- [Announcer] Support for "Carolina Impact" comes from our viewers and Wells Fargo.

- [Narrator] Wells Fargo has donated $390 million- - Honey, like I said, you get your own room.

- [Narrator] ...to support housing affordability solutions across America.

- Get it!

- Doing gets it done.

Wells Fargo, the bank of doing.

- [Announcer] This is a production of PBS Charlotte.

- Just ahead on "Carolina Impact."

- For the first time in decades, it's NASCAR Race Week here in the hills of Wilkes County.

I'm Jeff Sonya.

We'll show you how NASCAR's getting ready for North Wilkesboro and how North Wilkesboro is getting ready for NASCAR.

- Plus, we'll take you to the Met County Senior Games, proving age is truly just a number.

And we teach you the basics of spray paint art.

"Carolina Impact" starts now.

(bright music) - [Announcer] "Carolina Impact."

Covering the issues, people and places that impact you.

This is "Carolina Impact."

(bright music) - Good evening, thanks so much for joining us.

I'm Amy Burkett.

Racing returns to its roots in North Wilkesboro this week, as NASCAR brings its annual All Star race back to the place fans used to call Thunder in the Hills.

But North Wilkesboro Speedway hasn't had a NASCAR race in 27 years, until now.

"Carolina Impact's" Jeff Sonya and videographer, Doug Stacker, are in North Wilkesboro where North Carolina's historic first racetrack gets a second chance to make history again.

- Yeah, it was this same week in May way back in 1947 that North Wilkesboro Speedway held its first race and today's drivers ready for another crack at this old track.

The track is ready, not just for the drivers, but also for grandstands full of race fans again.

And Wilkes County is ready too for the return of NASCAR, that's long overdue.

(upbeat rock music) For almost a year now, the real race here at North Wilkesboro Speedway has been a hurry up fix up, to keep up with the momentum of last summer, when race fans packed the reopened track for the first time in decades.

- For those folks that were there, I mean, there was just an electric in the air and there was an excitement.

The crowd, I just get goosebumps talking about it now, but at that moment we realized we just, there was something special about this.

- [Jeff] Jessica Fickenscher with Speedway Motorsports says that something special for a few nights here at North Wilkesboro sure felt like the old days.

- [Commentator] This is a big day for the people of this tiny crossroad.

It's the day of the Grand National NASCAR Race.

- [Jeff] Bringing back all those NASCAR memories here at North Wilkesboro, while convincing NASCAR that there's a future here too.

- [Commentator] And we're under green at Bristol.

- [Jeff] Deciding to move this year's All-Star race from the big tracks where they race today- - [Commentator] And hard in the wall!

- [Jeff] ...to this old track where NASCAR first raced 75 years ago.

(upbeat rock music) - Just really kind of this moment where everything, all the stars aligned.

Our driver's excited about at Dale Earnhardt Jr. being a big advocate for it.

We hear a lot of the fan feedback.

Are you keeping this?

Is this still gonna be there?

So we're restoring, modernizing it, but you know, kind of keeping everything as historic and nostalgic as possible.

- [Jeff] Some changes like the new safety barriers and lighting here are necessary for the All-Star race.

But one thing they're saving and not repaving at North Wilkesboro is the racetrack itself.

- [Jessica] The driver said don't touch it, that it's got good wear for the tires.

- [Jeff] That mix of old and new surrounds the track too, like these original grandstand seats that fans on the front stretch still remember.

(car engine roaring) - [Jessica] They're sending us pictures of their old tickets when they were there.

I wanna sit in those same seats.

(gentle music) - [Jeff] On the back stretch though there are thousands of new seats in a temporary grandstand.

The concession stands are pretty much the same, but the track promises better restrooms now, and new wifi too, as Thunder in the Hills reintroduces those old Winston Cup thrills to a whole new audience.

- So it's kind of stretching across all these generations and everybody's kind of you know, finding this common love of North Wilkesboro now.

(gentle music) - Everyone's coming back and kind of reliving the past a little bit and I'm really glad to see that they're keeping a lot of those memories at the track.

