NORTH WILKESBORO, N.C. — The NASCAR All-Star Race returns to racing's roots at the historic North Wilkesboro Speedway.
We often use the word historic to talk about the speedway, and it's true.
After opening in 1947, North Wilkesboro Speedway became one of NASCAR's original race tracks.
Its roots go back to moonshiners who started the sport, but the area surrounding the track has a lot of history, too.
For a county that's pretty quiet, one place creates a lot of noise.
It's not the racing but the discovery of a possible moonshine cave at the North Wilkesboro Speedway.
Steve Swift, Speedway Motor Sports Senior VP of Operations and Development, said he's heard stories about how an old moonshine still was operated under the grandstands.
"When we got into the hole and actually started researching and looking at it, there were things underneath there that you normally wouldn't see underneath, just a dirt field bank that concrete's on," said Swift. "There are some columns, there is a back wall, those things make it start, those stories start to come into fruition."
It's said racing got its start because illegal moonshiners would run from the feds.
While no still was found, it's revving up a debate between the locals.
"We heard a lot of folklore over the years, and I heard there was a still at the track," said Brian Call, the owner of Call Family Distillers.
"It was just erosion from drainage problems; there wasn't a cave there," said Dean Combs, who's lived next to the speedway for 72 years.
"I never heard about a cave," said Eden Hamby, Wilkes Heritage Museum Special Events and volunteer coordinator.
The moonshine cave gained a lot of attention, but when it comes to the real hidden history, it's about 600 feet off target.
Dean Combs has lived down the hill, right next to the North Wilkesboro Speedway for 72 years.
"My dad bought his part of the Speedway in 1952," said Combs. "He built his house in 1952, and the first night they stayed in that house, I was three days old."
His roots run deep.
"I've been around and know a lot of stories," said Combs. "Some I shouldn't tell, some doesn't matter."
His uncle was Charlie Combs.
"My uncle, Charlie Combs, was a very innovative person," said Combs. "He was always trying to develop something. He was the one that actually developed North Wilkesboro Speedway."
His mom's side made the illegal liquor.
"They were all moonshiners; they all went to prison for moonshine; I don't think she had a brother that didn't go," he said. "I think there were eight brothers. I don't think she had a brother that didn't go to prison for moonshine."
His dad sold sugar to moonshiners and was also a racer.
"My dad was racing up here, and he actually turned over, and my mom was in the grandstands, pregnant with me," he said. "She said she thought I was gonna be born in the grandstands."
Racing ran in the Combs family.
"I won 60 races in a five-year period and five national championships," he said. "We were just good old hard-working country boys that just like to have fun, and I was pretty wild when I was a kid."
Making moonshine also ran in the family.
"Actually, in 1973, it was the first time I got caught. I was 20 years old, turned 21," he said. "I got busted twice, got busted again in 2013; they kept it quiet, so that's when I quit. They said you don't want us to come back."
Combs is a walking historian. He's lived through the time that historians themselves consider a boom in the economy.
Wilkes Heritage Museum's Eden Hamby said the moonshine trade generated about $2 million for the economy of the county.
"The heyday for Wilkes County was from like the late 1930s to like the 1960s," said Hamby. "1950s is when it kind of started to taper off, but that's when we were known as the moonshine capital of the world. We were the number one based on the stills that were busted by the ATF agents."
The reason moonshining is so common in Wilkes County is because there are tons of streams, hidden by trees, which made for the perfect place to distill alcohol under the moonlight.
"All the moonshine operations themselves would have to be next to a body of running cool water because when it goes through the worm the second time after it's reevaporated during the process, you have to cool it back down so it turns back into a liquid," said Hamby.
Several rivers circle the speedway, and that is where you find the hidden history.
"Mostly around this section, there were a lot of moonshiners," Combs said. "There's probably not a stream or a creek that there wasn't a moonshine still on. I mean, when I was a kid, you could walk and see the wooden barrels of this stuff."
Everybody around the track was making moonshine in the 30s, 40s, and 50s, and if you follow a stream, you might just find some remnants of blown-up stills, broken moonshine glasses, or rusted metal.
Combs said it was a way of life and one he was proud to be a part of.
"I guess you could say I lived the Wilkes County dream from moonshine to racing; I've had a very fortunate life," he said.
As for the alleged moonshine cave at the speedway, Combs doesn't believe it to be true based on the life he's lived.
"I had an uncle that lived a half a mile down the road, and he had a distillery in his basement," said Combs. "He had it in there for 13 years and would take his mash, bring it up here, and spread it around the speedway. It always smelt like there was a distillery in that place if you came by, and that was the theory. I think the ATF or whatever looked and looked and looked and tried to find one, they never could find anything inside that speedway, and they were smart enough that if there was something underground, they would have found it."
We will leave that up to you to decide.