
{"id":983,"date":"2007-09-27T06:55:26","date_gmt":"2007-09-27T14:55:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.carrborocitizen.com\/main\/2007\/09\/27\/car-show-this-weekend-to-benefit-historic-hillsborough-speedway\/"},"modified":"2007-09-27T06:55:26","modified_gmt":"2007-09-27T14:55:26","slug":"car-show-this-weekend-to-benefit-historic-hillsborough-speedway","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/2007\/09\/27\/car-show-this-weekend-to-benefit-historic-hillsborough-speedway\/","title":{"rendered":"Car show this weekend to benefit historic Hillsborough speedway"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em><strong>By Emily Buehler<\/strong><br \/>\nCorrespondent<\/em><\/p>\n<p>If you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve never been walking on the Occoneechee-Orange Speedway, you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re not just missing out on a peaceful, shady walk through a quiet pine forest. You\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re also missing a chunk of local history: The flat main trail, part of the original race track, passes by the concrete grandstand, where you can almost hear the ghosts of spectators cheering as the cars fly past. The winding forest trail, behind the grandstand, passes by the crumbling concessions stand, the ticket booth, and the outhouse, cleverly marked with a toilet seat in the trees.<\/p>\n<p>The speedway was built in 1947, just in time for the inaugural season of NASCAR. It was one of eight initial tracks and is the only one remaining. For readers not up on their state history, stock car racing (like NASCAR) has its roots in bootlegging during Prohibition. Bootleggers altered their cars to make them lightweight and fast, able to outrun the authorities. The cars had to handle well, since they often drove on winding mountain roads. When Prohibition was repealed in 1933, drivers still \u00e2\u20ac\u0153ran\u00e2\u20ac\u009d illegal, untaxed moonshine.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>By the 1940s, races of these modified street vehicles were a popular form of entertainment in the rural South, particularly in North Carolina. Bill France built the Occoneechee Speedway in 1947, and it was used for the next 20 years, hosting racing legends Fireball Roberts, Richard Petty, Ned Jarrett and Junior Johnson. France closed the track in 1968, partly due to pressure from religious authorities, and went to Alabama, where he built the famous Talladega Superspeedway.<\/p>\n<p>These days, the lanes that once roared with spinning tires and flying mud are quiet and still. Leaving a small parking lot, visitors can walk the entire one-mile loop or head off into the woods behind the banked track wall. The Eno River runs nearby, curving around the eastern end of the track. The once-barren track center has re-seeded with pines and sycamores. And this seemingly out-of-the-way green space is located only two miles from downtown.<\/p>\n<p>In 2002, the Occoneechee-Orange Speedway was placed on the National Register of Historic Places along with two other racetracks: the Indianapolis Speedway and the Bonneville Salt Flats, where drivers gathered to challenge land-speed records in the early \u00e2\u20ac\u02dc40s.<\/p>\n<p>This weekend, the Historic Speedway Group is hosting a benefit for the preservation and restoration of the speedway: the inaugural Celebration of the Automobile Car Show. The group\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s website (http:\/\/historicspeedwaygroup.org) boasts a rambling list of all the events of the day. Foremost is the car show itself, which features five categories of cars: classic, antique, custom, muscle and race. There will be live music, food vendors, free kids\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 rides and a live auction of racing memorabilia.<br \/>\nThe car show is also serving as the backdrop for a stockcar driver reunion and several famous cars will be on display, including Richard Petty\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s 1972 Plymouth Roadrunner and Dale Earnhardt\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Goodwrench Lumina. Check out the website for a display by the Piedmont Distillers, who, in keeping with the roots of the sport, produce driver Junior Johnson\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Midnight Moon\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Carolina Moonshine:<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Junior Johnson\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not racing anymore, but he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s still driving \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcWhite Lightning.\u00e2\u20ac\u2122\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>Whether you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re a frequent visitor on the walking trails of the speedway or you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve never been, this weekend is your chance to see the cars and drivers of its glory days. Celebrate the past and help save the speedway for the future. The Celebration of the Automobile Car Show is Saturday September 29 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. The event, located at the speedway on Elizabeth Brady Road, is free to the public.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Emily Buehler Correspondent If you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve never been walking on the Occoneechee-Orange Speedway, you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re not just missing out on a peaceful, shady walk through a quiet pine forest. You\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re also missing a chunk of local history: The flat main trail, part of the original race track, passes by the concrete grandstand, where you can almost&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-983","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-community"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/983","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=983"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/983\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=983"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=983"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=983"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}