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
RICHMOND, Va. – A decision by team owners Kevin and DeLana Harvick to shut down their championship Camping World Truck Series operation and put their 80,000-square-foot-race shop on the market was described Friday by the NASCAR driver as strictly business.
The NASCAR driver’s comments came two days after it was announced Richard Childress Racing and Kevin [...]
BRISTOL, Tenn. – Danica Patrick enters NASCAR full time in 2012 with support from top drivers, teams and substantial financial backing, all of which none of her female predecessors possessed.
With the exception of the three women who drove in NASCAR in its formative years, the few who attempted to carve out a career in the [...]
By Deb Williams | Senior Writer
RacinToday.com
BRISTOL, Tenn. – Standing a short distance from Bristol Motor Speedway’s entrance is a large Miller Lite billboard sporting Brad Keselowski’s profile and the phrase “Have At It Brad”.
For the 27-year-old driver, it’s a sentence that has served as a permission slip from his sponsor to transform August’s dog days [...]
By Deb Williams | Senior Writer
RacinToday.com
BRISTOL, Tenn. – Joe Gibbs Racing Nationwide Series crew chief Jason Ratcliff knew from the first time he met Kyle Busch the Nevada native would eventually earn a record 50 career victories in the NASCAR series. Busch accomplished the feat Friday night in his 219th race – the Food City [...]
By Deb Williams | Senior Writer
RacinToday.com
BRISTOL, Tenn. – Kevin Harvick dominated Wednesday night’s O’Reilly 200 to collect his third straight NASCAR Camping World Truck Series victory, but the California native said he didn’t know what 2012 holds for Kevin Harvick Inc.
“For us, it has a lot to do with winning,” said Harvick, who led 103 [...]
By Deb Williams | Senior Writer
RacinToday.com
Increasing attendance at the NASCAR Hall of Fame in Charlotte, N.C., has been a constant challenge for officials since the $195 million building opened in May 2010 amid the worst recession since the Great Depression.
Predicted attendance figures for the first year were inflated – about four times more than what [...]
CHARLOTTE, N.C. – NASCAR President Mike Helton said Tuesday he expected safety updgrades to be made at Watkins Glen International before next season’s event, but he stopped short of saying SAFER barriers would be installed on every section of the road
course where two vicious crashes occurred during Monday’s Sprint Cup race.
A horrendous crash on Monday’s [...]
By Deb Williams | Senior Writer
RacinToday.com
A partnership between Joe Gibbs Racing and Toyota Racing Development will provide a more united front in 2012 when NASCAR begins using fuel injected engines and result in JGR and Michael Waltrip Racing using the same engine packages, company executives said Thursday.
TRD has 32 years of experience developing, building and [...]
By Deb Williams | Senior Writer
RacinToday.com
When 15-year-old Kyle Plott and his family pull into Lanier National Speedway in Braselton, Ga., Saturday for the three-eighths-mile track’s Late Model event, don’t be surprised if the teenager is smiling.
After all, it isn’t often a young driver gets to defeat his mentor in one of grassroots racing’s largest events, [...]
Daytona Beach, Fla. – When NASCAR Sprint Cup drivers began racing in two-car drafts at Daytona in February, the unique form of competition created scenarios and safety issues never before seen.
For the first time in the sport’s history, drivers discovered they needed to talk to fellow competitors who were not their teammates. That was possible [...]