Story by: Corey Latham ~ corey@RACE22.com

Wilkesboro, NC(September 8, 2010) -- The North Wilkesboro Speedway had set dormant for nearly 14 years. It had seen sporadic use in the way of the Jack Roush "Gong Show" a few years ago, and then the debacle last year that ultimately turned criminal, but no real "racing" had taken place since Jeff Gordon took that final checkered in 1996.

The gates opened once more this past weekend, the stands were packed and the nostalgia was felt all around. We all wondered if it would really even happen, but cars raced and crowds cheered, and Mack Little became the first person to take the checkereds once more since Gordon on that fateful day 14 years ago.

The day was ran by the PASS series and Super Late Models were the main event of the day, but the Limited Late Models were up first for their 50 lap affair and they set the tone for the day. It was an all "Little" front row to start, as Mack Little blistered the field for the top spot with Jesse Little (no relation), the son of former NASCAR Cup driver Chad Little, to his outside. Veterans Rock Harris and Scott Hall followed, with Ryan Robertson rounding out the top five.

The green waved and once again the sounds of racecars filled the air of the Brushy Mountains, it was a very emotional sight for many in attendance. The racers were feeling that same emotion all weekend, but as they dove into turn one it was all business now with Jesse Little jumping out to the early lead. Quickly the two Little's' began to distance themself from the field.

Scott Hall was the first person to have bad luck on the day as his day went South with motor trouble on lap two. While Hall was heading to the pits, Mack Little was giving the young driver in front of him a lesson on pressure, as he shadowed him closely all around the track before making his move to the lead on lap four. It was early in the event, but all weekend through practice, qualifying, and now the early stages of the race the message had been sent, you were going to have to beat Mack Little if you wanted to win this event.

As the front two were gone with Harris in a distant third, the battle for fourth was heating up between Ryan Robertson, Ryan Glenski and Andy Favre. Robertson looked to be saving his tires for the end, and the young Glenski simply wanted to go with Favre just waiting for the right opportunity to get around both of them. Glenski began to slide the longer they ran and Favre made his move on lap 31 to move into the fifth spot. He would fall further as the event went on, but Glenski put on a show with a ill handling car and worn out tires as he dirt-tracked his car for the last 15 laps of the event.

Up front it was all Mack Little, the veteran was driving away from the field and looked to be home free. Of course it never goes like that, and a caution for debris on the backstretch was displayed with just over 10 laps remaining. The the rough surface of a track that has been weathered for 14 years with no rubber put down what so ever, we were now going to see what drivers had saved something for the end.

After the restart it became evident that Mack Little could have had tires with the cords showing and it not mattered, as he once again set sail away from the rest of the field. Jesse Little in second had been hands down the second best car of the day, but the veteran Harris showed he had been waiting as he blasted by J. Little with less than ten laps to go. Little fell even further back as he got hung to the outside with a loose racecar, and Robertson and Favre followed Harris through the hole before Little could get down in front of Gary Ledbetter in fifth. Ledbetter had been charging through the field himself after blowing an engine the day before and qualifying poorly with the new powerplant, but simply ran put of laps crossing the line behind J. Little.

The checkereds waved and Mack Little was now a winner at North Wilkesboro Speedway. It was a special win to him in so many ways, he wanted to win regardless of where it was, but to win here where the greats have raced and with all the history, it was something that hit close to the heart. His father had been to victory lane four times previously at Wilkesboro with drivers Gerald Compton and Jay Hedgecock, and now Mack could add his name to the list. A special win this was.

Next up were the Mini-Stocks, and the little 4-cylinders put on a whale of a show. Mini-Stock motor builder extraordinaire Randy Freeze took the early lead with Archie Sanders falling in right behind. Between Freeze and the 71 year-old Sanders, over 80 years of racing experience was leading the field, and these two are as spry in the car as they were when they Started. While Chuck Wall is sizing up Sanders for second on lap three, Wayne Hill makes a power move around both of them to take the runner-up spot. Behind all this craziness at the front, Michael Tucker was coming, and coming in a hurry.

AJ Sanders and Michael Tucker have been rivals for many years, as they are the top dogs in the division, and once again they found each other at Wilkesboro. But it wasn't like it looked at all, Sanders had just moved into third around Wall on lap eight with Tucker following when he broke a cam going down the frontstretch. With Sanders suddenly losing power Tucker gets into the back of him before whipping to the outside making the pass. Well, Archie Sanders, who is AJ's father, simply saw Tucker get into the back of AJ, he didn't know what had happened, but it didn't really matter, he wanted to let him know he didn't approve.

Although Tucker was racing, Archie Sanders thought he should be a turn one spectator in row 6 as he tried to drive him there, never hitting the brakes as the cars hit the corner. Completely sideways looking at the infield, Tucker made the save of the day as he didn't even lose a position, many others would have simply crashed. Caution would fly next as AJ Sanders car rolled to a stop on the backstretch.

