The silence has been deafening since the coronavirus sidelined sports in the region before mid-March.
No cheering fans at high school basketball state championship games. No TVs drowning out thousands lamenting their disastrous March Madness brackets. No echo of bats accompanying home runs at baseball parks.
But, as it was nationally with NASCAR, the roar of stock car engines will puncture the silence in the region Friday when Dixieland Speedway opens it 2020 season. The difference between the ?-mile dirt track near Elizabeth City, North Carolina, and the NASCAR tracks at Darlington, Charlotte and Bristol that ended the national sports hiatus, is that fan noise will compete with engine chatter.
The track’s divisions feature many Hampton Roads drivers.
“I think the fans will be tickled to death to be able to get outside on a Friday night,” said Dixieland Late Model driver and former track champion Tim Wilson of nearby Gibbs Woods, North Carolina. “I feel good that we’re getting to go racing.
“I feel proud of my state that we get to go racing, and I’m proud of Red Swain for letting us go racing.”
Swain, in his 38th season as Dixieland owner, said precious little racing could have been done in May as it was, because all but one Friday was rainy. So, while he waited for North Carolina to allow the resumption of weekly racing, he took advantage by improving his track.
He raised the front-stretch fence from 12 to 15 feet, added a foot of concrete to the track wall — making it five feet — laid new clay on the racing surface and added new pits on a six-acre area outside of the infield to increase the parking capacity for trucks and trailers to 200.
“As luck would have it, we’ve gotten everything built for this year and we’re ready to go,” Swain said.
Preparations include numerous coronavirus precautions. Swain said he’ll limit the crowd to about 1,500, or half-capacity, to ensure fans have some room to spread out.
“We’ll do everything in our power to keep things safe,” Swain said. “We’ll have the (Pasquotank County) sheriff’s department here, we’ll be taking temperatures at the gate, and we’ll have masks for people over (age) 60.
“The people at the gates will be wearing masks and plastic face shields, and we have plastic at the concession stand (windows) so our people will not be in direct contact with others. The racers will be separated in stalls six feet apart.”
Drivers will consider themselves fortunate to remain that close on the track to three-time defending Late Model champion Billy Hubbard of Cobbs Creek, Virginia. Hubbard cruised to his three-peat a year ago with eight victories (no one else had more than one) and 11 top-fives.
“Billy Hubbard has come onto some kind of secret magic weapon that makes his car stick to the track,” Wilson said. “He found something that works and we’re all trying to figure it out.”
Division drivers can take hope in the fact Hubbard won’t be driving his own car this season. While Hubbard wheels a new car for owner HC Pritchett, two-time Langley Speedway champion Mark Wertz and former Virginia Motor Speedway standout Austin Hubbard (no relation to Billy) will split time in his.
Langley Speedway owner Bill Mullis will compete in the division as he awaits the opening of his track. He could open for racing, but will not do so until Virginia allows fans.
Dixieland Speedway
1520 Northside Road in North Carolina, 12 miles north of Elizabeth City and 25 miles south of Virginia Beach.
Gates open: 5 p.m. and racing begins at 8.
Tickets: $12 general admission, $5 for ages 6-11 and free for kids under 6.
