The 1996 Tyson Holly Farms 400 (the last Winston Cup Race at North Wilkesboro Speedway)

While visiting family in Florida during 2017, I stumbled upon some old racing pictures from the late 1990s which my Dad and I took. One particular race caught my eye from 1996, the September 29th Tyson Holly Farms 400. At the time this was intended to be the last NASCAR Winston Cup Race (now Cup Series) at North Wilkesboro Speedway. The below cover photo is from end of driver introduction ceremony which featured the entire starting lineup. The NASCAR Cup Series will be returning to North Wilkesboro for the All-Star Race on May 21, 2023.

North Wilkesboro Speedway is located off of Route US Route 421 near the town of North Wilkesboro, North Carolina. North Wilkesboro Speedway is a 0.625 mile short track with 14 degree banked turns. The facility at North Wilkesboro opened to racing in 1947 and was on NASCAR's top circuit from 1949 to 1996. North Wikesboro Speedway was ultimately replaced on the Winston Cup schedule by Texas Motor Speedway. During the 1996 season North Wilkesboro Speedway sat 40,000 spectators .

My Dad during 1996 was once the Marketing Vice President for Prodigy Online. Prodigy Online was the primary sponsor of Dave Marcis and 71 car for the 1996 season. During 1996 I was in middle school and followed motor sports extensively. Ultimately my Dad pulled me out of school to attend the full racing week at North Wilkesboro given it was to be the last Winston Cup race at the venue. Ted Musgrave ended up winning the pole for but the Tyson Holly Farms 400 was dominated by the eventual winner Jeff Gordon.

Below are some of my photos with me and the 71 from the 1996 Tyson Holly Farms 400 starting grid.

Comments

Paper Highways: The Unbuilt New Orleans Bypass (Proposed I-410)

There are many examples around the United States of proposed freeway corridors in urban areas that never saw the light of day for one reason or another. They all fall somewhere in between the little-known and the infamous and from the mundane to the spectacular. One of the more obscure and interesting examples of such a project is the short-lived idea to construct a southern beltway for the New Orleans metropolitan area in the 1960s and 70s. Greater New Orleans and its surrounding area grew rapidly in the years after World War II, as suburban sprawl encroached on the historically rural downriver parishes around the city. In response to the development of the region’s Westbank and the emergence of communities in St. Charles and St. John the Baptist Parishes as viable suburban communities during this period, regional planners began to consider concepts for new infrastructure projects to serve this growing population. The idea for a circular freeway around the southern perimeter of t

Huey P. Long Bridge (New Orleans, LA)

Located on the lower Mississippi River a few miles west of New Orleans, the Huey P. Long Bridge is an enormous steel truss bridge that carries both road and rail traffic on an old-time structure that is a fascinating example of a bridge that has evolved in recent years to meet the traffic and safety demands of modern times. While officially located in suburban Jefferson Parish near the unincorporated community of Bridge City, this bridge’s location is most often associated with New Orleans, given that it’s the largest and most recognizable incorporated population center in the nearby vicinity. For this reason, this blog article considers the bridge’s location to be in New Orleans, even though this isn’t 100% geographically correct. Completed in 1935 as the first bridge across the Mississippi River in Louisiana and the first to be built in the New Orleans area, this bridge is one of two bridges on the Mississippi named for Huey P. Long, a Louisiana politician who served as the 40th Gove

Hernando de Soto Bridge (Memphis, TN)

The newest of the bridges that span the lower Mississippi River at Memphis, the Hernando de Soto Bridge was completed in 1973 and carries Interstate 40 between downtown Memphis and West Memphis, AR. The bridge’s signature M-shaped superstructure makes it an instantly recognizable landmark in the city and one of the most visually unique bridges on the Mississippi River. As early as 1953, Memphis city planners recommended the construction of a second highway bridge across the Mississippi River to connect the city with West Memphis, AR. The Memphis & Arkansas Bridge had been completed only four years earlier a couple miles downriver from downtown, however it was expected that long-term growth in the metro area would warrant the construction of an additional bridge, the fourth crossing of the Mississippi River to be built at Memphis, in the not-too-distant future. Unlike the previous three Mississippi River bridges to be built the city, the location chosen for this bridge was about two