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
BRISTOL, Tenn. – Ever since May 2010 when Brian Vickers was diagnosed with blood clots in his lungs, the Thomasville, N.C., native’s NASCAR career hasn’t gone quite as he envisioned.
That’s why Vickers’ six-race stint with Michael Waltrip Racing that begins Sunday in Bristol Motor Speedway’s Food City 500 is a [...]
By Deb Williams | Senior Writer
RacinToday.com
BRISTOL, Tenn. – Elliott Sadler isn’t shy about letting people know Bristol Motor Speedway is his favorite track; that he loves it and its race dates are always circled on his calendar.
Saturday the high-banked, half-mile speedway became a little more special to the Virginia native as he collected his [...]
By Deb Williams | Senior Writer
RacinToday.com
BRISTOL, Tenn. – Travis Pastrana had planned to run NASCAR’s entire K&N Series schedule this year, but said Saturday that won’t happen because of conflicts in the Global Rallycross events. He now will miss three K&N races.
“That was very disappointing, but at the same time I think we’ll be [...]
BRISTOL, Tenn. – For Hendrick Motorsports, it’s time to appear before stock car racing’s Supreme Court.
On Tuesday, team owner Rick Hendrick and crew chief Chad Knaus will make their final appeal regarding the penalties assessed the No. 48 team for infractions in Daytona. And if they’re upheld, Jimmie Johnson said Friday it would be [...]
By Deb Williams | Senior Writer
RacinToday.com
CONCORD, N.C. – In 1983, Charlotte Motor Speedway’s publicists created an interesting “experiment” known as the Media Tour. It was designed to provide preseason publicity for the track and NASCAR in a typically slow news month – January. That year the organizers struggled to fill one charter bus and it [...]
Notes and quotes from the Sprint NASCAR Media Tour presented by Charlotte Motor Speedway:
CONCORD, N.C. – Bill Elliott will return to Sprint Cup driving duty in 2012 for, as it stands right now, just one race.
During the morning session of the annual Sprint NASCAR Media Tour presented by Charlotte Motor Speedway Thursday, it was announced [...]
By Deb Williams | Senior Writer
RacinToday.com
CONCORD, N.C. – NASCAR champion team owner Rick Hendrick really didn’t know if pairing crew chief Steve Letarte with Dale Earnhardt Jr. last year would work, but it did and Wednesday the third-generation driver said he doesn’t want Letarte to change anything for the 2012 season.
“I told him during the [...]
By Deb Williams | Senior Writer
RacinToday.com
CONCORD, N.C. – NASCAR Sprint Cup champion Tony Stewart couldn’t resist the temptation Monday to casually remark that his new crew chief, Steve Addington, felt like he was on vacation at Stewart-Haas Racing.
After all, Addington’s previous two drivers were the Busch brothers – Kurt at Penske Racing and Kyle [...]
CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Rain and chilly temperatures failed to dampen the spirits of several thousand race fans who traveled to the Charlotte Convention Center and NASCAR Hall of Fame Saturday to meet their favorite drivers – past and present – at the NASCAR Preview presented by Sprint.
Several people slept on the sidewalk outside the building [...]
By Deb Williams | Senior Writer
RacinToday.com
CHARLOTTE, N.C. – On a section of Wood family property in Stuart, Va., stands a majestic 153-year-old beech tree. Its sturdiness serves as a tribute to one of the most famous families in NASCAR racing for it was under its leafy branches that Glen Wood and his brothers pulled their [...]