Restaurant Guide

RESTAURANTS

Made For Each Other

Romantic restaurants for you and your sweetheart this Valentine’s Day

IT’S THE MONTH OF LOVE, which means it’s a great time to splurge on an intimate dinner at one of Charlotte’s most romantic restaurants. Whether you want a multicourse tasting menu with white tablecloths and candles or a pink cocktail and heart-shaped dessert at a trendy roo op bar, we’ve got your date night covered. —Taylor Bowler

SEE OUR WEBSITE FOR A FULL DIRECTORY OF RESTAURANT LISTINGS.

Sea Level NC serves a Lobster Roll, Paella, and a variety of oysters (above). The Stanley’s menu includes a rotation of farm-to-table dishes like their Pork Chop (below). Peppervine’s 7,800-square-foot interior (left) has a mezzanine lounge,10-seat bar area, and glass-enclosed wine display.

FEATURED RESTAURANT McNINCH HOUSE

511 N. Church St. 704-332-6159

THE RESTAURANT has a longstanding reputation for its ve-course tasting menu and award-winning wine pairings, but it’s also the most popular place for marriage proposals in Charlotte. Maybe it’s the antique silver and ne china on each table, or the edible owers that adorn your poached pear salad. Whatever the reason, this restored Victorian-era house sees someone on bended knee 40 to 50 times a year.

The McNinch House (top) serves an upscale tasting menu in a historic Queen Anne-style home with Victorian-era colors and furniture (above). Entreés include New Zealand Lamb served with Carolina rice (left).

CUSTOMSHOP

1601 Elizabeth Ave. 704-333-3396 Owner and Executive Chef Trey Wilson uses top-notch, seasonal ingredients to create fresh takes on American cuisine in a hip, rustic atmosphere.

THE FIG TREE RESTAURANT

1601 E. 7th St. 704-332-3322 Feast on elk chops and lobster tail paired with award-winning wines in a 1913 bungalow.

THE STANLEY

1961 E. 7th St. 980-299-2741 Chef Daniel Wheeler’s menu focuses on seasonal produce and a robust cocktail program.

DOT DOT DOT

4237 Park Road, Ste. B 704-817-3710 Stefan Huebner’s creative cocktails may be the main attraction at this members-only speakeasy, but the saffron risotto with foraged mushrooms will convince you to stay for dinner. KINDRED

131 N. Main St., Davidson 980-231-5000 Chef Joe Kindred, a James Beard Award semi nalist, serves homemade pasta dishes and creative small plates in historic downtown Davidson.

SOUL GASTROLOUNGE

1500-B Central Ave. 704-348-1848 Expect to wait a while at this no-reservations spot, known for small plates like pork belly tacos with compressed watermelon and a rotating list of cra cocktails.

BARCELONA WINE BAR

101 W. Worthington Ave., Ste. 110 704-741-0300 Choose from more than 400 wines, and nosh on Spanish- and Mediterranean-inspired tapas and charcuterie boards.

VANA

1440 S. Tryon St., Ste. 100 980-819-5913 Chef Michael Noll serves a blend of tapas and shareable plates in this open-kitchen spot with a wood- red theme. BAR MARCEL

3920 Sharon Road, Ste. 160 980-237-1919 Share a plate of beef carpaccio or tru e and herb frites—but order a atbread for yourself.

DOGWOOD SOUTHERN TABLE + BAR

4905 Ashley Park Lane, Ste. D 704-910-4919 Get a table for two and sip a cocktail in the dimly lit dining room, or have a seat at the chef’s counter and watch them prepare your meal.

GOOD FOOD ON MONTFORD

1701 Montford Drive 704-525-0881 Bruce Mo ett’s small-plates bistro unites a variety of in uences and avors on one menu, and each dish is worth ordering.

PEPPERVINE

4620 Piedmont Row Drive, Ste. 170B 980-283-2333 Chef Bill Greene serves a rotation of artistic small plates with unexpected pairings, like Thai Pork Spare Ribs and tuna tartare with yuzu. FAHRENHEIT

222 S. Caldwell St. 980-237-6718 Located on the 21st oor of Skye Condos, Chef Rocco Whalen’s restaurant is the place to sip cocktails, eat oysters, and see the city twinkle.

FIN & FINO

135 Levine Avenue of the Arts, Ste. 100 704-800-5680 Come for the raw bar but stay for bartender Brittany Kellum’s drinks—then splurge on a slice of cheesecake.

LA BELLE HELENE

300 S. Tryon St., Ste 100 980-209-0941 The uptown restaurant is modeled a er a French brasserie, and Top Chef alum Jamie Lynch serves French classics like Steak Tartare, Crispy Duck Con t, and Boeuf Bourguignon.

SEA LEVEL NC

129 E. 5th St. 704-412-2616 Sip a romantic libation like the Strawberries and Cream cocktail, and order a tray of raw oysters for a little aphrodisiac.

Now is the time to Reclaim Your Rhythm and take back control of your physical health and mental well-being!

“This February, we are uniting for American Heart Month to help women Reclaim Their Rhythm to live longer, healthier, fuller lives. Because losing even one mom, sister, friend or neighbor to cardiovascular disease is one too many. When women come together, there is nothing we can’t achieve. It’s time to get moving, wear red to raise awareness and take those steps to improve your own health in 2022.” “ Since the onset of pandemic, deaths from heart disease and stroke have risen and one in three women report lower emotional wellness. Join our Go Red for Women movement and learn to reduce stress levels, end unhealthy habits, lower blood pressure and empower ourselves to improve our mental and physical well-being.”

— Sheila Jordan Co-chair for Go Red for Women Movement Chief Digital Technology Officer, HONEYWELL — Angela Yochem Co-chair for Go Red for Women Movement EVP, Chief Transformation & Digital Officer, NOVANT HEALTH

GO RED FOR WOMEN’S MISSION

• Go Red for Women® is the American Heart Association’s signature initiative to raise awareness that heart disease is women’s greatest health threat and to empower them to take action to lower their risk. Since 2004, Go Red for Women has had a profound impact on women’s health and continues to be a champion for women. • The American Heart Association recently noted an alarming decline in awareness that cardiovascular disease is the No. 1 killer of women – and too many women, particularly our youngest most diverse women, remain unaware.

WOMAN OF IMPACT CLASS OF 2022

Sponsored by THE NOMINEES

Our nominees are bringing together their own networks to form an impact team, set a goal, explore fundraising resources, and have the greatest impact possible on women’s health and our community. Together, we can be a relentless force for a world of longer, healthier lives. Sign up for this year’s Woman of Impact campaign. Recruit your team. Work with us to build a plan. Contact Katherine Long, Director of Development at Katherine.Long@heart.org.

Lexi Andresen Extended Stay America Laniece Blackmon EY Meghan Jupiter Slalom

CIRCLE OF RED MEMBERS

Stephanie Alger Keli Alvarado Dr. Adelle Anthony-Williams Carl Armato Christi Armato Clarence Armbrister Jim Arnold Pam Austin Marcia Avedon Dr. Kristin Black Wendi Boddy Peggy Brookhouse Dr. Sandra Burke Drew Cawthorne Ray Chinn Dr. Bruce Cohen Elizabeth Cohen Patty Comer Angela Cureton Annette Davidson Al de Molina Donna de Molina Erika Duncan Lauren Dungan Erin Dunlap Frank Emory Tiffany Eubanks-Saunders Linda McFarland Farthing Kiely Flanigan Regina Fleenor Dorlisa Flur Misti Fragen Dr. Gail Griffin-Carter Chris Hart Rasha Hasaneen David Head Kim Henderson Sandra Holub Heather Howlett Lois Ingland Sheila Jordan Amy Kazmierczak Lia Keel Kathryn Kissam Amy Kochan Paula Kranz Shauna Latshaw Katherine Lockhart Betsy Mack Jacqui Macleod Leah Maybry April McDonald Nancy McNelis Lori O’Keefe Amy Pack Paula Parker Theresa Payton Jenni Rahrig Courtney Ramey Rochelle Rivas Chandler Root Denise Root Niki Curci Scott Susan Shepherd Kim Sloat Pam Smith Gary Sobba Debbie Stewart Cheryl Stiegler Allison Stunja Tracey Tozier Megan Turner Clint Watson Roseann White Colleen Winslow Jennifer Winstel Angela Yochem

MONICA GALLOWAY PHOTOGRAPHY Back Row (L-R): Paula Kranz, Angela Yochem, Lois Ingland, Annette Davidson, Megan Turner, Heather Howlett, Rochelle Rivas, Lauren Dungan Front Row (L-R): Jim Arnold, Kathryn Kissam, Pam Austin, Jennifer Winstel, Angela Cureton, Allison Stunja, Drew Cawthorne

As of 12/15/2021

MAKE MOVES TODAY

Together we can change the statistics and help women create the healthy habits they need to have their best chance at life.

THANK YOU TO OUR 2022 GO RED FOR WOMEN SPONSORS

Go Red for Women is Nationally Sponsored by Life is Why Sponsor Live Fierce. Life is Why Sponsor

Community BP Kiosk Sponsor Heroes of Heart Sponsor Heart of Gold Sponsor Women of Impact Sponsor CPR Sponsors

Dr. and Mrs. Bruce and Elizabeth Cohen

STEM Goes Red Sponsors

Amazon • Businessolver • Levvel • Stratifyd

Go Red Campaign Sponsors

Ally Financial • Charlotte Hornets Foundation • Fortalice/Theresa Payton in honor of Maeve Payton and Yolanda Major • Hearst Service Center Larson & Toubro Infotech Ltd • Piedmont Natural Gas • Publix • The Rivas Family Foundation As of 12/15/2021

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The Skin Center By Charlotte Plastic Surgery

e top aesthetic destination of the south, Carolina Facial Plastics is led by double board-certi ed facial plastic surgeon Dr. Jonathan Kulbersh. With his team of cosmetic experts, a fully accredited surgery center, and a private recovery retreat all located in the heart of SouthPark, Carolina Facial Plastics is known for unparalleled and natural looking results exclusively for the face.

While focusing 100% on cosmetic treatments for the face, patients rave about the meticulous attention to detail at Carolina Facial Plastics during procedures such as rhinoplasty, facelift, blepharoplasty, and facial implants, as well as Botox® and llers. Among his many awards and honors, Dr. Kulbersh has been chosen as a Top 100 RealSelf Doctor four years in a row, is included in the RealSelf Hall of Fame, and a three-time Charlotte Magazine’s Best of the Best Award recipient.

Along with Dr. Kulbersh, our Carolina Facial Plastics team is comprised of aesthetic specialist, Heather Bryant, MPAS, PA-C, Courtney Whitley, FNP-C, Amanda Piligian, PA-C, and medical aesthetician, Terri Edson, as well as an entire back and front o ce team providing a level of expertise not found anywhere else in the Carolinas. Our mission is to provide both surgical and nonsurgical aesthetic techniques designed to make aesthetic improvements and rejuvenations that harmonize with your natural beauty.

Dr. Kulbersh believes it’s an honor and a privilege to serve as your doctor, and he treats his patients with the same care and respect he would give his own family. “Our goal at Carolina Facial Plastics is to help people create the best versions of themselves,” he says. “ is is what we consider an excellent and natural result. At Carolina Facial Plastics, everything that we do is all about you.” Remarkable Results, Exceptional Care.

