion. In return we got a huge increase in cookie cutter tracks. In ?96 there was 6 oval races in North Carolina. I strongly believe NASCAR needs to go though a reconfiguration era much like baseball returned to baseball only parks. My suggestions Chicago becomes the old Atlanta get rid of the D shape. California reconfigured to Rockingham and Kansas or Texas become a short track. All these late 90s multi purpose facilities were built for IRL and NASCAR but Indy is too fast to run at both. John Kernan predicted could at the end of the broadcast that he new markets are fine but the new shine will wear off and action better be good. 46. Jimnsimforever posted: 03.31.2019 - 12:50 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) @17 Yeah me too, as well as Darrell Waltrip's comments in the pre race show about what he thought about this being the last race ever at North Wilkesboro. "Banging fenders on a short track at Wilkesboro, god, we've got expensive cars and it costs a lot of money to do that today. But it's kind of like a pay back (to the fans). And we got to always be thinking about what we're giving back (to fans) and not what we're taking all of the time. I don't want to see us get into a situation where it's take take take from the fans, from the sponsors, from everybody. One day we'll wake up and they won't be there anymore and our old friends (sponsors) will be gone too. So we got to maintain that fan base and we've got to maintain that grass roots level of racing that we all love to make the sport continue to grow and flourish." Dave Despain right after DW's comments: Talked about the future of the track and how it's unknown if there is one because the new owners aren't talking and haven't applied for any Nascar racing at all at any level anymore at the track, no Busch or Trucks even. "These 2 men (Smith and Bahre) at great expense have taken the flower of stock car racing, Winston Cup, and transplanted it elsewhere. In more fertile grounds where more people can see it. But, the roots of this sport are here at North Wilkesboro and they are in need of watering. For Winston Cup to outgrow North Wilkesboro is progress but if the price of that progress is the death of this race track, then this is a sad day indeed." Comments that ended up being prophetic. DW's are haunting to me to look back and see that he said that in late September 1996. His worst fears about this sudden expansion of the sport to go to new and bigger tracks came to pass, and they kept right on doing it with other historic places by either taking the races away or ruining the tracks at all levels, for Busch and the Trucks and the places they used to go as well to make it more convenient for them than the fans. 47. RaceFanX posted: 01.12.2020 - 5:15 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Sponsor: #11 Brett Bodine- Lowe's 50th Anniversary Bodine ran a special gold Ford Thunderbird at Charlotte in May to celebrate the home improvement store chain's golden anniversary and ran it again here. Given that Lowe's first-ever store opened here in North Wilkesboro back in 1921 it was fitting they would want to celebrate in their original community. Lowe's was headquartered in the Wilkesboro area at the time of this race and remained so until it moved to Mooresville in 2003 although it maintains a large presence in the area. In addition to being the last race at North Wilkesboro this was Leo Jackson's last race as a car owner as he sold the Skoal #33 team to his crew chief Andy Petree after this race. Jackson's last race wasn't a great one as driver Robert Pressley need to take a provisional to make the field and was running well down the running order and several laps down when he spun late in race to bring out the final Cup series caution ever at this track. 48. Jordan posted: 03.18.2020 - 4:20 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) @#39, if you are still alive you can visit the track. Although admittedly it is in pretty rough shape. The last time I was up there I spent some time talking with the track care taker, a nice older man. He opened the gate for me and I was able to take a few photos from the top of the grandstands above turn 4. Most of the buildings around the track have crumbled and most of the roofs have collapsed. That said, Dale Jr. recently went up there and cleaned up the track in order for the folks from iracing to laser scan the track. This is a good first step. I feel like Dale Jr is the only person who could ever resurrect the old track due to his wealth and potential to get sponsors. My idea would be to get the track back up and running with weekly racing under the lights on Friday night. (Bowman Gray runs Saturday) Then have both an Xfinity and a Truck race there, one in the spring, the other in the fall. I would then rotate a Cup date between North Wilkes and Rockingham, each getting a race every other year. Note: I don't think Nascar will every do this because it makes too much sense. 49. Corey posted: 03.18.2020 - 5:18 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) @48 NASCAR won't do it because the tracks won't do it. Hosting a Cup race brings in a decent amount of revenue. A track would not want to do it every other year as it's not financially viable. 50. possum posted: 03.18.2020 - 7:10 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) @49 - well, in this charter era I'm not so sure it's not finacially viable. Time was the tracks had to pay NASCAR to hold a race, and put up the purse, and pay all the expenses of running the place, and hopefully make a profit. And to do that they sold tickets & TV rights. But now NASCAR controls the TV money, sets the purse thru the charter system, and covers a lot of the expense of running the race. They could probably set it up to make an alternating year deal workable. That said, a) there's no chance NASCAR would be interested in doing something like that, and b) it wouldn't come close to covering the costs of rehabbing a track. N Wilks someone (with deep pockets) might rehab because they like the place, but Rockingham would take more money and wouldn't have the prospect of weekly racing to help cover the bills. 51. Jordan posted: 03.18.2020 - 9:42 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Rockingham is in pretty decent shape and apparently the State of North Carolina is giving the new owners $8 million to rehab it. 52. Anonymous posted: 12.22.2020 - 7:32 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Ward Burton failed to qualify at North Wilkesboro for the third straight time and fourth time in six career attempts at the track. He also failed to qualify in 1996 for both Martinsville races. He was hurt more than any other driver that season by the small field sizes at those two tracks. 53. RaceFanX posted: 01.30.2021 - 7:53 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) The Monte Carlo Jeff Gordon drove to victory in this historic race was nicknamed "Brewser" by the team and it was his primary short track car in 1996 and 1997, running nine races and scoring three wins during that time. The car was preserved after its racing days ended in September 1997 (Hendrick used it as a test car through 1999) and was sold at an online auction in January 2021 for $155,000. The buyer? Ray Evernham. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *Post a comment:* Your comment may not appear immediately - all comments must be approved by the moderator. Name: Comment: