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
CHARLOTTE, N.C. – NASCAR team co-owner Gene Haas knows there are those who doubt his ability to field a Formula One team due to the failure of USF1 about five years ago, but that’s not keeping him from taking the next step in his pursuit of one.
Haas was scheduled to [...]
By Deb Williams | Senior Writer
RacinToday.com
CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Throughout NASCAR’s history the sanctioning body has modified its point system when it felt necessary, but the new one announced Thursday is the most radical in the sport’s history.
To review, under the new structure winning is everything and consistency is irrelevant; points racing is eliminated. To win [...]
CHARLOTTE, N.C. – NASCAR Sprint Cup crew chief Trent Owens was only 4 months old when his father lost his life in a freak pit accident at Talladega.
That May 4 in the Winston 500 19-year-old Randy Owens was attempting to extinguish a fire in a left front wheel bearing on the No. 43 Dodge when [...]
CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Most drivers and team owners reacted positively to NASCAR’s change in its Chase format for 2014, but there were still those who showed little enthusiasm, preferring to take a wait-and-see approach.
Denny Hamlin saw the new format as a way a person could miss a race due to a concussion and still [...]
By Deb Williams | Senior Writer
RacinToday.com
CHARLOTTE, N.C. – NASCAR executives confirmed Thursday what had been rumored and speculated on for several weeks – a major change in the Chase format that will emphasize winning throughout the season and make the season finale a winner-take-all event for the championship.
The new format expands the Chase field to [...]
By Deb Williams | Senior Writer
RacinToday.com
CHARLOTTE, N.C. – International businessman Roger Penske’s motorsports involvement has covered all major facets of the sport – driver, team and track owner – and he said Wednesday he believed NASCAR was headed in the right direction with its rule changes for 2014.
“Change is an important evolution. There is no [...]
CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Fourteen years ago Richard Childress and Dale Earnhardt sat in a car one rainy day and discussed how they would bring the famous No. 3 back to NASCAR’s Sprint Cup circuit after the seven-time champion retired. The two men decided it would only return on a car driven by a family member.
This [...]
By Deb Williams | Senior Writer
RacinToday.com
CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Tony Stewart said Monday the bone in his injured leg would only be about 65 percent healed when he returned to racing next month at Daytona, but the titanium rod in his leg would provide it with the strength it needed.
“The reality is it could get injured [...]
MARTINSVILLE, Va. – Jeff Gordon continued Hendrick Motorsports’ decade-long domination of Martinsville Speedway Sunday by scoring his eighth victory at the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series shortest track, taking the lead for good with 21 laps remaining in the Goody’s Headache Relief Shot 500 Powered by Kroger.
The 42-year-old driver’s first victory this season gives him 88 [...]
By Deb Williams | Senior Writer
RacinToday.com
By Deb Williams | Senior Writer
RacinToday.com
MARTINSVILLE, Va. – Brian Vickers said Sunday the blood clot that has sidelined him for the rest of the season was caused by a protective boot he wore for 1 ½ months after suffering a mid-foot sprain in a wreck at Bristol Motor Speedway in [...]