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
CONCORD, N.C. – For Steve Wallace, it’s been more than a year since he has competed in a NASCAR Nationwide Series race and the younger son of NASCAR Hall of Famer Rusty Wallace readily admits that coping with that fact hasn’t been easy. Since finishing 11th in the April 2012 Richmond race, the 25-year-old Wallace [...]
By Deb Williams | Senior Writer
RacinToday.com
CONCORD, N.C. – Twenty years ago Dale Earnhardt Sr. owned Charlotte Motor Speedway during the month of May, sweeping the All-Star race and the Coca-Cola 600. At that time, no one realized it would be Earnhardt’s last visit to the 1.5-mile speedway’s victory lane.
It was an era when an [...]
By Deb Williams | Senior Writer
RacinToday.com
CHARLOTTE, N.C. – NASCAR has always billed itself as a family oriented sport and seven-time champion Richard Petty said the 2014 NASCAR Hall of Fame class announced Wednesday reinforces that sentiment.
Petty’s younger brother, Maurice, and Ned Jarrett’s younger son, Dale, were among the five selected by a voting panel that [...]
By Deb Williams | Senior Writer
RacinToday.com
CHARLOTTE, N.C. – With very few exceptions, loyalty in NASCAR disappeared with the arrival of the 21st Century. Therefore, when one sees the loyalty that still exists for Alan Kulwicki from his 1992 championship crew, it is heart-warming.
Twenty years after losing their mentor, their leader, in a plane crash near [...]
By Deb Williams | Senior Writer
RacinToday.com
CONCORD, N.C. – Entering Saturday’s NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race at Charlotte Motor Speedway Jimmie Johnson wasn’t sure about his chances in the event due to an 18th-place qualifying run, but when the checkered flag waved the California native had once again rewritten a page in the NASCAR record book.
With an [...]
By Deb Williams | Senior Writer
RacinToday.com
CONCORD, N.C. – Thanks to Carl Edwards, his Wisconsin-born crew chief Jimmy Fennig and many of his Roush-Fenway Racing crew, legendary short-track driver Dick Trickle has one more opportunity to visit victory lane.
That opportunity will be Saturday night in the NASCAR Sprint All-Star race at Charlotte Motor Speedway. In [...]
By Deb Williams | Senior Writer
RacinToday.com
CONCORD, N.C. – A cup of coffee in one hand and a cigarette in another. Those were legendary driver Dick Trickle’s staples, but it was his sense of humor and willingness to help others that will always endear him to those who knew him.
Perhaps that’s the reason it came [...]
Deb Williams | Senior Writer
RacinToday.com
CONCORD, N.C. – Spencer Massey successfully defended his Top Fuel title in Sunday’s Dollar General NHRA Four-Wide Nationals at zMAX Dragway, while Matt Hagan snapped a Funny Car winless streak of more than a year to give Don Schumacher Racing a sweep of the NHRA’s top two categories.
It was the [...]
CONCORD, N.C. – Always expect the unexpected in racing, especially when it comes to the Dollar General NHRA Four-Wide Nationals at zMAX Dragway where Funny Car rookie Chad Head earned his first-ever No. 1 qualifying position Saturday.
With an ET of 4.014 seconds – 315.19 mph – one could say Head even surprised himself.
“I’m just lucky [...]
By Deb Williams | Senior Writer
RacinToday.com
CONCORD, N.C. – Spectators seated in zMAX Dragway’s East Grandstand escaped serious injury Saturday when the carbon fiber body from Robert Hight’s Funny Car hit a portion of the seating area following an engine explosion during the Dollar General NHRA Four-Wide Nationals final qualifying round.
NHRA officials said two people were [...]