As we go back to green, the racing starts immediately. Ten to go in the 25 lap event, and Hill makes the move on Freeze for the lead and the two race side-by-side for over a lap before Hill takes the top spot. Not to be outdone, Freeze does a cross-over move down the backstretch as Tucker takes third from Wall and waits on the lead to sort itself out. Hill manages to hold off Freeze with Tucker squeezing into second in the process.

It gets down to five to go and Tucker is there, he makes his move going into turn one and they make contact as both cars slide up the track. Hill holds tough on the outside as the beat into the corner once more to the delightment of the crowd. Tucker would ease ahead a lap later, but Hill was far from done.

Tucker takes the white flag and Hill pulls dead to his bumper off turn two. As they enter turn three Hill whips it quickly to the left and dives under Tucker, and they run abreast through the middle of turn four. Tucker eases ahead and takes the win on the outside, with Hill coming home second, Freeze third, Wall fourth, and Brandon Brendle picking up a top five.

After a caution-filled event for the Allison Legacy cars won by Gus Dean, the PASS Super Late Models were rolled out and were ready to go.

Andy Loden had won the pole, breaking the track record held by Ernie Ervan from 16 years ago. Loden circled the track at 18.815, amazingly fast for a track this size. PASS has a redraw after qualifying, putting Jody Lavender on the pole followed by Kenzie Ruston, Justin Allison, Devin Jones and Trey Mitchel. Loden would line up all the way back in tenth.

Kenzie Ruston's day would be over before it even started with mechanical failure on the pace laps, so the outside row would move up putting Devin Jones on the outside pole. Lavender would jump to the early lead and would remain in that spot for a large portion of the day.

The field got strung out rather quickly, and the car everyone was watching was the #9 Aaron's Dream Machine of Chase Elliott. The son of legendary Bill Elliott, young Chase has won in all sorts of cars from North to South in the past two seasons, and is one of if not "the" hottest driver in the country right now. He was coming fast towards the leaders from his 9th starting spot, but the old Wilkesboro track was unlike he had ever seen, and 200 green flag laps can take it's toll on man and machine.

Lavender pulled away from the field in the early going, as Devin Jones did all he could to hold off Ryan Blaney and Andy Loden for second. This was of course after Elliott had came by and passed them all and was on his way to challenge the leader. Jones did manage to hold off Elliott for several laps with Elliott getting into the back of him numerous times, but the pass was bound to happen, he caught him quickly and just seemed to take his time but at the same instance didn't seem too pleased with Jones chopping him off in the corners. But that's racing.

As we get to the halfway mark Lavender has put all but ten cars a lap down, and Loden made a charge around Blaney and Jones to move into second before the big caution everyone had been waiting for came out on lap 121. All the leaders hit pit road for pit stops, fresh rubber being the number one priority. With most of the PASS teams being filled with volunteers and everyday mechanics, Elliott easily wins the race off pit road as his crew resembles a modern day Cup series team. Lavender rolls out second, followed by Loden, Jones and Ryan Blaney. Both Loden and Blaney must go to the back of the line for pit road infractions, more or less killing their chances at victory.

Elliott pulls away as Joey Coulter falls into second. Lavender would get around Coulter some laps later, but now before Elliott would stretch his lead to a almost a full straightaway.The field would get really stretched out now with not much racing going on, and Elliott was well on his way. But you know how that goes.

With 17 to go Brandon Ward loses a left front tire and slams the wall hard in turn two, showing us for the first time today how much speed the old track really has. Ward's car is destroyed, but luckily he was able to walk away with no injuries after a vicious hit. After another late restart for Preston Peltier spinning, we would go green for the final 12 laps, and Lavender would give Elliott everything he had.

Lavender looked to make a move on the restart, but Elliott pulls him off turn two on the outside and Loden tries everything he can to get around Lavender for second. In the end it's all Elliott as he does something his father never did in his storied career, pick up a win at North Wilkesboro.

With so many low-life's and empty promises around the Speedway in recent years, many were reluctant in giving in to this new endeavor at the track easily. So much hinged on this first event, as it would set the tone for future races and events, and would let the community know exactly what they were dealing with. Racers from all over and many racing series that were interested in racing at the track this year simply wanted to see if it would really happen.

Well it did, and went off without a hitch, and was a great success. It may have been run solely by the PASS series for this weekend, but the future of the Speedway looks bright, getting the first one under their belt was the key. I was glad to see the old girl once more no matter what was being run, and many others felt the same way.
 

RESULTS ...
 
Limited Late Models:
1. Mack Little III
2. Rock Harris
3. Ryan Robertson
4. Andy Favre
5. Jesse Little
6. Gary Ledbetter
7. Kenny Bost
8. Jimmy Simmons
9. Josh Goble
10. Tommy Neal
11. Steven Truell
12. Kevin Neal
13. Ryan Glenski
14. Joe Heigl
15. Mark Goin
16. Matt Hill
17. Bryant Robertson
18. Benjy Woodward
19. Travis Motley
20. Scott Hall
21. Wayne Hill
22. Adam Murray
23. Mark Johnson