NASCAR traces its roots to the days of moonshine runners, who used souped-up cars to escape authorities on rural roads in the southern United States.
Last week, that storied history inserted itself into the 21st century.
Speedway Motorsports announced on Tuesday that officials at the historic North Wilkesboro Speedway in the foothills of North Carolina recently discovered what they believe could be a “moonshine cave” unearthed by a sinkhole underneath the racetrack’s grandstands.
Ahead of NASCAR’s All-Star race at the track in May, track employees were cleaning and inspecting the grandstands when they noticed cracks in the original concrete in one section of the grandstands.
Upon further inspection, officials discovered a sinkhole under the concrete, approximately 700 square feet in size.
The discovery revived rumors about the speedway once being the site of a “secret moonshine still,” said Steve Swift, an executive of Speedway Motorsports, the company that owns North Wilksboro Speedway.
“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,” Swift said.
“Well, we haven’t found find 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,” he explained.