Terri Edson, Aesthetician - Heather Bryant, MPAS, PA-C - Jonathan Kulbersh, MD - Courtney Whitley, FNP-C - Amanda Piligian, PA-C

CAROLINA FACIAL PLASTICS

6817 Fairview Road Charlotte, NC 28210 704-275-3172 Carolinafacialplasticsurgery.com

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DERMATOLOGY LASER & VEIN SPECIALISTS OF THE CAROLINAS

Dermatology Laser & Vein Specialists of the Carolinas (DLVSC) is the Carolinas’ premier dermatology and cosmetic surgery practice, o ering innovative treatment options for general dermatology, Mohs skin cancer surgery, varicose vein treatments, laser/cosmetic surgery, and cutting-edge research studies.

With two o ce locations in Charlotte and Pineville, the award-winning practice focuses on providing excellence in skin care, from the management of complex skin rashes and skin cancer to surgical and non-surgical full-body cosmetic treatments. DLVSC o ers a general dermatology department, vein/vascular treatment center, cosmetic operative surgical suites and over 50 FDA-approved lasers and energy-based devices.

“Our goal is to o er the latest in advanced medical and surgical dermatologic care for all our patients,” says Dr. Gilly Munavalli, medical director and Founder.

Every procedure is performed or supervised by a worldclass team of experienced, board-certi ed physicians: Dr. Gilly Munavalli, Dr. Payman Kosari, Dr. Hayley Leight, Katherine Daley, PA-C, Aaron Blackmer, PA-C, Amber Blair, PA-C, and Rachel Yang, NP. “Our team of expert physicians and highly trained sta skillfully craft tailored treatment plans;

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recommendations are designed especially for each patient’s lifestyle, budget, and goals,” Dr. Munavalli says.

DLVSC also has a fully-sta ed cosmeceutical retail store that o ers physician-grade skin care products in a personalized, boutique shopping experience.

DERMATOLOGY LASER & VEIN SPECIALISTS OF THE CAROLINAS

Charlotte Office: 1918 Randolph Road/Ste. 550/Charlotte, NC 28207 Pineville Office: 10660 Park Road/Ste. 4150/Charlotte, NC 28210 704-375-6766/carolinaskin.com

DENISE ANTONACCI SALON

ere are a few tried-and-true places savvy women turn to whenever their tresses are in need of a makeover. Places where the quality of services is simply unbeatable. Denise Antonacci Salon is one of those places. Here, stylists dole out masterful cuts and colors that continue to receive rave reviews, such as “Best Women’s Hair Salon, Best Blowouts and Best Scalp Massage” from Charlotte Magazine’s recent 2021 BOB awards, making Denise Antonacci Salon one of the most sought-after hair salons in the Charlotte community. e salon is the brainchild of master colorist and stylist extraordinaire Denise Antonacci, and its friendly, professional sta delivers service that are a practice in perfection. e beautiful, spacious interior feels more like a trip to the spa. Its top tier team is known for creating classic, clean cuts with a focus on craftsmanship and an eye toward current style ideas. Every stylist uses the highest quality products and the latest innovations to deliver top results.

Committed to delivering excellence in both boutique structure and services, the salon draws both a sophisticated clientele of Who’s Who in Charlotte as well as on a national scale because of their awless colors, precision shapes and glamorous styles. at’s not surprising given their mission is to make people look and feel their best.

Word on the streets of Charlotte? When you deserve only the very best—Denise Antonacci Salon is the place to provide it.

DENISE ANTONACCI SALON

4810 Ashley Park Lane, Suite B Charlotte, NC 28210 704-362-6005 Antonaccisalon.com • IG: Deniseantonaccisalon

Denise Antonacci Salon Feb22.indd 1

CHARLOTTE PLASTIC SURGERY

Charlotte Plastic Surgery is the only practice to win Charlotte magazine’s coveted BOB Award for “Best Plastic Surgery Practice” and it’s no wonder—with seven decades of jaw dropping transformations under our belt, we have thousands of satis ed clients in the Charlotte area and beyond. Our ve highly skilled, board-certi ed plastic surgeons are nationally and internationally ranked, and even travel the country training other physicians on the latest treatments and cutting-edge techniques. And if our surgeons’ shining 5 star ratings don’t say enough about their dedication to exceptional patient care, just talk to your friends – chances are they’ve been here or know someone who has.

However, our greatest accomplishment is the satisfaction of our many loyal clients who trust in our proven results and dedicated care so much, they choose us to help them feel their very best.

At the Skin Center by Charlotte Plastic Surgery, with over 77 years of combined Provider experience, we know it’s not the syringe of ller, vial of BOTOX, or type of chemical peel that makes the treatment; what matters is the technique, expertise, and up-to-date training that creates the most natural end result. Whether it’s Body Contouring, Laser Skin Resurfacing, or a Non-Surgical Facelift, we pride ourselves in having the safest and most e ective technology that delivers the results you’re looking for. From advanced technique training to learning new treatment enhancements, we continually hone our skills to make sure your results are sel e-worthy. e Charlotte Plastic Surgery team works with the providers at e Skin Center to provide a comprehensive approach to your concerns, including non-surgical, minimally-invasive, and surgical solutions. From various skincare product lines, injectables, and non-surgical body contouring all the way to Tummy Tucks, Rhinoplasty, and Breast Augmentation, we’ve got all the tools in our toolbox to exceed your expectations. When you choose Charlotte Plastic Surgery, you bloom.

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CHARLOTTE PLASTIC SURGERY

2215 Randolph Road Charlotte, NC 28207 704-372-6846 Charlotteplasticsurgery.com

NASCAR, a sport associated with Charlotte since the 1940s, enters another new era— with updated cars, a refreshed and more diverse fan base, tire tracks in the digital space, and a long and eventful history

BY STEVE GOLDBERG

PHOTOGRAPH BY LOGAN CYRUS

The Bank of America Roval 400, Charlotte Motor Speedway, October 2021.

RACING REIMAGINED

THE HIGH-PITCHED ECHO of 550-horsepower V8 engines bounces o the glass of the suites at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Thousands of empty grandstand seats line the front stretch as high-performance race cars, many nondescript except for the numbers on their sides, dive in and out of the turns and accelerate down the backstretch on an unusually warm late-November day.

It’s another test session for the Next Gen stock cars of NASCAR’s Cup Series, the highest level of stock car racing. These new versions of the Ford Mustang, Chevrolet Camaro, and Toyota Camry, which drivers will begin to race at the start of the 2022 season, represent the latest stage in the evolution of the stock car. They’re designed to be less expensive than their predecessors—and safer, too—with modi cations to the chassis, bodies, and internal parts.

The cars that will whip around the track at places like Charlotte, Daytona, and Talladega starting in February haven’t been truly stock—that is, factoryassembled and unmodified—since 1966. They’re designed to race. But the Next Gen cars look more like their street-car cousins, cars anyone can buy at a dealership. That’s on purpose.

The sport as a whole, including the culture that surrounds it, has changed signi cantly in recent years—not just the cars and equipment but what drivers, owners, and fans look like, their ages and genders, and the attitudes they hold about issues like race, social change, and the direction of the country. The sport developed from moonshiners’ high-speed twists and turns as they eluded federal agents during Prohibition in the 1920s and ’30s. Even as it evolved into a national corporate entity in the ’80s and ’90s, it retained a good bit of that rebel spirit—represented by the Confederate battle ag, until recently a common sight in the in eld—and the white, Southern men who typically gravitated to it. But now, the sport’s footprint is expanding to include others. As in the nation, some long-timers bristle at the changes. So when NASCAR President Steve Phelps unveiled the new cars at the Park Expo in Charlotte in May 2021, he emphasized that what drove this latest turn was a desire to appeal to fans, all fans, regardless of race, gender, or ZIP code. “Truly,” Phelps said, “this car is for you.” Nowhere is this evolution more meaningful than in Charlotte, where NASCAR ran its rst speedway race for stock cars in 1949. It’s NASCAR’s Next Gen cars, unveiled at the Park Expo in the host city for the Coca-Cola 600, one of the Cup Series’ signature races, and the site of the Charlotte in May sport’s Hall of Fame. The fans will or won’t 2021. From left: Chevrolet Camaro, Toyota Camry, roll with the changes, but a good many new things will start where they always have, from Ford Mustang. the people who sit behind the steering wheel.

PERHAPS MORE THAN ANY OTHER, racing is a sport in which sons follow their fathers. Chase Elliott Charlotte native William Byron “From there, that’s when the desire drives Hendrick Motorsports’ came to go see a race in person,” he tells No. 24 Chevy, which Jeff Gordon made famous in the 1990s. Unlike his me in December. “And then as soon as that happened, I was hooked. I just loved won the 2020 Cup Series championship 32 years a er his father, Bill Elliott. Original NASCAR driver Lee Petty won three titles. Then his son Richard won seven, and Richard’s son, Kyle, followed him onto the track, as did Kyle’s son Adam, who was killed in a crash in 2000, at age 19. (Adam Petty is believed to be the rst fourth-generation professional athlete in the history of American sports.)

Ned Jarrett and son Dale became the third father-son champions. Famous names like Allison, Baker, Busch, Earnhardt, Flock, Labonte, and Waltrip, among others, have belonged to NASCAR families of fathers, sons, grandsons, brothers, and nephews. Family lineage is a support beam for NASCAR’s deep attachment to tradition.

That’s one reason why racing now strikes some traditional fans as something they can’t quite recognize: Star drivers are seemingly coming from everywhere, with little or no familial tie to the past. Take 24-year-old William Byron, a Charlotte native and Country Day alumnus, who drives the No. 24 Camaro for Hendrick Motorsports—the same car made famous by four-time champion Je Gordon.

As a kid, Byron never raced karts or tinkered with motors in the backyard. He learned how to race on the digital iRacing platform, akin to what the Air Force uses to train jet pilots. (NASCAR ran virtual races on iRacing when COVID shut the tracks down.) What rst caught Byron’s eye, at age 5, were the colorful paint schemes of die-cast replica race cars. predecessors, Byron learned the sport.” When Byron was 6, his father, to drive on the digital iRacing platform. Byron, says Kyle Petty, is “one of the smartest Bill, a wealth management adviser, asked him and his sister where they’d kids I’ve ever talked to.” like to take a day trip. His sister chose the mountains. Byron picked a race at Martinsville Speedway in Virginia. His mother, Dana, wasn’t crazy about the idea—she imagined her boy in the stands, pelted by crash debris—but she gradually got used to it. “I would beg my dad to go to races, and we would go to the Charlotte races every year,” he says. “And then, from that, it turned into going to Bristol and Darlington and all the local races, and I went to one Daytona 500 when I was probably 11 … One thing led to another, I guess.” Byron ran a kart race at 13 and, the next morning, woke up and realized he’d be devastated if he never got another chance to race. At 15, he won the summer U.S. Legend Car competition at Charlotte Motor Speedway. By 2018, he was in a Cup car for Hendrick Motorsports, nishing 23rd overall. The next year, he improved to 11th. In 2021, Byron won his second race in the Dixie Vodka 400 at Homestead, Florida, then rattled o a string of 10 top-10 nishes. He completed the year with 20—12 in the top ve, including three in second place. “William Byron is going to be a great, great race car driver. That’s one of the smartest kids I’ve ever talked to in my life,” Kyle Petty says. “I think William has shown that there’s more than one way to get here.”

ON OCT. 4, 2021, on the track at Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama, cars crashed all around Bubba Wallace’s No. 23 Camry. A car in front of him whirled and threw parts. Wallace, who’d navigated another kind of pileup a year earlier, eased through the wreckage and acted like a kid on a Carowinds thrill ride.

“Whoo-wee! Let’s go!” he exclaimed to his crew over the radio. His crew chief asked him if he’d been hit. Con dently, Wallace responded: “Negative!”

