LUCAMA, NC :: Southern National Motorsports Park’s Thanksgiving Classic will have a new date and a new name, but the same prestige follows the race event, a race won by some of Late Model Stock Car racing’s biggest names and by NASCAR stars of the past and present.
The first known running of the Autumn Classic was on November 29, 1998 in a 200-lap race won by the King of Late Model Stock Car racing, Philip Morris. Over the years, the event grew and, with it, the prestige. Longtime Southern National competitor and two-time track champion Scott Riggs won the race in 1999 racing for the late Jerry Moody. NASCAR Sprint Cup Series superstar Denny Hamlin, who won the Southern National Motorsports Park track championship in 2003, and four-time track champion Jamey Caudill (1997, 1998, 1999, 2002) are the only drivers with multiple victories in the Autumn Classic.
After the 2008 season, Southern National Motorsports Park closed and remained dormant until Michael Diaz and Jerry Brown purchased the facility at an auction for $650,000 on October 7, 2011. The track reopened in 2012 and, in November, the Autumn Classic returned with Greg Edwards scoring the victory in a wild and dramatic feature. The following year’s event, which would be the final time the Late Model Stock Car race would be held on Thanksgiving weekend, was every bit as spectacular where Ronnie Bassett, Jr. scored the victory with a late race bump-and-run on Lee Pulliam.
Previous Winners
1998 — Philip Morris
1999 — Scott Riggs
2000 — Frank Deiny, Jr.
2001 — Kirk Leone
2002 — Brandon Butler
2003 — Denny Hamlin
2004 — Jamey Caudill
2005 — Jamey Caudill
2006 — Deac McCaskill
2007 — Denny Hamlin
2008 — Joey Coulter
(SNMP closed 2009-2011)
2012 — Greg Edwards
2013 — Ronnie Bassett, Jr.
2014 — Brayton Haws*
*The 2014 Thanksgiving Classic was held on November 9, 2014.
