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
DARLINGTON, S.C. – Martin Truex Jr. couldn’t help himself; he just had to kiss Darlington Raceway’s finish line after claiming Sunday’s Bojangles’ Southern 500 and no doubt the Lady in Black appreciated his thoughtfulness.
After all, the historic 1.366-mile track appears to have developed an affection for team owner Barney Visser […]
By Deb Williams | Senior Writer
RacinToday.com
DARLINGTON, S.C. – Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s concussion-like symptoms were so severe when he first visited the University of Pittsburgh’s concussion program that Dr. Micky Collins said Sunday his primary objective was to see the third-generation driver “become a human being again.”
“When I first saw Dale a month-and-a-half ago I can […]
By Deb Williams | Senior Writer
RacinToday.com
DARLINGTON, S.C. – Two years ago Chase Elliott pulled off a major upset and won the NASCAR Xfinity race in his Darlington Raceway debut, but the Georgia native said that doesn’t mean anything today.
“We didn’t have a very strong run here last year, which was disappointing,” Elliott said prior […]
Bill and Betty Jane.
That’s the way former NASCAR Chairman and CEO Bill France Jr. and his wife, Betty Jane, were known to everyone in the racing community. Even though it was Bill Jr. who sat in a director’s chair behind the NASCAR hauler every race weekend in the garage, conversing with those who wanted to […]
By Deb Williams | Senior Writer
RacinToday.com
BRISTOL, Tenn. – Every year Stewart-Haas Racing crew chief Rodney Childers circles the races at Bristol Motor Speedway on his calendar as the ones he especially wants to win due to his background in short-track racing.
Sunday in the Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race driver Kevin Harvick delivered the coveted […]
BRISTOL, Tenn. – Chris Buescher will be the first to admit that his 2016 season has fallen into the roller-coaster category.
After all, the season was 12 races old before he recorded a top-20 finish at Dover in May. And he didn’t acquire a top-15 until Indianapolis in July. That’s why when he emerged victorious […]
BRISTOL, Tenn. – Only two weeks have passed since Bryan Clauson succumbed to injuries suffered in a crash during the Belleville Midget Nationals in Kansas, but for his friends Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Kyle Larson the loss is still painfully fresh.
“He was a great person, awesome race car driver,” Larson said Friday at Bristol Motor […]
BRISTOL, Tenn. – Team owner Rick Hendrick and six-time NASCAR champion Jimmie Johnson first met William Byron as a youngster when he came trick-or-treating at Johnson’s house and Hendrick’s granddaughter’s home on Halloween. In fact, Byron still has the pillow case Johnson signed that night.
A few years later Byron told Hendrick his dream was […]
BRISTOL, Tenn. – Continuous rain Saturday evening at Bristol Motor Speedway forced postponement of the Bass Pro Shops NRA Night race to Sunday at 1 p.m.
The garage opens at 10:30 a.m. and the grandstands at 11 a.m.
The competitors managed to complete 48 laps of the 500-lap event before rain settled in for the evening. […]
By Deb Williams | Senior Writer
RacinToday.com
BRISTOL, Tenn. – Rosin, a sticky substance that helps rubber adhere to the track, was placed on the low groove in Bristol Motor Speedway’s turns following Friday night’s Xfinity Series race that many dubbed the best in several years.
It was the second time in two days the 18 inches of […]