Rain had already delayed the start of the YellaWood 500 by a day, and o cials had called four caution periods during the race on a wet track. Wallace made his way to the lead. Then the rain really started to come down, which led to another wreck and a h caution, at lap 118 of a scheduled 188. Wallace knew that if it kept raining, o cials might call the race—with him leading the pack. On the radio, Wallace’s crew heard him implore the sky: “Rain like hell, baby! C’mon!”

His crew huddled around the pit box under tarps and umbrellas. Then they heard the voice of Tim Bermann, the event director for the Cup Series: “The 23 is our winner. Driver and crew to victory lane.”

It was Wallace’s rst Cup win and only the second by a Black driver; the rst, by Wendell Scott, was in Jacksonville, Florida, on Dec. 1, 1963. The timing seemed like valida-

Bubba Wallace (center) with tion for the 28-year-old driver. No one fans at the Roval 400 in in the history of the sport had traveled October. Less than a week before, Wallace had become through anything like the racial mine eld only the second Black driver, of 2020, when, moved by George Floyd’s and the first in nearly six murder at the hands of a police o cer in decades, to win a Cup Series race when he won the YellaWood 500 at Talladega Minneapolis, Wallace had publicly voiced his support for Black Lives Matter and Superspeedway in Alabama. racial justice. Then he took dead aim at one of NASCAR culture’s totems. “My next step would be to get rid of all Confederate ags,” Wallace told CNN in June 2020. “No one should feel uncomfortable when they come to a NASCAR race. So, it starts with Confederate ags. Get them out of here.” A few days later, astonishingly, NASCAR did. Its presence, the organization announced, “runs contrary to our commitment to providing a welcoming and inclusive environment for all fans, our competitors and industry.” Wallace has become one of NASCAR’s most celebrated gures, behind the wheel for a racing team co-owned by Denny Hamlin and Michael Jordan. But Wallace’s father, like William Byron’s, has never been a driver; although he encouraged his son’s dreams, Darrell Wallace Sr. owns an industrial cleaning company. And Bubba Wallace’s success and pro le do seem to signal more room for people of color in a traditionally white sport—even as owners. Jordan is one thing, but last year, Nashville-based Trackhouse Racing announced a new member of its ownership group: the rapper Armando “Pitbull” Pérez, who

said he’d been a racing fan since he saw Days of Thunder, the 1990 Tom Cruise movie lmed mostly in the Charlotte area. Trackhouse’s driver is Mexican-born Daniel Suárez.

NASCAR’s tried—with limited success—to attract racial minorities and women since 2004, when it began its Drive for Diversity (DFD) program, which o ers training courses, internships, and other opportunities. Wallace emerged from the program, and in 2020, so did 19-year-old Rajah Caruth, a Black man whose story is a kind of hybrid of Wallace’s and Byron’s. Caruth, from the Washington, D.C., area, is the son of a communications professor at Howard University and was the rst DFD participant with a background in iRacing rather than, well, racing.

“Man, I’m proud of Rajah,” Wallace said in October 2021 during the NASCAR Diversity Awards ceremony at the NASCAR Hall of Fame. It was only three days a er Wallace’s victory at Talladega, and Caruth had nished third in a minor league race a few months before. “He had a hell of a run.”

NASCAR’s inclusion e orts, along with the Confederate ag ban, have spurred some initial signs of interest in racing among younger and more diverse fans: A pair of research rms polled a sample of 1,000 Americans in late June 2020, about two weeks a er the ag ban, and found that 73 percent of fans under 40 had a more positive impression of NASCAR. More than a third of Black respondents said they were more likely to watch a race. Older fans, predictably, tended to disapprove of the ag ban. “NASCAR is making the right moves in positioning themselves for their long-term future,” one of the researchers said, “even if it means some short-term losses.” NASCAR’s own research in 2021 shows, among other things, that new race attendees are twice as likely than in previous years to be younger than 35.

Those new fans may yet see Rajah Caruth win a Cup race. But another question hangs over the sport: Will the day come when a woman does?

Though rare, female drivers have a longer history in racing than you might think. On June 19, 1949, Sara Christian nished 14th of 33 drivers in the rst stock race at the old 3/4-mile Charlotte Speedway o Little Rock Road. The next month, at Daytona, she was joined by Louise Smith and Ethel Mobley; the latter nished in 11th place. The most recent of the 16 women who have raced at the Cup level is, of course, Danica Patrick, who competed for ve full and two partial seasons. While she did win an IndyCar race in Japan in 2008, her top achievement in NASCAR was a pole position at the 2013 Daytona 500, where she nished eighth, one of her seven top-10 nishes. But the attention Patrick brought to the sport might hook a young woman we don’t yet know who’ll change the sport forever.

ON OCT. 10, Charlotte Motor Speedway hosted the Bank of America Roval 400, an annual Cup race since 1960, in front of a crowd that lled most of the 79,000-seat venue. It was a welcome return for fans who couldn’t attend the 2020 version en masse; although NASCAR was the rst sport that allowed events a er COVID restrictions began in March 2020, only 6,600 fans were allowed to attend the 2020 Roval. As the 39 drivers roared around the 2.28-mile course, their cars displayed an array of sponsors that included M&M’s, Insurance King, and FedEx O ce. Those aren’t the kinds of sponsors whose logos once adorned the sport’s car hoods. In the old days, they were mainly, and logically, auto-related. (The Women have driven in NASCAR for longer than No. 5 Chevy driven by Roval 400—and, eventually, Cup Series—champion Kyle you might imagine, going Larson of Hendrick Motorsports did carry back to the organization’s the URL of Hendrick Automotive Group.) founding in the late 1940s. Below, Danica Patrick greets fans at Charlotte Then Winston signed on in 1971, and the company sponsored the Cup Series until Motor Speedway before cigarettes were no longer a viable sponsor. the Bank of America 500, a Sprint Cup Series race, in October 2015. But Winston’s success enticed other major brands: Coca-Cola, Pepsi, and Mountain Dew; Budweiser and Miller; McDonald’s and Burger King; Tide and Clorox. Over the past couple of generations, sponsors have adjusted to changing technology and taste. Nextel succeeded Winston as the overall Cup sponsor in 2004, then Sprint, then Monster Energy, owned in part by Coca-Cola, in 2016. The Cup Series adopted a tiered, multisponsor model in 2020. It’s not only the sponsorships that evolve; as with everything else in the 21st century, NASCAR’s social media presence continues to rise. NASCAR adopted a

THE BIG TRACKS, like Charlotte Motor Speedway and Daytona International Speedway, get most of the attention. But the heart and soul of auto racing lie in local tracks, which run on weekends before a couple of thousand, or even just a few hundred, fans in the most intimate fossil-fueled venues.

Kyle Petty calls these events the Friday Night Lights of racing, on small tracks that establish the most personal connection among racing, racers, and fans. “You watch two guys run 30 laps door-to-door at Hickory. They beat, they bang. They do it every Saturday night because they’re the two best drivers there. Chances are they get mad at each other. Chances are their crews scream at each other sometimes. But a lot of times, an hour or two a er the race, you’ll see them sitting on the hoods of their pickups drinking beer.

“And you know why you’ll see them there? Because you’re a fan. You come down out of the grandstand. You can walk across the racetrack. You can go touch the car, see the car, see the driver, touch the driver, talk to the driver, and you experience everything about what the sport is.”

Petty, who raced in NASCAR’s Cup Series for three decades, is the grandson, son, and father of storied stock car racers, so he’s spent plenty of time at all kinds of racetracks, whether in the car or the stands. He likens the experience of seeing up-and-coming drivers at small tracks to catching Bob Dylan in a dive bar before he became famous: “That’s where you saw Dale Earnhardt Sr. for the very rst time, but you didn’t know it when you saw him. You just liked the way he drove; you just liked what he did. He was a nice guy. Good guy. You talked to him. And eventually, he became Dale Earnhardt.”

They’re all over the country, in small towns where crews from ESPN and Fox Sports don’t o en show up. Here are ve, within an hour’s drive or so from Charlotte, that o er more intimate experiences than you’d get at a Cup race.

The Other Tracks

Hickory Motor Speedway opened in 1951 and still hosts races like the CARS Tour Throwback 276, shown here in 2019.

Racing built its foundation at small-town tracks like these—which still o er fans a chance to see tomorrow’s stars and cars

By STEVE GOLDBERG Photograph by ADAM FENWICK

Cherokee Speedway

153 Speedway Road, Ga ney, S.C.

The action at this 3/8-mile dirt track is intense enough to earn it the nickname “The Place Your Mama Warned You About.” It’s just o I-85 (Exit 96), about 50 miles west of Charlotte, and since 1957, it’s hosted various Late Model, Sprint Car, DIRTcar, Street Stocks, and Monster Truck events every year from February to late November. General admission is $15, but $30 gets you into the pits, and kids 12 and under get in free (prices could vary for other events).

Contestants in the Short Track Super Series modified race at Cherokee Speedway in May 2020.

Hickory Motor Speedway

3130 Highway 70 SE, Newton

NASCAR was founded in 1949. Hickory Motor Speedway, o Exit 128 on Interstate 40, opened two years later as a half-mile dirt track. Two years a er that, in 1953, the NASCAR Grand National Series—now the Cup Series—raced there; Hickory hosted the series for 19 years until new sponsor Winston dropped all races of less than 250 miles a er the 1971 season. It still held what’s now the X nity Series until 1998.

It’s been nicknamed “the birthplace of NASCAR stars” for a reason. “There is no sport,” Petty says, “without Hickory.” Hickory winners include Hall of Famers Junior Johnson, Ned Jarrett, Jack Ingram, and others who should be Hall of Famers, like Ralph Earnhardt. NASCAR doesn’t keep records this detailed, but it’s likely that every driver who’s hoisted a Cup race trophy in the last seven decades raced at Hickory at some point.

The dirt was paved in 1967, and the track is now .363 miles, which keeps the action tight and erce for as many as 13,000 fans. Though its varsity days are long gone, Hickory is still used as a venue for NASCAR’s club racing division; the Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series (formerly the Whelen All-American Series); Pro All Stars Series South Super Late Models; and the CARS Tour, with late model and super-late model touring series cars.

Drivers lined up their machines for the Honeywell Home Throwback 276 at Hickory Motor Speedway on July 31, 2021.

A young fan climbs out of a Bandolero car manufactured by U.S. Legend Cars International, a subsidiary of Charlotte-based Speedway Motorsports Inc. These entry-level racers are designed for drivers as young as 8.

Outlaw karts at Millbridge Speedway in March 2021.

U.S. Legend Cars

5555 Concord Parkway S., Concord

OK, this is more small-track racing than racing at a small track—it’s held at Charlotte Motor Speedway. But these summer races are worth checking out. Drivers race more a ordable roadsterstyle cars to keep expenses down and open the eld to more competitors. Current Cup stars Ryan Blaney, Kyle Busch, William Byron, Bubba Wallace, and others have used Legend racing as a springboard to the bigger, pricier series.

Millbridge Speedway

6670 Mooresville Road, Salisbury

This little 1/6-mile dirt track in Salisbury has been around for more than 25 years and gained traction as a proving ground for young racers. The progeny of Kevin Harvick, Kyle Busch, and Kyle Larson have competed there, and there’s always a chance you could see Cup drivers Kyle Larson, Christopher Bell, or Chase Elliott on a busman’s holiday, sliding their midget cars around the red clay oval in 30-lap feature races when they’re not gunning for NASCAR glory.

GoPro Motorplex

130 Motorplex Drive, Mooresville

This karting venue is less a spectator venue than an experiential “get-behind-the-wheel-and-put-thepedal-to-the-metal” thing. Still, friends and family come to watch competition among kids who may still have training wheels on their bikes.

Lori Rice and The Poster, Lancaster’s BBQ, Mooresville.