So it's a reunion.

- Lee Huygens grew up in Wilkes County and manages the Wilkesboro Hampton Inn, where photos of the old track share the hotel's halls and walls with local bluegrass legends like Doc Watson.

But this week Huygens says her hotel is 99% NASCAR.

- The moment they made the announcement, our phones here just lit up all lines.

People on hold transferring.

We're sold out very, very quickly.

- All race fans for race weekend?

- Pretty much all race fans.

There may have been one or two that had reservations prior.

It was just great to welcome people back for something they hadn't been to in so long.

It's definitely good for getting heads in beds and for the tourism and economic development and all of that, but there's a different energy that comes with it.

People just being excited.

So getting back to our moonshine roots and racing roots and bluegrass roots.

(bright bluegrass music) - [Jeff] Yep, between Wilkesboro's annual MerleFest music festival which draws nearly 80,000 fans for one weekend in late April, and the return of NASCAR to North Wilkesboro, it's been a pretty busy couple of weeks for restaurants and retail stores in both towns, bringing traffic back to these old downtown storefronts.

- NASCAR's returning.

NASCAR's returning to North Wilkesboro Speedway.

Amazing, we're coming back.

We're making a comeback.

- [Jeff] County leaders talk about that Wilkes County comeback as they sign up their first new tenant- - Dale, I believe there's a place for you to sign here.

- [Jeff] ...for this new warehouse and workspace in North Wilkesboro.

(audience applaud) - New businesses, new people, new jobs, and even some old things becoming new again.

And this has certainly been a year of dreams coming true for Wilkes County.

Yes.

(audience applaud) - It's taken us 27 years to come back alive and be strong again.

- [Jeff] Linda Cheek, President of the Wilkes Chamber of Commerce adds that saving the speedway itself, with its future plans now to host concerts and other non racing events year round, is just part of their economic comeback.

- That was history and that history no one wanted to lose.

You know, nobody ever sold that track.

- [Jeff] And NASCAR's long awaited weekend of racing back here at historic North Wilkesboro, with a huge TV audience joining those fans in the stands, watching those stars in the cars, well, it's already a win for Wilkes County.

- You know, if they like what they see, they may decide to come here.

It's job building, it's economic building, and that's what we're looking at, is those opportunities to come back here.

(gentle music) - Meanwhile, there's fresh paint at North Wilkesboro but not too fresh.

New lines and new signs, but everything still reminds us of how this historic speedway used to be.

Like the rusted chicken house tin that now welcomes you in.

North Wilkesboro's an old school jewel that just needed a little polish.

Graying, but still staying part of NASCAR's future and Wilkes County's future too.

(gentle music) And Wilkes County is hoping that this race weekend is just the beginning, not just the future NASCAR events out here at North Wilkesboro Speedway, but also of the return of race fans to Wilkes County, even when there's not a race weekend.

Amy?

- Thank you so much, Jeff.

At pbscharlotte.org you can click on our previous "Carolina Impact" story about the early history of North Wilkesboro Speedway.

We've also got links to the Speedway website and surrounding Wilkes County, to find out more about the race itself, and the region where racing was born here in North Carolina.

Well, there's a long list of benefits to keeping active as we age.

Studies have shown that seniors who maintain some sort of regular physical activity help prevent many common diseases like heart disease and diabetes.

Regular activity also improves mental health, cognitive function, promotes better sleep and decreases risks of falls.

With the Meck County Senior Game now in full swing, "Carolina Impact's" Jason Terzis introduces us to some special seniors who are proving that age is truly just a number.

(bright piano music) - [Jason] Like a methodical drum beat, back and forth they go.

The hand-eye coordination, stable feet, bouncy knees.

Some call it ping pong.

Most of the world calls it table tennis.

- I basically just started playing when I was 62.

- [Jason] James Brown is 73 now and yeah, that's his name.

- My dad's name was James Brown, his dad's name was James Brown.

- [Jason] And James is gearing up for competition in the Meck County Senior Games, training with Nigel Christopher, a former national champion in Trinidad, and Greg Riley, a former national champion in Barbados.

