ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, September 29, 1996 TAG: 9609300125
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C-12 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: AUTO RACING
DATELINE: NORTH WILKESBORO, N.C.
SOURCE: BOB ZELLER
Back when his daddy was running roughshod over the competition at North Wilkesboro Speedway, Kyle Petty was into stick-and-ball sports.
It was the early 1970s, and Kyle and the kids of other drivers, including the late Davey Allison, played catch in the infield with footballs and baseballs.
``I remember a time when you could throw a baseball as far as you could here in the infield and not hit anyone,'' Petty said. He didn't have to point out that it's so crowded now, the working conditions are uncomfortable for most of the Winston Cup race teams.
``It was lots of fun back then,'' Petty said. ``And it's gone from that to being out of business in 20 years. It's a double-edged thing. This track has just been around for so long. The same guys have been working the gates for those 20 years. The same paramedics have been working at the track. The same ladies have been selling hot dogs all these years.
``But do I think the sport needs to go to bigger, better venues? Yeah, I do.''
And that is the consensus among drivers in the Winston Cup series.
Many of them expressed some regret about leaving, especially those who have been successful here.
``I think it's one of the better and more racy short tracks we have,'' said Geoff Bodine, who's won here three times.
Others are happy to be leaving.
``Thank God,'' said Dale Earnhardt when he was asked what he thought about today's Tyson Holly Farms 400 being the last Winston Cup event at North Wilkesboro.
But no one said it was the wrong thing to do.
``It's got a lot of history,'' said Richard Childress, Earnhardt's car owner. ``When I was driving, I always looked at this place as my home track. But you have to move forward rather than standing still.''
``It's kind of one of those deals where you've got to keep up with the times,'' said Dick Trickle, a short-track specialist. ``I think everybody hates to leave. I like the half miles. That's where all of us came from.
``But it's like building a new highway. Sometimes that old house has got to go, but that doesn't mean it wasn't a good house.''
Brett Bodine got the only Winston Cup victory of his career here in the spring of 1990.
``It's such a very good short track,'' he said. ``I hate it. But it's inevitable. The sport is changing and growing. We need to be somewhere where the market is bigger and the track is bigger.''
``Everything has growing pains. I guess this is one of them,'' said Michael Waltrip. ``I don't think the size of the track is so much the issue. I think the location here probably had more to do with it than anything else. We have great racing on the short tracks. The diversity of the schedule is one of the neatest things we have in NASCAR. It would be pretty cool for someone to build a three-quarter-mile track with racing in the 1990s in mind.''
``There's an awful big deal being made about evolution and moving on,'' said Mark Martin. ``At some point, they had to weed out the dirt tracks. At some point, they had to make 42-car starting fields. It's just something that the sport had to do.''
While no one seems too upset about leaving North Wilkesboro, there's not a lot of excitement among the drivers about going to New Hampshire, which is where the series will be on this weekend next year.
Many believe that one race a year in New Hampshire was plenty, and two a year is too many.
``I'll tell you what, I'd a whole lot rather be here than in Loudon, New Hampshire, this time of year next year,'' said Sterling Marlin. ``Here, everybody gets to stay in their own beds on Friday and Saturday night.''
Most of the teams are based in the Charlotte area, which is only about an hour away.
``I don't have any sentimental attraction to this place,'' said Wally Dallenbach, who lives in Greensboro, also about an hour away. ``I don't like running the short tracks. The bigger tracks are better, I feel anyhow. But the only thing I won't like about not coming here is I can stay in my own house every night. You can't beat that.''
Waltrip, for one, had a notion on how the track might keep a Winston Cup race. When he was asked whether it would mean anything to win the last Cup race here, he said, ``I'm 0-for-325, so don't ask me that question. I won a race [the non-points Winston Select] and it was one of the biggest of the year and it doesn't count, so hell, if I won the last one here, they would schedule another one next spring.''
LENGTH: Medium: 85 linesby CNB