Deb Williams, Senior Writer
An award winning motorsports journalist, Deb Williams has covered auto racing for more than 30 years. She began her career covering weekly short-track races in Asheville, N.C., while a student at East Tennessee State University and continued after becoming the sports editor at the newspaper in Waynesville, N.C. Upon joining United Press International in Raleigh, N.C., as a general assignment reporter, she began covering NASCAR's top two series and continued to do so after being named UPI's Charlotte, N.C., bureau manager. After leaving UPI, she spent 18 years with the publication NASCAR Winston Cup Scene, serving as its editor for 10 years. Her numerous honors include the Henry T. McLemore Award, the Russ Catlin Award and the George Cunningham National Motorsports Press Association Writer of the Year award. She has received NMPA awards for columns, news, features and magazine stories. She has written three books. Her most recent, “The Evolution of NASCAR, A Historical Collection, was released in November 2010. Williams has taught the Evolution of Southern Motorsports at Appalachian State University, and has been interviewed for historical motorsports shows that have aired on ESPN and SPEED. She resides in Concord, N.C.
Articles by Deb Williams
By Deb Williams | Senior Writer
RacinToday.com
CONCORD, N.C – A blown engine foiled Kurt Busch’s bid to complete 1,100 miles Sunday in the Indy-Charlotte double, but the NASCAR champion said what occurred in the Coca-Cola 600 wouldn’t dampen his stellar performance and sixth-place finish in his inaugural Indianapolis 500.
“Today is a memory I’ll have forever,” said [...]
CONCORD, N.C. – Roush Fenway Racing’s Saturday announcement that Trevor Bayne will compete fulltime next year in the Sprint Cup Series provides only a small glimpse into the team’s 2015 driver lineup.
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. returns to the Roush Fenway operation, but Greg Biffle’s and Carl Edwards’ plans for next year have yet to be finalized. [...]
By Deb Williams | Senior Writer
RacinToday.com
CONCORD, N.C. – Jeff Gordon bypassed Saturday’s final practice session for the Coca-Cola 600 due to back spasms and said Regan Smith would be standing by Sunday in case he needed relief during NASCAR’s
longest race.
“Unfortunately, I had a back spasm the other night [Thursday] in that last qualifying run that [...]
CONCORD, N.C. – Twenty years ago, 22-year-old upstart Jeff Gordon and his Ray Evernham-led Hendrick Motorsports team drove into Coca-Cola 600 history by outsmarting the 1989 series champion on the competitors’ final stop at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
Rusty Wallace’s Penske Racing crew changed four tires, which was the accepted practice at the time, while Gordon’s Chevrolet [...]
By Deb Williams | Senior Writer
RacinToday.com
CONCORD, N.C. – Trevor Bayne will move to NASCAR Sprint Cup racing fulltime in 2015, driving the No. 6 Ford fielded by Roush Fenway Racing, Jack Roush announced Saturday at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
Advocare, who is sponsoring Bayne in the Nationwide Series this year, will move to the Sprint Cup level [...]
By Deb Williams | Senior Writer
RacinToday.com
CHARLOTTE, N.C. – In a nine-month period in the mid-1980s, Bill Elliott skyrocketed from a relatively unknown north Georgia race car driver to international stardom.
With a potent Ford Thunderbird, Elliott and his older brothers, Ernie and Dan, turned NASCAR Cup racing upside down with their victories and record pole runs. [...]
By Deb Williams | Senior Writer
RacinToday.com
CHARLOTTE, N.C. – NASCAR President Mike Helton said Wednesday that selecting the five people to be inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame in 2015 was probably the most challenging of the six voting sessions that have occurred.
“It was very difficult to come to five,” Helton said. “The conversation (we [...]
CONCORD, N.C. – Kurt Busch posted a four-lap average speed of 229.960 mph Saturday during Indianapolis 500 qualifying, narrowly missing the top nine, then calmly told reporters at Charlotte Motor Speedway the effort was “hair-raising.”
“I had three, what I felt, were moments in the car,” Busch said. “If I had, had a fourth, I might [...]
CONCORD, N.C. – What? Who?
Those were the two questions that could be heard echoing through Charlotte Motor Speedway’s infield media center deadline room Friday night after the winner of the Sprint All-Star fan vote was announced.
Josh Wise, a USAC three-quarter Midget division champion from Riverside, Calif., had defeated odds-on-favorite Danica Patrick in the fan voting [...]
By Deb Williams | Senior Writer
RacinToday.com
CONCORD, N.C. – NASCAR Nationwide Series rookie Chase Elliott already has two victories this year and sits atop the point standings, but team owner Dale Earnhardt Jr. said Friday he doesn’t believe the plans outlined for the 18-year-old driver should change.
“We have like a two-year plan, I suppose, that he [...]