- My goal is to win a national championship at the Senior Games.

Everything else is just preparation for that.

- [Jason] Athletics have always been a part of James' life.

- Track, football.

- [Jason] For more than two decades, he was a competitive cyclist.

- And in those years I averaged like nine to 10,000 miles a year on a bicycle.

- [Jason] And prior to that went to Johnson C Smith University on a swimming scholarship.

But his best sport these days isn't in the pool.

It's the game of pool or billiards if you prefer.

- And you know, I've played pool ever since I was 15.

A game of eight ball, I rarely miss more than three times.

- [Jason] Billiards and table tennis are just two of the roughly 53 different events in the Meck County Senior Games, which are underway now.

But what you might be surprised to know is that not all of the events are what you'd consider sports.

- There's something for everyone, whether you're an artist, a poet, a woodworker, a sprinter, a corn hole king in your neighborhood, whatever.

There's something that everybody could enjoy in our local Senior Games.

- [Jason] The main focus of the games is to get people involved and to have fun, which roughly 250 to 300 people in Meck County do annually.

And you certainly don't need to be a competitive athlete like James to take part.

- I think the fun things are the things that you can play in your backyard, corn hole, shuffle board, anything like that that lots of people could just pick up and do.

You know, badminton, a lot of people can put a net up in their backyard and their kids play out there, with the grandkids.

Well, grandma and grandpa can get out there and play with 'em.

- [Jason] And through its 40 years of existence, the minimum age to participate in the games has dropped, first from 60 to 55, then 55 down to now 50.

- Lots of people do three, four or more.

One man has signed up for 13 different things this year.

So, and he's in his eighties.

- [Jason] That man is 88 year old Belmont resident, David Hostetler.

- Well I always like to compete, and I like to make friends whether I win or whether I lose.

- He's always been a competitor, whether it's in his work or his sports or whatever he's doing, he wants to be the best.

He's an amazing backgammon player and chess player too.

- [Jason] If you want to talk about active seniors, David just might be the definition of it.

He didn't start competing in the Senior Games until he was 69, but has done everything from corn hole and badminton, to the football toss and the long jump.

- Everything from golf, to bowling, to billiards and the high jump.

Yeah, I run the 50 meter and then I throw, in that other one I throw five of them, the discus, the hammer, the javelin and the shot put.

- [Jason] No kidding.

(David laughs) - They're all fun.

- He's an amazing role model and not only that, but he manages his business still.

He mows his own yard, he puts out mall to me.

He's running circles around most of us all the time.

- [Jason] He's been featured in local newspapers and has done so well over the years, he's advanced to the state games in Raleigh and national games around the country.

- They do the age bracket.

So when he was moving into the 85's and over category he was really excited because he thought he could dominate that age category.

- Well, I'm gonna be 89 in July, and so that's not gonna be long until I'm 90.

And I really look forward to that, because that puts me in a different bracket.

- [Jason] At last year's nationals in Florida, David carried the state flag during opening ceremonies and he's racked up tons of hardware along the way.

- I won the gold medal down there in corn hole and the silver in, three silvers in badminton.

Here's Mecklenburg County, the small one.

- Yep.

- And the state, you can always tell it because it's a big square one and it's got the state and it's got the Olympic flag.

And in most states these games are called the Senior Olympics.

North Carolina calls them the Senior Games.

And then here's the one, the gold in corn hole at Fort Lauderdale, Florida last year.

It's got the palm trees.

There's the torch right there, the Olympic torch.

- [Jason] Donning his lucky hat as he calls it, David is right now simultaneously competing in the Meck County games as well as the Gaston County Games, here, tossing in shot after shot on the corn hole board at the Gaston Senior Center in Dallas.

And now that his own children have hit the 50 year old mark, they too are now eligible to participate.

So David was quick to recruit his daughter Kami, to be his mixed doubles partner in badminton.

- But they had to go through a lot to understand that they're seniors.

They don't want, they don't wanna be seniors.

(David and Jason laugh) - [Jason] For these seniors, it's about keeping active, having fun, making friends, and in the process, hopefully winning.

