See what North Wilkesboro Speedway looks like now (VIDEO) - MotorSportsTalk

Father Time is merciless to everyone. And everything. Even cherished race tracks.

From 1949 to 1996, NASCAR thundered around the 5/8-mile North Wilkesboro Speedway in Wilkes County, North Carolina.

A who’s who of stock car legends makes up the winner’s list, with guys like Buck Baker, Junior Johnson, Lee and Richard Petty, David Pearson, Bobby Allison, Cale Yarborough, Darrell Waltrip, Dale Earnhardt Sr., Rusty Wallace, Mark Martin, and Jeff Gordon among those on it.

But following Gordon’s victory there on Sept. 29, 1996 came the end of NASCAR at North Wilkesboro.

Bob Bahre, then-owner of New Hampshire Motor Speedway, and Speedway Motorsports CEO Bruton Smith bought the track that year, and eventually decided to split its two race dates between them; Smith took the spring date for his new Texas Motor Speedway, while Bahre claimed the fall date for New Hampshire.

Short-track racing briefly returned to North Wilkesboro in 2010. According to Save The Speedway, an organization dedicated to re-opening the track, the group that came in also made a sizable investment:

@estradawriting It actually looked worse prior to 2009 when a group ran some events. Was over $1M put into updates #NASCAR

— Save The Speedway (@savethespeedway) October 6, 2014

Unfortunately, the track went silent again in 2011 and has since been left to face the ravages of time.

Yesterday, a YouTube user named Bob Asbury uploaded a clip that gives viewers a birds-eye view of the track as it stands now. Or rather, a drone’s-eye view as the clip itself was shot with a DJI Phantom 2 Vision Plus drone.

If you’re from the older generation of NASCAR fans, this may make you shake your head or even shed a tear.

And if you’re younger, watch this and know that tracks such as these were what served as the foundation of the sport for many, many years.

Check it out at the top…

Follow @estradawriting

In a continuing effort to help fans keep track of the on track action, SuperMotocross is in the process of developing and implementing leader lights for the unified series.

Currently Supercross (SMX) utilizes stanchions in the infield that are triggered manually by a race official. At least two stanchions are used in each race as a way to draw the eye to the leader, which is especially useful in the tight confines of the stadium series when lapping often begins before the halfway mark in the 22-bike field. This system has been in place for the past two decades.

Later this year, a fully automated system will move to the bike itself to replace the old system. At that point, fans will be able to identify the leader regardless of where he is on track.

The leader lights were tested in the second Anaheim round this year. An example can be seen at the 1:45 mark in the video above on the No. 69 bike.

“What we don’t want to do is move too fast, where it’s confusing to people,” said Mike Muye, senior director of operations for Supercross and SMX in a press release. “We’ve really just focused on the leader at this point with the thought that maybe down the road we’ll introduce others.”

Scheduled to debut with the first SuperMotocross World Championship race at zMax Dragway, located just outside the Charlotte Motor Speedway, a 3D carbon fiber-printed LED light will be affixed to each motorcycle. Ten timing loops positioned around the track will trigger the lights of the leader, which will turn green.

SMX’s partner LiveTime Scoring helped develop and implement the system that has been tested in some form or fashion since 2019.

When the leader lights are successfully deployed, SuperMotocross will explore expanding the system to identify the second- and third-place riders. Depending on need and fan acceptance, more positions could be added.

SuperMotocross is exploring future enhancements, including allowing for live fan interaction with the lights and ways to use the lighting system during the race’s opening ceremony.

Read more about SuperMotocross