Racing rock star Tim Richmond died in 1989 but le a unique public image and—maybe—a private part of himself

BY GREG LACOUR

PHOTOGRAPH BY

HERMAN NICHOLSON

LORI RICE GREETS YOU at the hostess station. She’s originally from Pennsylvania, something you immediately gure from her Philadelphia Eagles shirt. But she and her family live in Mooresville, one of NASCAR’s sacred cities, and she’s worked here at Lancaster’s BBQ since May. Lori’s a big NASCAR fan, and she could hardly have found a better place to work than Lancaster’s, a former gas station that displays scads of racing memorabilia: car parts and miniatures, driver’s suits, helmets, posters.

You ask about The Poster. Everybody knows about The Poster, right? Where is it? She doesn’t know. One of her fellow hostesses does. It’s not far, just down a corridor that leads to the dining area, on the wall between a pair of driver’s suits. Lori doesn’t get what’s special about The Poster, even though it displays a group of 20 superstar drivers, practically every stock car racing icon you could name from the time: Yarborough, Parsons, Waltrip, Wallace, two generations’ worth of Pettys and Allisons, and the original Earnhardt on one knee—front and center, where he usually planted his ag.

Look, you tell her. She looks. Nothing. Keep looking, you say. Second guy from the le , in the Folgers suit. She looks. Still nothing.

LORI LOOKS CLOSER.

OK, you say. The ve guys kneeling? The one at far le ? That’s the late Neil Bonnett. Look behind his right ear.

Lori looks closer. Her eyes widen.

“Oh. My. God.” IN 1987, NASCAR was navigating a change of seasons. Stock car racing had been a good ol’ boys’ sport, having come down from the Appalachian hills and hollers in the 1930s, and even in the ’80s, it clung to its rough roots. Virtually everyone—from team owners to drivers to crew members—had emerged from the Southeast, and the sport was thought of mainly as a regional passion.

But by the ’80s, NASCAR’s leaders and sponsors sensed that stock car racing could draw the eyeballs and dollars of people throughout the United States. It was the rst stirring of the explosion in popularity, and revenue, that would come in the ’90s. But at the time, the old-timers still harbored some resistance to change—and into this arena, in 1981, swaggered a

charming, handsome, drawl-less, mischievous, supremely talented driver from Ohio who, heaven and Valvoline forbid, had made his name in open-wheel racing at Indy: Tim Richmond. The old guard dipped snu and drank cheap beer. Richmond drank champagne in nightclubs. The old-timers wore jeans and overalls. Richmond wore Armani suits. Old-timers went home to places like Kannapolis; Dawsonville, Georgia; and Owensboro, Kentucky. Richmond kept an apartment in Manhattan and lived on a boat in Fort Lauderdale. In the ash and MTV-fueled fame economy of the ’80s, Richmond looked and acted more like a rock or movie star than anything NASCAR was used to. (A few years later, in Days of Thunder, an actual movie star, Tom Cruise, would play a character loosely based on Richmond.) “NASCAR had never had a cosmopolitan driver,” says Deb Williams, a longtime racing journalist who lives in Concord. “(Richmond) was always wide open, don’t-challenge-me, wasn’t afraid of anything. The women adored him, and the men were jealous of him.” Richmond broke through in 1986, the year when even his ercest competitors were forced to concede that, Armani or not, he was one hell of a driver. Driving the No. 25 Monte Carlo for Hendrick Motorsports, he won seven Winston Cup races and nished the season third in points, behind only Dale Earnhardt and Darrell Waltrip. But late that year, Richmond fell ill and was hospitalized—for what he publicly announced was pneumonia. He did not tell the public, or anyone in NASCAR, what had made him so vulnerable to infection. He came back in the spring, seemingly recovered. He posed with 19 other drivers for a photo that NASCAR used for its o cial poster distributed to fans at The Winston, now the annual All-Star Race, at Charlotte Motor Speedway on May 17, 1987. Richmond came in third. (Earnhardt won thanks to a maneuver HER EYES WIDEN. racing fans still revere as the “pass in the grass.”) The next month, Richmond dramatically won back-to-back races at Pocono Raceway in Pennsylvania and Riverside International Raceway in California. A er the race at Pocono, he told reporters he hadn’t seen the nish line as he crossed it because his eyes were lled with tears. They were Richmond’s last victories. NASCAR barred him from racing at the Daytona 500 in February 1988 because of what the organization said was a failed drug test. He could race, NASCAR o cials said, only if he submitted for review the medical records from his hospitalization. Richmond refused. He never raced again. By then, it was becoming clearer that what was wrong with Richmond had nothing to do with drugs. He died in a hospital in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Aug. 13, 1989, at age 34. Ten days later, his doctor nally admitted to the public what a lot of people had already guessed: Tim Richmond had died of complications from AIDS. Six years a er that, a former model and beauty queen from Charlotte named LaGena Lookabill Greene, who had dated Richmond, went public with a stunning story: She had AIDS, she’d contracted HIV from Richmond in 1986, and she believed Richmond knew at the time that he was sick.

NO ONE ASSOCIATED with NASCAR wanted to discuss much about Richmond’s death, or the messier aspects of his life, as the sport’s pro le swelled during the ’90s and 2000s. To the extent that Richmond was remembered, it was as a kind of racing version of James Dean or Jimi Hendrix, a gi ed star who amed out too soon.

But that photo and poster from 1987 had stuck in some minds, certainly those at NASCAR and R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company in Winston-Salem, which had sponsored The Winston race in Charlotte. No one I spoke with for this story could say for sure who rst noticed what was unusual about it, or when. “My memory is that it was a long time—weeks,” says Roger Bear, who led the team under RJR that handled promotion for the race. “I heard about it in the o ce.” It looked like a On June 21, 1987, typical NASCAR promotional photo. You had to examine it closely to notice Tim Richmond won the Budweiser 400 at Riverside International anything odd. Then you couldn’t Raceway in California. notice anything else. What’s established is that NASCAR It was his last Winston Cup victory. He died of complications from and RJR xed the “problem” and reis- AIDS in August 1989, sued the poster. But an indeterminate age 34. number of original posters still oat around—no one knows how many—and the internet age ushered in a small market for collectors to sell their copies, sometimes labeled “uncensored,” on sites like eBay and Etsy for as much as $250. If you’re curious enough to look but not buy, copies hang on the walls of at least three Charlotte-area establishments: Lancaster’s, Big Daddy’s Restaurant and Oyster Bar in Mooresville, and the Thirsty Beaver in Plaza Midwood.

In 2010, more than two decades a er Richmond’s death, ESPN aired a documentary about his life and career as part of its 30 for 30 series. Tim Richmond: To the Limit, directed by Charlotte lmmaker Rory Karpf, rekindled fans’ interest in Richmond’s story, and by then, the public impulse to shy away from the subject of AIDS had diminished. “That’s when I saw a change,” Williams says, “people not feeling like they had to be concerned about talking about Tim Richmond, and what he did, and what a phenomenal driver he was, and the pranks he pulled, and things like that.” The 30 for 30 episode doesn’t mention the poster. But it gave the denizens of Reddit and NASCAR message boards something new to chew on. The popular racing podcast Dinner with Racers devoted a two-part episode—2 hours, 50 minutes total—to the subject in December 2019: Did he, or didn’t he? You can Google Richmond’s name and run across passionate arguments from people certain that he did it and people certain that he didn’t. It was a cane, the latter say. It was his thumb. (If that’s what it was, Kyle Petty observed on the podcast, Richmond had a “big damn thumb.”) It was a trick of the light.

Except that there’s no evidence I could nd that Richmond used a cane in the spring of ’87, although he was photographed with one at Daytona in ’88, when he was on site and hoping NASCAR would let him race. And if it was a trick of the light, well, that’s some trick. With the caveat that no one will ever know for sure—the only person who does is long gone—there seem to be a couple of convincing arguments that Richmond didn’t do what The Poster suggests he did. For one thing, the photo was taken a er his nearfatal case of pneumonia, when he was desperately trying to reestablish himself in NASCAR. That meant enough to reduce him to tears when he won at Pocono in June 1987. Under those circumstances, would he really have assumed that much risk? For another, most driving suits are one-pieces, which zip up from the crotch to the neck. It’s hard to tell whether the suit Richmond wore in the photo was a one- or two-piece, with the top separate from the bottom. If it was a one-piece, he couldn’t have just unzipped the y, as with a regular pair of pants. “That’s an excellent point,” says Williams, 67, who’s written about NASCAR for more than 40 years. Then a thought occurs to her. “You know, I’m just wondering, in looking at it more closely … if maybe he had his driving gloves with him, or some other gloves, and that some ngers on his gloves—?”

But it’s just another theory, interesting to consider but unprovable. And boy, that sure does look like an open y that exposes some gray material along with the other thing. “I’ll put it to you this way: I don’t know for certain that he did,” Williams says. “But knowing the type of prankster he was and knowing his personality, I wouldn’t put it past him to do something like that.”

Stock car racing has always been a sport that tolerates, even encourages, a certain level of juvenile behavior. But it was hard for anyone I spoke with to imagine that any of those 20 guys would have let it all hang out for an o cial NASCAR photo— with one exception. “I knew Tim really, really well, and he wasn’t above doing that,” Roger Bear says. “That is something Tim would do.” He chuckles. “He was one of a kind.”

AT LANCASTER’S, Lori remains in a state of mild shock. “I’ve seen people stop and look at that poster,” she exclaims, “but I never knew why!”

Jeff Lancaster—who opened the place the same year Richmond had his breakout season—says he acquired the poster in the early ’90s and put it on the wall when he had that section built in 1998. “I used to have stacks of those things,” he says. “Back then, it wasn’t that big a deal.” It is now. Customers, he says with a laugh, “gravitate to that poster—mostly women. You know what’s going on.”

Your work here is done. You have made Lori’s day. “I can’t wait to tell my husband and son,” she says as she walks back to the hostess station. “Thank you so much.”

BOLD STROKES

Designer Ashley DeLapp infuses a bland Myers Park cottage with ashy colors, vibrant patterns, and unique textures

By TAYLOR BOWLER

Photographs by DUSTIN PECK PHOTOGRAPHY

Prior to the renovation, the homeowners rarely used their formal living room, but now, they use the bright, colorful space every day. DeLapp mixed and matched a number of patterns and textures including the Zo any drapery fabric, the terra cotta rug, and the green velvet bench.

The breakfast nook (le ) has built-in banquette seating and cabinets painted the same color as the kitchen island. A mustard-colored ILVE range determined DeLapp’s color palette for the kitchen (below).

Architect-turned-designer Ashley DeLapp has the rare ability to visualize a whole-house renovation as soon as she surveys a job site. “I look at things more as volume than as just the surface,” she says. “I can picture rooms with walls down before it ever happens.” If a client gravitates toward a particular color or palette, she’s already combed her mental catalog of fabric and wallpaper samples to design the interior.

DeLapp is the owner and lead designer of Ashley DeLapp Interior Design, and her style blends midcentury modern, Hollywood regency, and eclectic. She uses an audacious mix of bold colors, patterns, and textures—and it’s not for everyone. But her fearless approach is what prompted the owners of a 4,000-square-foot home in Myers Park to hire DeLapp to recon gure their kitchen.

DeLapp describes the homeowners, who have two school-aged children, as fun and avant-garde. “The wife’s parents are from Portugal, so she had gorgeous rugs from Europe,” she says. “She wanted more personality in the house and was de nitely not afraid of color.”

