Hickory Doesn’t Need a Truck Race to Have a Place in NASCAR

In central North Carolina, there sits a half-mile asphalt racetrack that is as much a part of NASCAR history as any speedway in America. Yet none of the national touring series have competed on it in nearly three decades. 

If I typed that a few years ago, you’d likely guess that it was a reference to North Wilkesboro Speedway. But now that the once decaying plant habitat has been revitalized and is part of the NASCAR schedule again, the description is more fitting for a similar oval in Hickory, NC.

Hickory Motor Speedway opened in 1952, beginning life as a dirt track and hosting its first NASCAR Cup Series race in May of 1953. Tim Flock won the inaugural running and the early years of Hickory winners read like a veritable who’s who of Hall of Fame drivers. Lee Petty, Joe Weatherly, Fonty Flock and hometown hero Junior Johnson all graced victory lane at Hickory.

It was paved in 1967 but the Cup tour moved on after 1971, while the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series remained through 1998. Suffice to say, there is a lot of history at Hickory and the track is a gem in the heart of NASCAR country.

Now, the ARCA Menards Series East is arguably one of the highlights of the track’s recent features and the debut of that division on March 28 was an undeniably entertaining performance. Then, I started seeing the inevitable suggestions on social media. Hickory should get a NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series date, perhaps an O’Reilly one or even a Cup Series show in the not-too-distant future. To that, I simply have one statement.

It is time to pump the brakes because some of you need to slow down.

First off, Hickory was removed from the higher end of NASCAR offerings for a different reason than North Wilkesboro. NWS had two valuable Cup dates and the new owners wanted those dates elsewhere. Hickory couldn’t bring in enough money to cover the rising purse payouts for the NOAPS participants. That isn’t likely to change either, considering the payouts in the late 90s were about $250,000 and Truck events currently distribute about three times that amount.

The local infrastructure isn’t really fit for a high-level race either. For anyone who hasn’t been to the track before, it sits alongside Highway 70 and the parking area funnels cars back onto that lone, four-lane thoroughfare. There are no traffic signals in front of the track and only two driveways through which fans can enter and exit. To say that traffic would be a concern is an immense understatement. 

The track seats just under 10,000 spectators with standing room for approximately 3,000 more. I can speak from experience after attending the CARS Tour Throwback Classic a couple of years ago when that many people left Hickory at one time, it becomes a grassroots gridlock.

There is one other reason that is certainly important to me. It is necessary for the lower levels of NASCAR to have something nice all to themselves. Every time the Trucks or O’Reilly tours get a new track, the attention immediately turns to bringing the Cup Series there. 

New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Homestead-Miami Speedway and more were all exclusively feeder series hosts at one time. Let the ARCA East tour have this one. Make it a premier event for that series and if you want to see a big show at Hickory, well, go to that one.

Hickory might be best suited for the CARS Tour, ARCA East cars and other weekly races. That’s ok. Like dozens of other historic bullrings, Hickory absolutely has a place in racing and with NASCAR.