STS Motorsports Inc. announced today they would begin work on saving North Wilkesboro Speedway once again, following the closure in 2011 after the PASS Super Late Models $100,000 To Win Race. While previous efforts to Save the Speedway have been met with pitfalls and mis-management, STS Motorsports Inc. has decided to reopen the issue and ask the community for help.

“In the past, no one has asked the community what they thought and how things could be done. We seemed to see people come in with grand ideas that fizzled out over time, while disenfranchising the motorsports community as a whole.” said Robert Marsden – Founder STS Motorsports Inc.

In the renewed effort, STS Motorsports Inc. will begin a donation campaign asking racing fans to join in this time and donate. In return, not only will you help save a historic motorsports landmark, but additionally, tickets, pit passes, and even get their name on a race or drive the pace car during one of the planned events once the donation campaign reaches it goal. 
“We will use our grassroots skills to bring the message to race fans giving them a return on their investment to lease and reopen North Wilkesboro Speedway” Said Steven B. Wilson

All fans and businesses interested in donating can find the campaign and information on Indiegogo at http://www.indiegogo.com/northwilkesborospeedway

The campaign will kick off using social media, word of mouth and help from the community willing to see North Wilkesboro Speedway reopened. All the information will be found on STS Motorsports website at www.savethespeedway.net or following along on Twitter @savethespeedway and on our Facebook page www.facebook.com/northwilkesborospeedway.

They buried one of Wilkes County's best-known former moonshiners Monday.

Willie Clay Call of North Wilkesboro died Friday at his home. He was 73.

He died a farmer, but back in the day, he ran moonshine like his father and grandfather and his lifelong friend, Junior Johnson, who was an honorary pallbearer at his funeral.

Call didn't take the same NASCAR path that Johnson did, but back in the 1960s he liked to take his 1955 Ford out on the North Wilkesboro Speedway during practice.

"Story he always told people was he outran Fred Lorenzen on several occasions while out practicing," said Steve Wilson of the preservation group Save the Speedway.

"Fast Freddie" Lorenzen won the Daytona 500 in 1965.

In his later years, Call served as a link to the past. In 2002, Call and Johnson lent a car and copper still to the Reynolda House Museum of American Art for an exhibit on moonshining.

Call provided a car for filming when the Wilkes Playmakers needed video footage as part of a play about Johnson. And he provided moonshining items for the Wilkes Heritage Museum in the old county courthouse.

He set up a demonstration still for film crews, working in cooperation with the town of Wilkesboro in promoting heritage and tourism.

"He was a friend of the town," said Wilkesboro Town Manager Ken Noland.

One of Call's survivors is his brother, Norman, who was not a moonshiner and is a former mayor of Wilkesboro.

Willie Clay Call opened his garage to Hot Rod magazine in 2005, showing the magazine more than a half-dozen cars. These weren't replicas of moonshine cars. They were cars that had logged thousands of miles hauling illegal liquor.

His favorite was a 1961 Chrysler New Yorker, a big-finned car that could do 180 mph, he said.

At a reunion of bootleggers and revenuers a few years ago, Call sat in a rocking chair on stage as people swapped stories about how things used to be.

One of the law enforcement agents recalled Call as "uncatchable."

Charles Mercer was one of the former revenuers at the gathering in 2009. He told a story about his last day on the job in 1974, when he was determined to catch Call. Mercer staked out Call's home for hours.

It didn't do any good, and Mercer called to have a fellow agent pick him up.

Call came out to meet them.

"I understand you're leaving," Call told Mercer. "I really appreciate the way you've done your job."

Winston-Salem Journal