From The Journal Patriot, North Wilkesboro, NC (5/22/1995):

NASCAR PIONEER

Enoch Staley, along with his brother Gwyn, and partners John and Oscar Martin, Charlie Combs and Lawson Curry, founded and built the five-eights mile North Wilkesboro Speedway in 1947. The first race was held at the track on May 16, 1947, and the first NASCAR event at the speedway (and the eighth race in the history of the fledgling sactioning body) was held on Oct.16, 1949--the first year for NASCAR-- with Bob Flock taking the victory. North Wilkesboro Speedway, which has hosted a spring and fall race in the years since, was paved in the summer of 1957.

Though Ormond Beach is officially considered to be the "birthplace" of NASCAR, Staley noted in a 1990 interview that "at our fall race in 1947 (at North Wilkesboro) we held a meeting at the old Hotel Wilkes, and some of the early promoters such as Alvin Hawkins, Clay Earles, (Bill) France (Sr.) and I sort of drafted some plans for the organizational meeting at Ormond Beach in February."

" I was sick and couldn't attend the meeting, " continued Staley. "Therefore a lot of people don't know I was part of the founders meeting. But that wasn't a great concern of mine. What I was interested in was France's idea of making racing a legitimate business whereby there would be a guaranteed purse for drivers and assurances that promotional money would be paid.".................

As one of the pioneers in the sport-- along with such names as Bill France Sr., the first president of NASCAR; and H. Earle Clay Earles, the president of Martinsville Speedway-- Enoch Staley was one of the major forces in the growth of the sport. He helped promote and conduct races at other tracks with the France family and for many years drove the pace car for events at both Daytona and Talledega. ...

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