Although in many ways you can say they already have.

For "Carolina Impact," I'm Jason Terzis reporting.

- Some pretty amazing athletes.

I couldn't keep up with them.

Thanks so much, Jason.

The Meck County Senior Games run through June 10th.

Winners then advance to the North Carolina Senior Games in Raleigh which begin at the end of August and run through October.

Well, when I was a kid I loved art class, but I wasn't very good at it.

So I have such an admiration for artists.

Tonight, our newest "Carolina Impact" team member, Marcellus Jones introduces us to an amazing mixed media artist.

Mixed media art involves the use of various materials like paint, paper, fabric, and a million other things.

(bright music) - There are no rules.

It's like music.

People tend to like repetition.

So when you think of something, don't think of it as a single.

Think of like, you know what?

I'm not gonna have one thing.

I'm gonna have a ton.

I'm gonna go crazy with it.

(bright music) My name is Arthur Christopher Georgalas.

I'm from New York, originally born in Bogota, Columbia.

I am obsessed with creating, painting, sculpting, just in the arts in general.

I've been creating since, probably since I was like six or seven years old.

My folks gave me a box of air dry clay and some paints when I was a kid.

And I just started making characters that I liked.

So you see some of the comics have everything still intact, but a lot of times I'll go through and I'll find pages that just stand out for me.

So when I start making these paintings, a lot of times I would rather it flat.

The piece comes out more interesting that way, but sometimes it doesn't.

This piece started off with this wooden base that I had found actually at a workplace.

And I had found a frame, the screen frame somewhere and I thought that this umbrella would look interesting there.

And then I found this old clock that I thought would be kind of funny hanging from the umbrella.

And it became more of a sculpture.

If I could describe my art in three words, fluid, unpredictable, and honest.

(bright music) My favorite piece would be one that I actually had just found a home for it recently.

And it was similar to, similar to this piece back here, but I've been doing these sort of portraits with the shirts that I wear and on it was written, "Kid Icarus" and there were these two boxing gloves to the sides and I, and that was the first piece that I didn't have to draw the arms for it.

By seeing the piece, you can see, it, you kind of fill in the blanks.

Don't forget to, you know, be creative and don't be hard on yourself for that, you know, and don't be afraid of expressing yourself in that way.

That's what I would say to upcoming artists.

Like, don't be afraid.

And if you're not ready to share your work, that's your thing, you know?

When it's all said and done, I guess I would like my legacy to be that my work lives on.

And when people look at the artwork, they realize that it was something that I was very passionate about and I'm grateful other people appreciate that and found homes for it.

(bright music) - Thank you so much, Marcellus.

Chris was recently a featured artist at this year's Charlotte Shout.

He's had his work displayed at the MIT museum and currently works at the Hickory Museum of Art.

Well, these days massive murals are all over the place, highlighting creativity.

But have you ever wanted to learn the basics of spray paint art?

I didn't think I could, but producer, John Branscombe an intern, Anna Cheek, spent a Sunday morning at a workshop that breaks it all down to the basics.

A spray paint 101, so to speak.

(upbeat music) - Thank you everybody for getting here on a Sunday like early.

I'm used to working with artists.

We run on AST, artist standard time.

We are never on time.

Today we're gonna do a spray paint workshop with a bunch of folks who have never in their life held a can of spray paint.

This is one of my favorite classes.

I love spray paint.

I'm Elizabeth Palmisano and I'm a local artist in Charlotte, North Carolina.

And I do public artwork, community work, workshops.

I love art and I love creativity.

You're gonna get comfortable with a can in your hand, right?

How do I use this thing?

Don't end up like me.

I'll tell you how this happens.

There's a brand spanking new can lined up every so often all the way down the fence.

So I wanna encourage everybody to take a spot.

I really love We Rock Charlotte.

It's a music and film nonprofit, primarily.

Their aesthetic is like graffiti fits right in.

It's really challenging to control spray paint when you first start using it, or even if you've been using it for quite some time.

Have a great time.

Give yourself over to the process.

Make a new friend.