The homeowner loved a mustard-colored ILVE range she’d had custom made in Italy, so DeLapp built her palette around that anchor piece. She added a geometric tile backsplash, Regina Andrew pendant lights, and barstools with magenta faux leather cushions. To break up the monotony of the white cabinetry, she painted the kitchen island in Sherwin-Williams’ Rainstorm. “A er that, she kept hiring me to do other rooms in the house,” DeLapp says with a laugh.

Over the next year, DeLapp tackled the primary bedroom, formal living room, landing space, home o ce, powder room, and their daughter’s bedroom. “(The oor plan) wasn’t very functional, and they didn’t use a lot of their spaces, so we blew the rst oor wide open,” she says. She turned a small dining room o of the kitchen into a breakfast nook with built-in banquette seating and cabinets painted in the same color as the kitchen island. The Regina Andrew molten glass chandelier adds some drama, while the oral wallpaper, chair cushions, and pillow fabrics make it feel like a good space for a garden party.

DeLapp repurposed a built-in armoire and made an upholstered bench in the corner of the primary bedroom (above). For the formal living room (le ), DeLapp integrated lamps and side tables the homeowners already had with new pieces.

For the primary bedroom, DeLapp used the homeowners’ upholstered bed with nailhead trim and a yellow bird painting as inspiration for the decor. She added a blue Stanton area rug and lavender drapes from Zinc Textile, punched up the wall behind the bed with purple Phillip Je ries grasscloth wallpaper, and covered the ceiling in a textured gray wallpaper from Designers Guild. “(The homeowner) was hesitant about wallpaper on the ceiling,” DeLapp says. “They aren’t super high, and she was afraid the room would be too dark, so she needed a little convincing.”

In the corner, DeLapp created an upholstered bench out of a built-in armoire the homeowners wanted to remove. “Since they’d just re nished the oors, they didn’t want to redo them again,” she says. “I had a local company make a curved, upholstered back for it. Now it’s a glori ed bed for their dog,” she says with a laugh. “But it was a way of using what we had without ripping it out and patching the oors.” The home o ce, which had previously been a guest room, got Dura Supreme cabinets and a custom green lacquer countertop. DeLapp used taupe Phillip Je ries grasscloth for an accent wall and an ikat-patterned fabric from S. Harris for the Roman shade. “People just want a pretty place to be in with plenty of natural light,” she says. “Nobody wants to work in a dark hole.”

At the top of the stairs, DeLapp turned an unused space into a teen lounge for their daughter. She installed a Dovetail pendant light and blue ikat wallpaper by Lindsay Cowles. “Most of the wallpaper I do is big, bold patterns,” DeLapp says. “Even if it’s grasscloth, it’s a bold color; not gray or beige. To me, wallpaper is a di erent way to give personality to a space that paint just can’t do.” An abstract black-and-white area rug from Jaipur Living complements the accent wall, and the turquoise velvet lounge chairs from Cove add another dimension to the blue motif. The formal living room was the last part of the project, and DeLapp says it’s her favorite space in the home. “It was very dark, and now it’s full of light, and you can see through to the backyard,” she says. “Everywhere you look, there’s something pretty.” She mixed and matched patterns and textures, including the Zo any drapery fabric; the stripe, amestitch, and geometric chair pillows; the terra cotta Loloi rug; and the green velvet bench.

“There’s a lot going on in that living room, but it all works because the colors are harmonious,” she says. “As long as you keep a consistent palette and balance the scale of the patterns, it will blend well in the end.”

THE ANNUAL LIST OF TOP ATTORNEYS

NORTH CAROLINA CHARLOTTE

2022

SELECTION PROCESS

Super Lawyers selects attorneys using a patented multiphase selection process.*

The objective is to create a credible, comprehensive and diverse listing of outstanding attorneys that can be used as a resource for attorneys and consumers searching for legal counsel. We limit the lawyer ratings to those who can be hired and retained by the public, i.e., lawyers in private practice and Legal Aid attorneys.

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Search for an attorney by practice area and location, and read features on attorneys selected to our lists.

Cooney, III, James P., Womble Bond Dickinson,

Charlotte

Culp, Heather W., Essex Richards, Charlotte

Davis, Edward B., Bell Davis & Pitt, Charlotte

Fialko, Christopher C., Fialko Law, Charlotte

Foster, Debra L., Debra L. Foster, Charlotte

Grier, III, Joseph W., Grier Wright Martinez,

Charlotte

Harrington, Robert E., Robinson Bradshaw,

Charlotte

Hatcher, J. Gregory, Hatcher Law Group, Charlotte

James, Jason B., Bell Davis & Pitt, Charlotte

King, Jr., C. Bailey, Bradley Arant Boult Cummings,

Charlotte

Kutrow, Bradley R., McGuireWoods, Charlotte

Largess, S. Luke, Tin Fulton Walker & Owen,

Charlotte

McDowell, Valecia M., Moore & Van Allen,

Charlotte Miller, Jr., John R., Rayburn Cooper & Durham,

Charlotte

Owen, C. Melissa, Tin Fulton Walker & Owen,

Charlotte

Powers, Bill, Powers Law Firm, Charlotte

Rayburn, Jr., C. Richard, Rayburn Cooper &

Durham, Charlotte

Richey, Alice Carmichael, Alexander Ricks,

Charlotte

Riopel, Mark D., Hamilton Stephens Steele +

Martin, Charlotte

Thompson, Glenn C., Hamilton Stephens Steele +

Martin, Charlotte

Van Kampen, Joshua R., Van Kampen Law,

Charlotte

Wester, John R., Robinson Bradshaw, Charlotte

White, Martin L., Johnston Allison & Hord,

Charlotte

Wright, III, David C., Robinson Bradshaw, Charlotte

Wyatt, III, James F., Wyatt & Blake, Charlotte

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Alternative Dispute Resolution ...................... S-3 Antitrust Litigation .......................................... S-3 Appellate ......................................................... S-3 Banking ............................................................ S-3 Bankruptcy: Business ...................................... S-3 Bankruptcy: Consumer.................................... S-3 Business Litigation .......................................... S-3 Business/Corporate ........................................ S-4 Civil Litigation: Defense .................................. S-5 Civil Litigation: Plaintiff ................................... S-5 Civil Rights ....................................................... S-5 Construction Litigation ................................... S-5 Creditor Debtor Rights .................................... S-6 Criminal Defense ............................................. S-6 Criminal Defense: DUI/DWI ............................ S-6 Criminal Defense: White Collar ...................... S-6 Elder Law ......................................................... S-6 Eminent Domain ............................................. S-6 Employee Benefits............................................S-7 Employment & Labor .......................................S-7 Employment Litigation: Defense .....................S-7 Employment Litigation: Plaintiff .....................S-7 Entertainment & Sports .................................. S-8 Environmental ................................................. S-8 Environmental Litigation ................................ S-8 Estate & Trust Litigation ................................. S-8 Estate Planning & Probate ............................. S-8 Family Law....................................................... S-9 General Litigation ...........................................S-10 Government Finance ......................................S-10 Health Care .....................................................S-10 Immigration .................................................... S-11 Insurance Coverage ........................................ S-11 Intellectual Property ...................................... S-11 Intellectual Property Litigation ...................... S-11 Land Use/Zoning ........................................... S-11 Mergers & Acquisitions .................................. S-11 Personal Injury General: Defense .................. S-11 Personal Injury General: Plaintiff ................... S-11 Personal Injury Medical Malpractice:

Defense ........................................................S-12 Personal Injury Medical Malpractice:

Plaintiff ........................................................S-12 Personal Injury Products: Defense ................S-12 Professional Liability: Defense ......................S-12 Real Estate .....................................................S-12 Securities & Corporate Finance .....................S-12 State, Local & Municipal ................................S-12 Tax...................................................................S-12 Workers’ Compensation .................................S-12

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BY PRIMARY AREA OF PRACTICE

The list was finalized as of July 13, 2021. Only attorneys who data verified with Super Lawyers for the current year are included on the list that follows. All current selections and any updates to the list (e.g., status changes or disqualifying events) will be reflected on superlawyers.com. Names and page numbers in RED indicate a profile on the specified page. Phone numbers are included only for attorneys with paid Super Lawyers or Rising Stars print advertisements.

ALTERNATIVE DISPUTE RESOLUTION

SUPER LAWYERS Dunn, Steve, Miles Mediation & Arbitration Services, Charlotte Hicks, Christopher A., Hicks Law, Charlotte Horn, III, Carl, Attorney at Law, Charlotte Owens, Jr., Raymond E., Higgins & Owens, Charlotte

ANTITRUST LITIGATION

Johnson, R. Keith, R. Keith Johnson, Stanley Martinez, Michael L., Grier Wright Martinez, Charlotte Miller, Jr., John R., Rayburn Cooper & Durham, Charlotte Pg. S-2 Parrish, Felton E., Alexander Ricks, Charlotte Schilli, David M., Robinson Bradshaw, Charlotte Thompson, Glenn C., Hamilton Stephens Steele + Martin, Charlotte Pg. S-2 Thompson, Judy D., JD Thompson Law, Charlotte Wright, A. Cotten, Grier Wright Martinez, Charlotte Wright, Richard S., Moon Wright & Houston, Charlotte

RISING STARS Lluberas, Luis M., Moore & Van Allen, Charlotte

BANKRUPTCY: CONSUMER

SUPER LAWYERS Badger, David R., David R. Badger, Charlotte Cordes, Stacy C., Cordes Law, Charlotte Culp, Heather W., Essex Richards, Charlotte Pg. S-2 Love, Jr., Kenneth, Karrenstein and Love, Matthews

SUPER LAWYERS Moore, III, Lawrence C., Robinson Bradshaw, Charlotte

APPELLATE

SUPER LAWYERS Jones, M. Duane, Hedrick Gardner Kincheloe & Garofalo, Charlotte Odom, III, Preston O., James McElroy & Diehl, Charlotte

RISING STARS Hinman, Travis, Robinson Bradshaw, Charlotte

BANKING

SUPER LAWYERS Robinson, S. Graham, Robinson Bradshaw, Charlotte

RISING STARS Sides, Matt, Troutman Pepper Hamilton Sanders, Charlotte

BANKRUPTCY: BUSINESS

SUPER LAWYERS Cooper, Langdon McIlroy, Mullen Holland & Cooper, Gastonia Cox, Jr., Robert A., Hamilton Stephens Steele + Martin, Charlotte Durham, Albert F., Rayburn Cooper & Durham, Charlotte Eades, David L., Moore & Van Allen, Charlotte Esser, IV, William L., Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein, Charlotte Grier, III, Joseph W., Grier Wright Martinez, Charlotte Pg. S-2 Houston, Andrew T., Moon Wright & Houston, Charlotte

BUSINESS LITIGATION

SUPER LAWYERS Adams, Michael G., Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein, Charlotte Bridgmon, Charles J., Bray & Long, Charlotte Brown, A. Todd, Hunton Andrews Kurth, Charlotte Buchan, Jr., Jonathan E., Essex Richards, Charlotte Capitano, Todd, Erwin Capitano & Moss, Charlotte Chase, Nathan, Robinson Bradshaw, Charlotte Davis, Cary B., Robinson Bradshaw, Charlotte Davis, Edward B., Bell Davis & Pitt, Charlotte Pg. S-2 Derr, Tricia Morvan, Lincoln Derr, Charlotte Doerr, Adam K., Robinson Bradshaw, Charlotte Durham, Joshua B., Bell Davis & Pitt, Charlotte Edwards, Zipporah B., Offit Kurman, Charlotte Erwin, Lex M., Erwin Capitano & Moss, Charlotte Evans, Jason D., Troutman Pepper Hamilton Sanders, Charlotte Fennell, Richard B., James McElroy & Diehl, Charlotte Fuller, III, Robert W., Robinson Bradshaw, Charlotte Fulton, Ross R., Rayburn Cooper & Durham, Charlotte Gardner, Jared E., Gardner Skelton, Charlotte Gibson, Ronald L., Ruff Bond Cobb Wade & Bethune, Charlotte Green, Bonnie K., The Green Firm, Charlotte Hardymon, Glen K., Rayburn Cooper & Durham, Charlotte Harrington, Robert E., Robinson Bradshaw, Charlotte Pg. S-2 Hennessey, IV, Edward F., Robinson Bradshaw, Charlotte Henriques, Mark P., Womble Bond Dickinson, Charlotte

