NORTH WILKESBORO, N.C. — The last time the North Wilkesboro Speedway hosted a NASCAR Cup Series race was in 1996. This weekend that all changes. 

What You Need To Know

  • The All-Star Race is at 8 p.m. Sunday at the North Wilkesboro Speedway

  • On Benny Parsons' wish list before he died was bringing back the North Wilkesboro Speedway, which saw its last Cup Series race in 1996

  • Terry Parsons has worked to bring the speedway back, but she wasn't alone

This Sunday, NASCAR will host its All-Star Race at the speedway, and Terry Parsons said it’s unbelievable. 

Parsons' late husband, Benny Parsons, was a former NASCAR driver and broadcaster when he passed away in 2007. Before he died, he asked his wife to do something. 

“He sat me down one day and he had torn out a piece of a legal pad and he wrote 10 things down on it. He said, 'You’re not going to want to have this conversation, but we need to. Here's 10 things I want you to get done for me that I won't be around to do.'... No. 3 on that list was the reopening of North Wilkesboro Speedway in some capacity,” Terry Parsons said. 

Parsons had many conversations with many people on how to go about this. She wanted to be clear what her motive was. 

“I knew I could if I could find other people in the community that were like-minded and knew that we could move this forward,” Parsons said. 

She credits Linda Cheek, president of the Wilkes Chamber of Commerce, who wanted to help her make connections within the town.

Parsons said another contributor toward revamping the track was the pandemic. More money became available for small tracks.

"The money we were offered was $10 million, and state Rep. (Jeffrey) Elmore went in and said, ‘That's great, but we'd like 20.’ We all held our breath and thought, oh no, now they're going to take it all away and we're going to get nothing. And we ended up with 18. So that alone was tremendous for us,” Parsons said. 

The real physical labor of the track began with Ronald Queen, director of operations for the speedway.

“Ronald organized the fire departments to come out here and cut down 40-foot trees that were around this whole entire place that just kept getting taller and taller," Parsons said.

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She says she is proud of everyone who played a part in bringing the speedway back and fulfilling her late husband’s wish. 

“NASCAR's alive and well in North Wilkesboro and Wilkes County," she said. "I think NASCAR's going to be very proud with what they've chosen to be involved with again because we're not going to let them down."