Two things I never expected to intersect did so this week.
NASCAR and archaeology.
Now, this doesn’t involve dinosaur bones being found in a hole at a NASCAR track somewhere, though that would be cool.
But it does involve the bedrock of NASCAR’s origins in the wilds of North Carolina.
A news flash came across the wires (email) Tuesday evening (March 26) courtesy of Speedway Motorsports, the owner of North Wilkesboro Speedway.
“Sinkhole Unearths Rumored Moonshine Cave.”
Usually, nothing good comes of any story that has “sinkhole” in the headline.
It usually involves life-threatening situations or priceless Corvettes being swallowed up.
Instead, we’re dealing with a secret moonshine cave.
And it only was discovered because of a maintenance inspection.
According to Speedway Motorsports, a grandstand cleaning and inspection operation last week resulted in the discovery of cracks in the original concrete in section N on the frontstretch grandstands of the short track.
When work crews began removing seats to inspect the severity of the damage and evaluate repair requirements, an open area of approximately 700 square feet was discovered underneath the aging concrete.
“When we began renovating and restoring North Wilkesboro Speedway in 2022, we’d often hear stories of how an old moonshine still was operated here on the property under the grandstands,” Steve Swift, senior vice president of operations and development at Speedway Motorsports, said in a press release. “Well, we haven’t found a still (yet), but we’ve found a small cave and an interior wall that would have been the perfect location to not only make illegal liquor, but to hide from the law as well.
“We don’t know how people would have gotten in and out, but as we uncover more, there’s no telling what we might find.”
Thankfully, this piece of Wilkesboro history wasn’t discovered by a horrible accident during a race weekend.
No one wants those headlines.
But one can’t help but imagine somebody brewing genuine North Carolina moonshine in that cave *during* an ancient NASCAR race weekend.
Swift said North Wilkesboro faces a “race before the race” when it comes to the run up to the All-Star Weekend of May 17-19.
Something needs to be done about the gaping hole in the grandstands before they’re swarmed by fans.
“The area that’s been affected by the sinkhole is a frontstretch…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at …