BUSINESS LITIGATION SUPER LAWYERS CONT’D FROM PAGE S-3

Higgins, Sara “Sally” W., Higgins & Owens, Charlotte Houck, Pearlynn G., Robinson Bradshaw, Charlotte James, Jason B., Bell Davis & Pitt, Charlotte Pg. S-2 Jarrell, Douglas M., Robinson Bradshaw, Charlotte King, Jr., C. Bailey, Bradley Arant Boult Cummings, Charlotte Pg. S-2 Krisko, Jonathan C., Robinson Bradshaw, Charlotte Kutny, Mark R., Hamilton Stephens Steele + Martin, Charlotte Kutrow, Bradley R., McGuireWoods, Charlotte Pg. S-2 Long, Jeffrey A., Bray & Long, Charlotte Lord, Harrison A., Lord Law Firm, Charlotte Marcus, Robert R., Bradley Arant Boult Cummings, Charlotte Mauney, Gary V., Mauney, Charlotte, 704-562-8442 McDowell, Valecia M., Moore & Van Allen, Charlotte Pg. S-2 McLoughlin, Jr., James P., Moore & Van Allen, Charlotte Mehta, Kiran H., Troutman Pepper Hamilton Sanders, Charlotte Merritt, Mark W., Robinson Bradshaw, Charlotte Moss, Jr., Joseph W., Erwin Capitano & Moss, Charlotte Nebrig, Mark A., Moore & Van Allen, Charlotte Ogburn, III, Thomas L., Poyner Spruill, Charlotte Richey, Alice Carmichael, Alexander Ricks, Charlotte Pg. S-2 Ross, Adam L., James McElroy & Diehl, Charlotte Spears, Harold C., Caudle & Spears, Charlotte Welch, Gary J., Johnston Allison & Hord, Charlotte Wester, John R., Robinson Bradshaw, Charlotte Pg. S-2 White, Martin L., Johnston Allison & Hord, Charlotte Pg. S-2 Wilder, Jr., Raboteau, Wilder Pantazis Law Group, Charlotte Wood, Jr., Fred M., Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough, Charlotte Wright, III, David C., Robinson Bradshaw, Charlotte Pg. S-2

RISING STARS Chase, Emma M., Johnston Allison & Hord, Charlotte Church, Brian L., Robinson Bradshaw, Charlotte Farley, William J., Troutman Pepper Hamilton Sanders, Charlotte Ferguson, Russ, Womble Bond Dickinson, Charlotte Garber, Lucas D., Shumaker Loop & Kendrick, Charlotte Garella, Kiel, Garella Law, Charlotte Holtgrewe, Matthew M., Erwin Capitano & Moss, Charlotte Hutchins, Sarah Fulton, Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein, Charlotte Krueger-Andes, Matthew W., Fox Rothschild, Charlotte McTier, Ty, Redding Jones, Charlotte Nitto, Amanda Pickens, Robinson Bradshaw, Charlotte Peacock, Tyler B., Gardner Skelton, Charlotte Raab, Christopher P., Caudle & Spears, Charlotte Raja, Nader S., Moore & Van Allen, Charlotte Shook, Benjamin E., Moore & Van Allen, Charlotte Staples, Christian H., Shumaker Loop & Kendrick, Charlotte Vennum, Liz, Hull & Chandler, Charlotte, 704-375-8488 Pg. S-5

BUSINESS/CORPORATE

SUPER LAWYERS Gilbert, Heath, Baucom Claytor Benton Morgan & Wood, Charlotte Hannum, Christopher E., Culp Elliott & Carpenter, Charlotte, 704-973-5320 Hull, Nathan Myers, Hull & Chandler, Charlotte, 704-375-8488 Pg. S-5 Kean, Warren P., Shumaker Loop & Kendrick, Charlotte Rayburn, Jr., C. Richard, Rayburn Cooper & Durham, Charlotte Pg. S-2 Thurman, William D., Thurman Wilson Boutwell & Galvin, Charlotte

RISING STARS Agans, Justin, Spengler Agans Bradley, Charlotte

Bradley, Daniel Vincent, Spengler Agans Bradley, Charlotte Kliebert, Kate, Kliebert Law, Charlotte Rugani, David, Johnston Allison & Hord, Charlotte Temple, Jordan D., Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein, Charlotte

CIVIL LITIGATION: DEFENSE

SUPER LAWYERS Bolster, Jeffrey S., Bolster Rogers, Charlotte Boutwell, John D., Thurman Wilson Boutwell & Galvin, Charlotte Garofalo, Mel J., Hedrick Gardner Kincheloe & Garofalo, Charlotte Stiles, Ned A., Stiles Byrum & Horne, Charlotte

RISING STARS Litwak, Nancy, Rosenwood Rose & Litwak, Charlotte Majestro, Anna, Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough, Charlotte Nguyen Worthy, Mica, Cranfill Sumner, Charlotte Stull, Tyler A., Hedrick Gardner Kincheloe & Garofalo, Charlotte Thomas, Lee M., Martineau King, Charlotte, 704-247-8520 Walsh, Austin R., Hedrick Gardner Kincheloe & Garofalo, Charlotte

CIVIL LITIGATION: PLAINTIFF

RISING STARS Caudill, Bo, Weaver Bennett & Bland, Matthews Conner, Brittany, DeVore Acton & Stafford, Charlotte Hocutt, Adam, Dozier Miller Law Group, Charlotte

CIVIL RIGHTS

RISING STARS Brown, Alesha, Justice In Action Law Center, Charlotte Chambers, Cheyenne N., Tin Fulton Walker & Owen, Charlotte Littlejohn, Jr., Micheal L., Littlejohn Law, Charlotte

CONSTRUCTION LITIGATION

SUPER LAWYERS Ahlum, Greg C., Johnston Allison & Hord, Charlotte Burchette, Robert L., Johnston Allison & Hord, Charlotte Carson, B. David, Johnston Allison & Hord, Charlotte Finegan, Daniel J., Hamilton Stephens Steele + Martin, Charlotte Hamilton, David B., Hamilton Stephens Steele + Martin, Charlotte James, Tracy Thompson, Hamilton Stephens Steele + Martin, Charlotte Lautenschlager, Kenneth T., Johnston Allison & Hord, Charlotte Lax, Andrew W., Forrest Firm, Charlotte Martin, Ben, Hamilton Stephens Steele + Martin, Charlotte Rose, Whitaker Boykin, Rosenwood Rose & Litwak, Charlotte Rosenwood, Erik M., Rosenwood Rose & Litwak, Charlotte Skufca, Ronald A., Skufca Law, Charlotte, 704-376-3030 Pg. S-2

RISING STARS Bimbo, Steven Allen, Smith Terry & Johnson, Charlotte Burchette, Carl J., Rosenwood Rose & Litwak, Charlotte Correll, Jr., B. Alexander, Caudle & Spears, Charlotte Dantinne, Kenneth, Hamilton Stephens Steele + Martin, Charlotte Jesson, Edward A., Jesson & Rains, Charlotte Kirk, Kimberly J., Johnston Allison & Hord, Charlotte Poplin, Ashlee, Cotney, Charlotte Robertson, Jr., R. Lee, Robertson & Associates, Charlotte Trimmer, Daniel S., Skufca Law, Charlotte, 704-376-3030 Pg. S-2

CONTINUED ON PAGE S-6

CREDITOR DEBTOR RIGHTS

SUPER LAWYERS Tarr, Andrew W.J., Robinson Bradshaw, Charlotte

CRIMINAL DEFENSE

SUPER LAWYERS Corbett, III, Robert Kelly, The Corbett Law Firm, Charlotte Davis, James A., Davis and Davis, Salisbury, 704-639-1900 Foster, Jr., Mark P., Foster Law Offices, Charlotte Greene, Michael J., Goodman Carr Laughrun Levine & Greene, Charlotte Heroy, W. Rob, Goodman Carr Laughrun Levine & Greene, Charlotte Pfeiffer, Sonya, Rudolf Widenhouse, Charlotte Randall, IV, Samuel J., Randall & Stump, Charlotte Rawls, III, Eben T., Rawls Scheer Clary & Mingo, Charlotte Scheer, Anthony G., Rawls Scheer Clary & Mingo, Charlotte Tin, Noell P., Tin Fulton Walker & Owen, Charlotte

RISING STARS Ames, Ryan, SeiferFlatow, Charlotte, 704-512-0606 Pg. S-8 Davis-Woods, Salena J., Davis Woods Law, Charlotte Mills, Miranda, Roberts Law Group, Charlotte Parton, Corey V., Parton Law, Charlotte Remington, K. Brandon, Remington & Dixon, Charlotte Stowe, Ryan, Stowe Law Firm, Salisbury Stump, Ryan, Randall & Stump, Charlotte Williams, Lance, Minick Law, Charlotte

CRIMINAL DEFENSE: DUI/DWI

SUPER LAWYERS Laughrun, II, George V., Goodman Carr Laughrun Levine & Greene, Charlotte Powers, Bill, Powers Law Firm, Charlotte, 704-342-4357 Pg. S-2

RISING STARS Lee, Aaron, Law Office of Aaron R. Lee, Huntersville Olsinski, Justin C., The Olsinski Law Firm, Charlotte Shook II, Ronald, The Law Offices of Ronald J. Shook, Gastonia

CRIMINAL DEFENSE: WHITE COLLAR

SUPER LAWYERS Blake, Jr., Robert A., Wyatt & Blake, Charlotte Brackett, Jr., Martin L., Robinson Bradshaw, Charlotte Cogdell, Jr., Harold W., The Law Offices of Harold Cogdell Jr., Charlotte Cooney, III, James P., Womble Bond Dickinson, Charlotte Pg. S-2 Cromwell, Brian S., Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein, Charlotte

Fialko, Christopher C., Fialko Law, Charlotte Pg. S-2 Glaser, Jr., Richard S., Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein, Charlotte Owen, C. Melissa, Tin Fulton Walker & Owen, Charlotte Pg. S-2 Rauscher, Claire J., Womble Bond Dickinson, Charlotte

Rudolf, David S., Rudolf Widenhouse, Charlotte Wyatt, III, James F., Wyatt & Blake, Charlotte Pg. S-2

ELDER LAW

RISING STARS Engel, Nicki, Collins Elder Law Group, Charlotte

EMINENT DOMAIN

SUPER LAWYERS Odom, Jr., Thomas L. (Tommy), The Odom Firm, Charlotte

RISING STARS Murray, David W., The Odom Firm, Charlotte

Kudos to Our 2022 Super Lawyers and Rising Stars Honorees

Members of Our Complex LitigationTeam

Gary W. Jackson Hoyt G.Tessener

ChrisBagley

Selected to Rising Stars Consumer Law Gary Jackson

Selected to Super Lawyers Six categories; including Class Actions and Mass Torts HoytTessener

Selected to Super Lawyers Six categories; including Personal Injury - General

Our litigators have 200+trialverdicts intheircombined careers and 10recoveries ofatleast $1millionsince 2019.1

WE CAN ADVISE ON:

