North Wilkesboro Speedway set to make return; influx of major funding

Photo Courtesy of Journal File

    After 10 years of closure and 1/4 of century since its final NASCAR race, North Wilkesboro Speedway may be making it's return to race schedules in the not so distant future.

Following the passing of a $25.9 billion North Carolina state budget Thursday evening (11/18/21), North Wilkesboro Speedway will receive $18 million in state funding to be allocated towards the renovation of the 72 year old race track. In this reception, North Wilkesboro Speedway will join former and current NASCAR racing destinations, Rockingham Speedway and Charlotte Motor Speedway as they all take a significant portion of the $40 million being set aside for North Carolina racing facilities.

This massive influx of funding for the Wilkes County race track caught the eye of many hardcore racing fans, as well as a huge investor, Marcus Lemonis.

You may know Lemonis for his ownership of brands like Camping World, Good Sam, and Gander RV and Outdoors (formerly Gander Moutnain), or perhaps you know him for his show on CNBC titled: "The Profit". However you know Marcus Lemonis, its safe to say that his investment into NASCAR has been huge, holding the title sponsorship of the Truck Series (with his brands) since 2009, and partnering with 'needy' race teams along the way. His investment into the sport could be about to get even bigger...

On Friday morning upon hearing the news concerning the new funding for North Wilkesboro Speedway, Lemonis sent a tweet towards the CEO of Speedway Motorsports Marcus Smith (Who owns North Wilkesboro) saying: "Ok @MarcusSMI it's go time... #campingworldspeedway has a nice ring to it.. who agrees?

Ok @MarcusSMI it’s go time.. #campingworldspeedway has a nice ring to it.. who agrees? @savethespeedway @DaleJr @EarnhardtKelley pic.twitter.com/TTg8JVBm9I

— Marcus Lemonis (@marcuslemonis) November 19, 2021

Through this message, it appears as though Marcus Lemonis may be prepared to make a large investment in North Wilkesboro Speedway by buying the naming rights of the speedway and promoting his most popular camping and outdoors brand "Camping World".

As most of us can make an assumption, buying the naming rights to a property is not an inexpensive task. According to ESPN's Sports Business archives, the naming rights to a professional sports stadium has been reported to cost anywhere from $620,000 per year (Alltel Stadium/Alltel Corp./Jacksonville Jaguars) to a whopping $10 million per year (Reliant Stadium/Reliant Energy/Houston Texans). While the naming rights to a rundown race track like North Wilkesboro Speedway may not be as high as some sports venues, that kind of investment surely won't be cheap.

Although the general public has no idea what kind of offers Speedway Motorsports has recieved in concerns to the naming rights and other sponsorship of the venue, the company is likely to take Marcus Lemonis' into consideration. Marcus Lemonis is a trustworthy business partner (his long time in NASCAR) and the speedway has a lot of work to be done. 

As you can imagine, even after a race track closes, time does not sit still. Weeds grow, wood rots, paint chips, and tree roots and weather cycles break up asphalt. After virtually twenty-five years of sitting dormant, minor damage to the track and its facilities have become serious issues that are in dire need of attention. This damage is something that the new $18 million can help solve.

Damage is something to keep in mind when looking at North Wilkesboro Speedway's increasingly bright future, but it certainly is not something to dwell over. Throughout the past handful of years volunteer work from avid North Wilkesboro fans has been carried out to remove the ever growing weeds and trees within the facility, something that needs to be done frequently.

The bottom line is, many NASCAR fans have not forgotten about NASCAR racing at North Wilkesboro Speedway, and how much they enjoyed it. With iRacing scanning the track for simulated racing, and the eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series bringing a majority of the Cup Series field to a televised sim-race (during the 2020 lockdowns) many young auto racing enthusiasts now have began to understand the history of North Wilkesboro Speedway, and have grown a liking for the racing results. 

The fans are not the only group pouring their time and effort into this cause. Marcus Smith, who as previously mentioned is the CEO of Speedway Motorsports is prepared to use this funding to modernize North Wilkesboro Speedway with this funding, and is appreciative of all the support from the community.

Smith said in his statement:

“The allocation toward North Wilkesboro provides the starting capital needed to rebuild the infrastructure of the historic facility. With state budget amounts now finalized, we can zero in on project priorities and determine work schedules. The goal will be to modernize the property so that it can host racing and special events again in the future.

“I’d also like to thank all the members of the Wilkes County community who have donated their time and hard work to help demolish old buildings and clear brush and debris. We are truly grateful for what you’ve already done, and we look forward to rebuilding North Wilkesboro Speedway.”

It is important to remember that Speedway Motorsports runs and owns eight other fully functioning NASCAR tracks, so while they may be devoted to the reviving the defunct speedway, at times it might not be their utmost priority. The organization brought damage to North Wilkesboro Speedway when they intentionally removed it from the NASCAR schedule to allow a race fate for Texas Motor Speedway and New Hampshire Motor Speedway. What can be taken away from this development, and their effort in recent years, is that Speedway Motorsports learned from their past mistakes, and with any hope they can prove it as they revitalize the historical track. This lump sum of money allocated to the track certainly wont hurt.

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