So the spray paint that we're using today is not the spray paint that you'll find in your local hardware store.

It's actually professional artist grade paint that happens to be in spray paint form.

When you see folks doing murals with spray paint out in the community professionally, this is what they use.

It is incredibly challenging to control spray paint.

It kind of does what it wants to do, especially when you're first learning.

No one here is gonna leave a professional spray paint artist, but they're gonna get comfortable with having a can in their hand, holding it the right way, practicing safety, not spraying themselves or a friend in the eyeball.

- Really interesting techniques.

I just kind of thought you sort of pass it over and you just cover area.

But like that you can come up close to it and make those fine lines.

And like being okay with getting messy a little bit.

I don't like to get messy, so it's like out of my comfort zone.

(upbeat music) - If you've never done it before, people have a tendency to kind of just wiggle all around.

It's like, well if you wanna fill this area, here's the strategy on how to get a nice clean, we call it a fill.

It's becoming more well known maybe that a lot of muralists, people who paint on the sides of buildings use spray paint.

So I think there's an interest in that.

We have a lot of new murals around Charlotte.

People have gone and seen artists working on work and there's like a lot of intrigue.

- I've not ever really had much experience other than painting my lawn chair, right?

Or my tub.

So I thought that this would be a cool experience.

- I found out about it from my friend, Joy, who's here.

She's like, hey, my friend hosts these like, graffiti spray painting classes.

And I was like, that sounds awesome.

And my son is really into art.

So I thought it would be fun for the two of us to be together too.

- Well that would be my initials, J C. And then I kind of just did a bunch of extra stuff afterwards.

I just kind of like that I can pretty much do whatever I want and like I can express myself.

- People will try things that I haven't thought of before.

Especially with spray paint, I use a lot of stencils and we'll use found objects as stencils and hold it up against the wall and spray.

Does anybody know what this is?

- Crispy?

- No.

- Paper plate holder.

- Paper plate holder.

- I enjoy the technique that I'm learning.

The stencil technique that I've learned and you know actually how to make the letters, you know, so I'm learning that it is a specific technique to doing that, right?

- [Elizabeth] I have learned things from my students.

It's their first time, they try something new, I'm like, you know what, you're onto something there.

I'd like to try that too.

If one artist was painting 60 feet like this, it would take a couple of weeks.

- I love words and I think a lot of my creativity comes out in word and written and artistic expression that way.

So I immediately like was like, what word do I wanna write?

Love.

And I'm doing some basics, you know.

The stencils, I love girly colors.

So I was sticking with the white and pink for now.

But it's fun.

- [Son] It's cool having a mom who supports you wanting to spray paint, things of that nature.

- Yeah, but there will be limitations on like the spray painting we've talked about.

Like I don't wanna see, you know, his tags all over the bridges in Charlotte.

But I mean.

- That will not occur.

That will not occur.

(upbeat music) - [Elizabeth] I want them to walk away with a sense of community.

For me, a workshop is a success if you go home and you feel like, gosh, that was really good, I wanna do something else creative.

- Artist, Elizabeth Palmisano is currently the lead artist on the NoDa Cloud Wall, a 23,000 square foot mural project off 36th Street in Charlotte.

Our region is filled with amazing people and places and we need your help to learn about possible new stories for "Carolina Impact."

Please email us your ideas to stories@wtvi.org.

Well, before I say goodnight, I wanna say thank you to some friends from Southminster who came to visit and they were part of our studio audience today.

Thanks so much ladies for being here.

We loved having you.

Well, that's all the time we have this evening.

Thank you for joining us.

We always appreciate your time and we look forward to seeing you back here again next time on "Carolina Impact."

Goodnight, my friends.

(bright music) - [Announcer] A production of PBS Charlotte.

- [Narrator] Support for "Carolina Impact" comes from our viewers and Wells Fargo.

- [Narrator] Wells Fargo has donated $390 million- - Honey, like I said, you get your own room.

- [Narrator] ...to support housing affordability solutions across America.

- Get it!

- Doing gets it done.

Wells Fargo, the bank of doing.