Catastrophic Injuries Construction Defects Business Disputes Accounting, Medical, and Legal Malpractice Defamation Sexual Abuse Claims Civil Rights Class Actions Unfair and Deceptive Trade Practices Antitrust Cases Defective Drugs and Products Whistleblower (Qui Tam) Wrongful Death Bad Faith Insurance Claims Employment Rights and Disputes Environmental Contamination Nursing Home Abuse

866.900.7078 | www.farrin.com

EMPLOYEE BENEFITS

SUPER LAWYERS Adams, II, Norris A., Essex Richards, Charlotte Coffin, Jonathan T., Johnston Allison & Hord, Charlotte Colbert, Lois, Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton, Charlotte Tyson, Bryan, Marcellino & Tyson, Charlotte

RISING STARS Matesic, Rachel, The Sasser Law Firm, Charlotte Walton, Caitlin, Essex Richards, Charlotte

EMPLOYMENT & LABOR

SUPER LAWYERS Adams, III, G. Bryan, Van Hoy Reutlinger Adams & Pierce, Charlotte Adams, Julie K., FordHarrison, Charlotte Edwards, Bartina L., The Law Office of Bartina Edwards, Charlotte Everett, Kerry B., Everett Law, Charlotte Finlon, Kristen E., Essex Richards, Charlotte Flatow, Mathew E., SeiferFlatow, Charlotte, 704-512-0606 Pg. S-8 Fosbinder, Julie H., Fosbinder Law Office, Charlotte Gardner, Nicole L., Gardner Skelton, Charlotte Gustafson, Marc E., Bell Davis & Pitt, Charlotte Huber, Susan M., Robinson Bradshaw, Charlotte Huckert, Tamara L., Strianese Huckert, Charlotte Hughes, N. Renee, Ascension Law, Charlotte Johnson, Charles E., Robinson Bradshaw, Charlotte Kelly, Patrick E., Johnston Allison & Hord, Charlotte Kromer, Sarah J., Sarah J. Kromer, Charlotte Maloney, Margaret B., Maloney Law & Associates, Charlotte McGinnis, Karin M., Moore & Van Allen, Charlotte Noble, Laura L., The Noble Law, Charlotte Rainey, Richard L., Womble Bond Dickinson, Charlotte Van Kampen, Joshua R., Van Kampen Law, Charlotte, 704-247-3245 Pg. S-2 Vincent-Hamacher, Angelique R., Robinson Bradshaw, Charlotte Wood, Stacy K., Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein, Charlotte Wright, Jr., Julian H., Robinson Bradshaw, Charlotte

RISING STARS Adams, Joshua, Jackson Lewis, Charlotte Burchette, Kathleen D., Johnston Allison & Hord, Charlotte Herrmann, Sean F., Herrmann & Murphy, Charlotte Hinson, Philip A., Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith, Charlotte Negus, Sarah H., Moore & Van Allen, Charlotte Summey, Tory, Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein, Charlotte

EMPLOYMENT LITIGATION: DEFENSE

RISING STARS Cleys, Kevin, Littler Mendelson, Charlotte Lewis, Gwendolyn W., Lincoln Derr, Charlotte Mullikin (née King), Mary Fletcher, Johnston Allison & Hord, Charlotte Wooten, Virginia, Cranfill Sumner, Charlotte

EMPLOYMENT LITIGATION: PLAINTIFF

SUPER LAWYERS Elliot, R. Michael, Elliot Morgan Parsonage, Charlotte Fuller, Trevor M., The Fuller Law Firm, Charlotte, 980-326-5200 Pg. S-9 Gresham, John W., Tin Fulton Walker & Owen, Charlotte Largess, S. Luke, Tin Fulton Walker & Owen, Charlotte Pg. S-2 Sharpe, Jenny L., J Sharpe, Charlotte

RISING STARS Henson, Andrew, Troutman Pepper Hamilton Sanders, Charlotte Lyon, Daniel C., Elliot Morgan Parsonage, Charlotte

CONTINUED ON PAGE S-8

EMPLOYMENT LITIGATION: PLAINTIFF RISING STARS CONT’D FROM PAGE S-7

Murphy, Kevin P., Herrmann & Murphy, Charlotte Spyker, Jennifer D., Maloney Law & Associates, Charlotte

ENTERTAINMENT & SPORTS

SUPER LAWYERS Caldwell, Jr., Stokely G., Robinson Bradshaw, Charlotte Zanoni, Melinda Morris, Apollo Sports & Entertainment Law Group, Charlotte, 704-334-7741 Pg. S-10

RISING STARS Alston, Alonzo M., McAlpine, Charlotte

ENVIRONMENTAL

SUPER LAWYERS Griffin, III, Thomas N., Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein, Charlotte

RISING STARS Sherlock, Emily S., Robinson Bradshaw, Charlotte

ENVIRONMENTAL LITIGATION

RISING STARS Romanzo, Melissa, Hunton Andrews Kurth, Charlotte

ESTATE & TRUST LITIGATION

SUPER LAWYERS Anderson, Michael F., Anderson Law Firm, Charlotte Chandler, Lynn F., Shumaker Loop & Kendrick, Charlotte Lindley, Trey, Lindley Law, Charlotte

RISING STARS Munn, Satie, Lindley Law, Charlotte

ESTATE PLANNING & PROBATE

SUPER LAWYERS Carpenter, John J. (Jody), Culp Elliott & Carpenter, Charlotte, 704-973-5343 Daniel, Stephanie C., Shumaker Loop & Kendrick, Charlotte Davies, Janice L., Davies Law, Charlotte Farris, Ray S., Johnston Allison & Hord, Charlotte Fenninger, Cynthia T., Orsbon & Fenninger, Charlotte Foster, Debra L., Debra L. Foster, Charlotte Pg. S-2 Griggs, Julie Zydron, Robinson Bradshaw, Charlotte Hattenhauer, Paul M., Culp Elliott & Carpenter, Charlotte, 704-973-5336 Henninger, Jr., Joseph B. (Josh), Joseph B. Henninger, Charlotte Hickmon, James E., North Carolina Estate Planning & Fiduciary Law, Charlotte Holding, Jr., Graham D., Robinson Bradshaw, Charlotte Jones, Christopher J.C., Moore & Van Allen, Charlotte King, Carl L., Culp Elliott & Carpenter, Charlotte, 704-973-5337 Lewis, David T., Johnston Allison & Hord, Charlotte McBryde, Neill G., Moore & Van Allen, Charlotte Nesbitt, Andrew L., Nesbitt Law, Charlotte Norvell, Holly B., Johnston Allison & Hord, Charlotte Oesterreich, Tanya N., Oesterreich Law, Concord Perrin, Christian L., Christian L. Perrin, Charlotte Royal, Heidi E., Heidi E. Royal Law, Charlotte Shealy, J. Darrell, Johnston Allison & Hord, Charlotte Siler, N. Lucille (Lucy), Johnston Allison & Hord, Charlotte Van Hoy, Bradley T., Moore & Van Allen, Charlotte

RISING STARS Dean, Benjamin E., Culp Elliott & Carpenter, Charlotte, 704-372-6322 Feller, Danielle R., Daly Mills Family Law, Statesville Forneris, John, Robinson Bradshaw, Charlotte Jaffa, Brooks, Cranford Buckley Schultze Tomchin Allen & Buie, Charlotte Long, Jr., John J., Stewart Law, Charlotte

Morris, Jeffery J., Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein, Charlotte Nodar, Danielle, Jesson & Rains, Charlotte Patterson, Erin B., Erin Patterson Law, Charlotte Rains Jesson, Kelly, Jesson & Rains, Charlotte Reed, Amanda, The Law Office of Amanda M. Reed, Concord

FAMILY LAW

SUPER LAWYERS Arnold, Matthew R., Arnold & Smith, Charlotte Blair, Jr., Robert S., Essex Richards, Charlotte Burt, Laura B., Wofford Burt, Charlotte DeJesse, Jr., Paul A., Hatcher Law Group, Charlotte Dilman, Deborah L., Southpark Family Law, Charlotte Feit, Jonathan, James McElroy & Diehl, Charlotte Gunter, Dorian H., Sellers Ayers Dortch & Lyons, Charlotte Hatcher, J. Gregory, Hatcher Law Group, Charlotte Pg. S-2 King, Irene P., King Collaborative Family Law, Charlotte Lehnhardt, Dana B., Lehnhardt Price Family Law, Monroe Lewis, Lauren V., Essex Richards, Charlotte Morris, Gena G., James McElroy & Diehl, Charlotte Patterson, Rhonda L., The Patterson Law Office, Charlotte Riopel, Mark D., Hamilton Stephens Steele + Martin, Charlotte Pg. S-2 Self, David K., Family Law and Mediation, Cornelius Sellers, Leigh B., Touchstone Family Law, Charlotte Smith, Tonya Graser, GraserSmith, Charlotte, 704-626-6795 Pg. S-11 Sodoma, Nicole Heiden, Sodoma Law, Charlotte Soni, Ketan, Soni Brendle, Charlotte Stephens, Richard D., Dozier Miller Law Group, Charlotte Stepp, Donna, Stepp Law Group, Monroe Trosch, Eric C., Conrad Trosch & Kemmy, Charlotte Watts, Rebecca, Collins Family Law Group, Monroe, 704-289-3250 Pg. S-10 Webb, Richard M., Jones Childers Donaldson & Webb, Mooresville

RISING STARS Adkins, Christopher, Adkins Law, Huntersville Blood, Anna, Blood Law, Waxhaw Bolling, Tiffany J., Law Office of Tiffany J. Bolling, Charlotte Bonomini, Ashley, Sodoma Law, Cornelius Clark, Sarah R., Skufca Law, Charlotte, 704-376-3030 Pg. S-2 Crowder, Ashley A., Arnold & Smith, Charlotte Cubit, Amanda, Dozier Miller Law Group, Charlotte Dixon, Jennifer K., Remington & Dixon, Charlotte Easterling, Lindsey, Easterling Law, Matthews Faircloth, Candace S., Collins Family Law Group, Monroe, 704-286-6881 Pg. S-10 Foard, Dominique (Missy), SeiferFlatow, Charlotte, 704-512-0606 Pg. S-8 Foley, Ashley C., Cordes Law, Charlotte Frost, Kyle A., Offit Kurman, Charlotte Gajewski, Chelsea, Sodoma Law, Charlotte Garon, Danielle, Hatcher Law Group, Charlotte Gaudio, Kaylan, Collins Family Law Group, Monroe, 704-286-6881 Pg. S-10 Gilbert, Katie, Rech Law, Charlotte Griffin, Jordan Marie, Leitner Bragg & Griffin, Monroe Guardipee, Stephen, Hatcher Law Group, Charlotte Hamrick, Rachel Rogers, Tom Bush Law Group, Charlotte Harrawood, Tara A., Marcellino & Tyson, Charlotte Hefner, Penelope L., Sodoma Law, Monroe Holladay, Brett, Miller Bowles Cushing, Charlotte Horton, P. Doughton, Sodoma Law, Charlotte Houston, Christine, Collins Family Law Group, Monroe, 704-286-6881 Pg. S-10 Keenan, Jacqueline, Adkins Law, Huntersville Kirby Stage, Julia, Marcellino & Tyson, Charlotte Krueger-Andes, Carolyn, Hamilton Stephens Steele + Martin, Charlotte Larson, Dara Duncan, Duncan Larson Law, Charlotte

CONTINUED ON PAGE S-10

At Collins Family Law Group, we understand family law matters are sensitive in nature and encompass complex legal issues. That is why we strive to utilize our extensive legal knowledge in combination with compassion and unwavering dedication to help clients achieve positive outcomes and successfully navigate the legal process.

It is our goal to guide clients through these difficult times by providing them with the very best legal services to protect their futures.

With more than 165 years of combined legal experience, the attorneys at Collins Family Law Group are dedicated to serving North and South Carolina in all areas of family law and estate planning, including divorce, child custody, alimony, wills & trusts, probate, appeals, and much more.

Our team is comprised of 14 talented family law and estate planning attorneys.

REBECCA WATTS*

ISLA TABRIZI** CANDACE S. FAIRCLOTH**

KAYLAN GAUDIO** CHRISTINE HOUSTON**

*Super Lawyers Honoree **Rising Stars Honoree

FAMILY LAW RISING STARS CONT’D FROM PAGE S-9

Lawrence, Rebecca J., Freedom Law | North Carolina, Charlotte LeBlanc, Anna Gray, Offit Kurman, Charlotte LeBlanc, Kyle W., Hamilton Stephens Steele + Martin, Charlotte Marquez, Andria D., Marcellino & Tyson, Charlotte McCleary, David M., Dozier Miller Law Group, Charlotte McCrary, Dustin S., The Law Office of Dustin S. McCrary, Statesville Melvin, Christine M., Hatcher Law Group, Charlotte Meredith, Eric S., Jetton & Meredith, Charlotte, 704-333-1114 Pg. S-12

ERIC S. MEREDITH

JETTON & MEREDITH, PLLC Charlotte • 704-333-1114 www.jettonmeredithlaw.com

Moen, Lynna, Moen Legal Counsel, Charlotte Moore, Jennifer P., Marcellino & Tyson, Charlotte Routh, Kelly R., Routh Law, Charlotte Smith, Sherrie C., Helms Robison Lee & Bennett, Monroe Stacy, Meg, Daly Mills Family Law, Statesville Tabrizi, Isla, Collins Family Law Group, Monroe, 704-289-3250 Pg. S-10 Van Vynckt, Meghan A., Cordes Law, Charlotte Viera, Theresa, Modern Legal, Charlotte Voss, Alexa M., James McElroy & Diehl, Charlotte Walle, Danielle Jessica, Marcellino & Tyson, Charlotte Watkins, Angela M., Leitner Bragg & Griffin, Monroe Williams, Leigh Anne, Southpark Family Law, Charlotte Willink, Mallory A., Conrad Trosch & Kemmy, Charlotte Wright, Amanda M., James McElroy & Diehl, Charlotte Yates, Kathryn E., Easterling Law, Matthews

GENERAL LITIGATION

SUPER LAWYERS Hinson, Jr., Edward T., James McElroy & Diehl, Charlotte Loebsack, Chris, Loebsack & Brownlee, Charlotte Martineau, Elizabeth A., Martineau King, Charlotte, 704-247-8520

GOVERNMENT FINANCE

SUPER LAWYERS Robertson, Allen K., Robinson Bradshaw, Charlotte

NORTH CAROLINA: DILWORTH • WEDDINGTON • MONROE • BALLANTYNE • LAKE NORMAN SOUTH CAROLINA: FORT MILL • CHARLESTON PH: (704) 289-3250 | FX: (704) 625-7451

collinsfamilylaw.com

HEALTH CARE

IMMIGRATION

SUPER LAWYERS Garfinkel, Steven H., Garfinkel Immigration Law Firm, Charlotte Gordon, Alan S., Gardner Gordon, Charlotte Little, Hannah F., Garfinkel Immigration Law Firm, Charlotte Miller, George N., Dozier Miller Law Group, Charlotte

RISING STARS Molner, Colleen F., Garfinkel Immigration Law Firm, Charlotte Snyder, Benjamin, Charotte Immigration Law Firm, Charlotte, 704-944-3239 Pg. S-12 Thie, Douglas, Clawson and Staubes, Charlotte

INSURANCE COVERAGE

SUPER LAWYERS DeGeorge, R. Steven, Robinson Bradshaw, Charlotte

RISING STARS Campbell, Christopher, McAngus Goudelock & Courie, Charlotte Fulton, Joseph W., Martineau King, Charlotte, 704-247-8533

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

SUPER LAWYERS Ladenheim, Matthew J., Trego Hines & Ladenheim, Huntersville McDermott, Rick, McDermott IP Law, Charlotte Nipp, John C., Additon Pendleton & Witherspoon, Monroe Schwartz, Jeffrey J., Schwartz Law Firm, Charlotte

RISING STARS Clements, Carla, Womble Bond Dickinson, Charlotte Harasimowicz, Rebeca Echevarria, Moore & Van Allen, Charlotte

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY LITIGATION

SUPER LAWYERS Allan, Albert P., Allan IP Litigation, Charlotte Grimes, J. Douglas, Bradley Arant Boult Cummings, Charlotte Higgins, John P., John Higgins Law, Charlotte Sneed, Jason M., Sneed, Davidson

LAND USE/ZONING MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS

SUPER LAWYERS Morrice, John A., Johnston Allison & Hord, Charlotte

RISING STARS Harasimowicz, Craig, Moore & Van Allen, Charlotte Litwak, Brian, Robinson Bradshaw, Charlotte Sample, Wade B., Moore & Van Allen, Charlotte

PERSONAL INJURY GENERAL: DEFENSE

RISING STARS Campbell, Clay A., Marcellino & Tyson, Charlotte

PERSONAL INJURY GENERAL: PLAINTIFF

SUPER LAWYERS Anderson, Richard L., Sumwalt Anderson Law Firm, Charlotte Chandler, R. Michael, Hull & Chandler, Charlotte, 704-375-8488 Pg. S-5 Connette, III, Edward G., Essex Richards, Charlotte DeVore, III, Fred W., DeVore Acton & Stafford, Charlotte Dressler, Brett, Ayers Whitlow & Dressler, Charlotte Goldfarb, William K., Law Offices of William K. Goldfarb, Monroe Grimes, Elizabeth G., Grimes Yeoman, Mooresville Groninger, Ann, Johnson & Groninger, Charlotte Heroy, J. Alexander, James McElroy & Diehl, Charlotte Kallianos, Chris M., Warren & Kallianos, Charlotte Knox, H. Edward, Knox Law Center, Denver Mingo, Amanda A., Rawls Scheer Clary & Mingo, Charlotte Monnett III, Charles G., Charles G. Monnett III & Associates, Charlotte Moore, Jon R., Brown Moore & Associates, Charlotte Robinson, William C., Robinson Elliott & Smith, Charlotte Warren, C. Jeff, Warren & Kallianos, Charlotte

RISING STARS Adler, Derek P., DeVore Acton & Stafford, Charlotte Anderson, Nicholas, Curcio Anderson Law, Matthews Baddour, Helen S., Johnson & Groninger, Charlotte Brooks, Whitney, The Olive Law Firm, Charlotte Clayton, Sean, Karney Law Firm, Charlotte DeVore, IV, F. William, DeVore Acton & Stafford, Charlotte Harman, Michael C., Harman Law, Huntersville Mann, Courtney, Law Office of W. Daniel Grist, Charlotte

CONTINUED ON PAGE S-12

TONYA GRASER SMITH

FAMILY LAW

Selected to Super Lawyers

Tonya Graser Smith is a North Carolina board-certified specialist in Family Law and Founder of GraserSmith, PLLC. Tonya brings more than a decade of family law experience, a steady presence and a strong desire to help clients through one of their most difficult chapters with grace, peace and integrity. Tonya’s focus is to be a steadfast advocate for everyone of her clients. Tonya listens, counsels and commits to exceptional representation every step of the way. Tonya recognizes each client’s journey is unique, and the legal service and support provided must be specialized. Divorce is not simple. Family matters are not simple. Tonya provides her clients with expertise when they need it most.

GRASERSMITH, PLLC

223 East Blvd., Charlotte, NC 28203 PH: (704) 626-6795 | Tonya@grasersmith.com

grasersmith.com

PERSONAL INJURY RISING STARS CONT’D FROM PAGE S-11

Pahlke, Paige L., Brown Moore & Associates, Charlotte Sheriff, Timothy A., Crumley Roberts, Charlotte Springs, Molly, Springs Law, Charlotte Woodyard, Alex, Law Offices of William K. Goldfarb, Monroe

PERSONAL INJURY MEDICAL MALPRACTICE: DEFENSE

SUPER LAWYERS Stevenson, Scott M., Shumaker Loop & Kendrick, Charlotte

RISING STARS Barfield, Timaura, Shumaker Loop & Kendrick, Charlotte Reynolds, Terence S., Shumaker Loop & Kendrick, Charlotte

PERSONAL INJURY MEDICAL MALPRACTICE: PLAINTIFF

SUPER LAWYERS Brown, R. Kent, Brown Moore & Associates, Charlotte Elam, William H., Elam & Rousseaux, Charlotte, 704-343-0000 Pg. S-4 McGee, Sam, Tin Fulton Walker & Owen, Charlotte Mitchell, Ronnie M., The Mitchell Law Group, Charlotte Stafford, Troy J., DeVore Acton & Stafford, Charlotte

RISING STARS Berthold, Matthew C., Charles G. Monnett III & Associates, Charlotte

PERSONAL INJURY PRODUCTS: DEFENSE

SUPER LAWYERS Meckler, Steven A., Shumaker Loop & Kendrick, Charlotte

PROFESSIONAL LIABILITY: DEFENSE

SUPER LAWYERS Holmes, Jr., Harold D. “Chip”, Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein, Charlotte

RISING STARS Stacy, Megan M., Shumaker Loop & Kendrick, Charlotte

REAL ESTATE

SUPER LAWYERS Arado, Frank E., Katten Muchin Rosenman, Charlotte Buben, Jr., John R., Johnston Allison & Hord, Charlotte Efird, Scott, St. Amand & Efird, Charlotte Ellis, Benjamin H., Culp Elliott & Carpenter, Charlotte, 704-973-5326 Fisher, Jr., Walter D., Troutman Pepper Hamilton Sanders, Charlotte Goldberg, Jon, Alexander Ricks, Charlotte McDermott, Gary T., McDermott Law, Waxhaw Merlin, Daniel A., Alexander Ricks, Charlotte Sink, Caroline Wannamaker, Robinson Bradshaw, Charlotte Sistrunk III, George W., Hamilton Stephens Steele + Martin, Charlotte

RISING STARS Faircloth, Randall W., Regent Law, Charlotte Hanson, Mark J., Alexander Ricks, Charlotte Hodge, Will, McMillan, Charlotte Ihrie, J. Parker, King & Spalding, Charlotte Mufale, Amber N., McMillan, Charlotte O’Brien, Simon John, Bray & Long, Charlotte Sawyer, Sarah, Hamilton Stephens Steele + Martin, Charlotte

SECURITIES & CORPORATE FINANCE

SUPER LAWYERS Bryant, Patrick S., Robinson Bradshaw, Charlotte

RISING STARS Zajac, Jared, King & Spalding, Charlotte

STATE, LOCAL & MUNICIPAL

SUPER LAWYERS Keeton, Lori R., The Law Offices of Lori Keeton, Charlotte

TAX

SUPER LAWYERS Culp, Jr., William R., Culp Elliott & Carpenter, Charlotte, 704-372-6322 Elliott, Jr., W. Curtis, Culp Elliott & Carpenter, Charlotte, 704-973-5328 Horowitz, Steve C., Ascension Law, Charlotte Lincoln, Erik C., Lincoln, Charlotte

RISING STARS Buckner, Elizabeth, Moore & Van Allen, Charlotte

WORKERS’ COMPENSATION

SUPER LAWYERS Bernanke, Seth M., Law Office of Seth M. Bernanke, Charlotte Bollinger, Jr., