Racing Will Return to Historic Cleveland County Fairgrounds

We can finally make the official announcement...press release(s) to follow.

On April 21st 2012 Historic Cleveland County Fairgrounds Speedway in Shelby, NC will host the first and hopefully annual RacersReunion North Carolina State VintageChampionship. There will be several divisions of vintage racing and exhibition on a newly constructed 1/4 mile dirt track in the middle of the old speedway.

This RacersReunion event will mark the "beginning" of a regular schedule of racing events at this historic facility. Our very own Michael "W" Smith will be in charge of running the race facility and managing the weekly racing program on an on-going basis.

Our next item on the RR bucket list is to tear down a Shopping Center and / or Apartment Complex and build a race track.

Stay tuned for more details...but you can start gossiping and spreading the good news now.

That is awesome Jeff! Congratulations to "W". I know that is a dream of his come true.

Thanks to all the RacersReunion family. This is a big big deal and we hope to work with all of the familyto make sure that the Historic Cleveland County Fairgrounds Speedway represents the sport of Racing like it is represented on this site. This site brings recognition to all the hero's that made stock car racing what it is today.

At the Historic Cleveland County Speedway we plan on honoring those past hero's and create new ones that will carry our sport into the future. There is a web site being set up for the weekly series which will run on Friday nights from April thru the Fair in October. goodolddaysseries.com. (G.O.D.S.) As things go forward there will be updates posted on the site. The rules and other info will also be on the site when they are finished. Any questions feel free to send me an email at twopluscool@yahoo.com Special thanks to Jeff Gilder for making this all possible. God bless all of you! W

This is so incredible, it's hard to take in! It's not just a historic facility coming back to life.....It's a NEW facility being constructed FOR vintage stock car racing!!! Who would have ever thought?.........It's a testament to dreams and momentum, the same two ingredients that came together all those years ago in the cow pastures and on the beach strand.

Jeff, can we have golden shovels to commence the shopping center's demise? Or maybe they should have a checkered flag motif. Shopping mall, housing complex, don't matter.....they've hit on us for too long!

Ghost Track NO MORE!!

I am hoping Jeff will fly us all to Riverside on the "Official" RR plane when we tear down the housing development there to build a road course.

Visited the site last year to get the full scope of the job at hand. Those folks are pretty well entrenched. That one isn't going to be easy.

Dollars were not the fruit of this venture---it was cents, god ole sense and the will to want....put a good "Will" ( the want to do something) together with sense (Cents) not dollars and what do you get??? a worthy product.. My take on the Gilder plan

Here are some details that I didn't have the time to write out when I posted this awesome news:

This dream-come-true was the vision of Michael "W" Smith who lives only a few minutes from the the Fairgrounds. He took me over to see the old race track a couple of years ago. The original footprint was still visible after all these years.

Following his vision W and is lovely wife, Carol, managed a RacersReunion booth at the fair this past Fall. The booth and the visits by several of our "Family of Legends" drivers was the talk of the town, stirring up renewed interest in the historic Fairgrounds Speedway. This piqued the interest of the Fair officials who requested a meeting that W, Ms. Carol, and my self attended before the Fair ended...a meeting to discuss possibilities. We suggested a full-blown RacersReunion event for 2012 during their Spring Fair event.

One of the gentlemen in the meeting asked if we could get David Pearson to come...to which I replied something like..."He'd be more likely to attend if you built us a race track to have a vintage race". They took that comment very seriously and immediately went to work getting the necessary approvals to build a race track.

W spent many long hours and late nights putting together a beautiful plan and budget for the race track and a proposed weekly racing schedule. Last Wednesday night the Fair board approved the plan and granted us the date for our RacersReunuion event...which now will be a full-blown Vintage Championship Series (VCS) event.

This is going to be 'old-school' racing...no lights...just flags and people running the show. W will have put together his team of track officials for this great event to kick off a weekly racing schedule at Historic Cleveland County Fairgrounds Speedway. W has plans for a regular schedule of weekly racing that he will reveal to us later.

Over the past few years, I've had several folks approach me with similar ideas that have not come to fruition. The thing that makes dreams come true are people. People willing to roll up their sleeves and be a part of the process. There has been no better example of this than the Columbia Speedway project. Most of those great people...all volunteers are still active to ensure Columbia Speedway continues to remain an integral part of the Cayce, SC community.

The people at the Cleveland County Fair had that same "We can do this" attitude and commitment to follow through on W's vision.

We also want to assemble an historical exhibit depicting racing at the Cleveland County Fairgrounds Speedway for this event in hopes it will become a permanent museum type of exhibit at the property.

Now, we all need to show all these folks in Shelby, NC what can happen when a group of like-minded racing history enthusiasts pull together to put on a show. The first Columbia event drew over 30,000 people. I can't wait to see how this turns out.

Many thanks to all who have and will roll up their sleeves to make this successful.

I still have two sets of flags....

Easy is not in our vocabulary is it? Most of our RR membership seems to have come from an upbringing where the attitude is if you want something done, do it yourself. Congrats on what is being accomplished at Cleveland County Fairgrounds.

If anyone cares to go back and look at the old posts I have always said positive thoughts towards what Jeff had rolling around in his mind.. If it is to be it will be he that finds a way ..Your visions are always on the higher side of the horizion and this proves the point.

Jeff will ponder the point then play the plan in his mind ------THEN and only then will he make a move forward or away from a vision. Things can happen with will to be (Mr. W has this will also)

Another step in the continuing rise of RACERS REUNION

Thank you Johnny! Well said about Jeff a true leader! W

I was taught to do a lot more listening than broadcasting ---you learn a lot more of and about people---when you and i first met i learned a bunch about you

Scooter??

it is so awsome to hear. can not wait.congrations w.