The North Carolina winter has been one of the coldest, wettest, and snowiest in several years. While milder here than the northern regions, the southeast has gone through a tougher than normal season.

Warmer temperatures are possible, but planning anything outside can be a crapshoot at best. Such used to be the case with the former Richmond Fairgrounds Raceway in Virginia.

For many years the old half-mile track held the traditional date following Daytona Speedweeks. After two weeks in the warm sunshine (usually) the NASCAR stars towed north for a doubleheader.

Grand National and Sportsman cars would hold 500-lap and 150-lap contests respectively and hoped the only condition they would have to deal with was chilly air. Clear skies and warm temperatures were an absolute bonus. Seasonal weather was always a concern.

In the modern era, winter conditions forced postponement of the racing in 1976, 1979, 1987, and 1989.

The 1989 running started on its original date with Friday practice in cloudy and cold conditions. During afternoon qualifying snow flurries began to fall causing a stoppage. The flurries escalated to a large snowfall and resulted in race teams loading up and heading home in a strong weekend snowstorm.

Frigid temperatures plagued the 1990 weekend where Sundays race was held in air that never rose above the 30s. The resolve of pitcrews and fans were tested on this day.

In 1992 Richmonds date was moved a few weeks later to the third event following Daytona and Rockingham. When Las Vegas became part of the tour in 1998 as the third weekend, Richmond moved to the traditional springtime date it currently holds.

The weekend evolved over time. The 500-lap distance on Sunday was reduced to 400 laps decades before television time windows were part of auto racing. The preliminary race grew to 250 laps. The track was steadily improved too.

A garage area was constructed inside the turn four area, becoming the first short rack on the series to have one and eliminate teams working out of the back of their transporters.

A single-tier steel guardrail surrounded the flat oval for many years. Hard crashes would sometimes necessitate a red flag stoppage for the barriers repair. Neil Bonnett went right through the wall in turn two while driving for Junior Johnson. The rail wrapped around the nose of his bright red car and brought it to a halt outside the speedway. A two-tier rail was in place shortly thereafter.

February 1988 was the final event staged on the former Fairgrounds design. A total reconstruction project commenced and by September of that year a new, a state of the art facility was in place for NASCAR.

Gone was the old Richmond Fairgrounds Raceway and in its place rose the Richmond International Raceway, the current three-quarter mile track we enjoy today. A wide surface with sweeping corners and sufficient banking greeted the competitors. New high rise aluminum grandstands replaced the former wooden-plank bleachers. And the competition at the track is some of the best in all of stock car racing.

When discussions of a new track were making the rounds in racing conversations, Chris Economaki made a simple statement. Dont make it bigger, make it better. That appears to have been taken to heart.

Richmond now is among the favorites of race fans. Where Mondays provide criticism of any weekends racing action, Richmond is a track that does not fall under that umbrella. It provides side-by-side racing and plenty of passing. NASCAR fans anticipate it every year and the races usually deliver.

Time has marched on and Richmond has marched with it. Grand National is now Sprint Cup. Sportsman is now Nationwide Series. An old southern short track is now a shiny modern race facility. And gone are the February races in winters icy grip.

As NASCARs national touring series race two weeks out west in a warm climate and on modern speedways, memories exist of colder racing on a Fairgrounds oval. The sport moves forward but let us never forget our past and how we got to today.

(Patrick Reynolds is a former NASCAR mechanic who co-hosts the One and Done auto racing radio talk show Tuesdays at 11am ET. Listen at www.wsicweb.com )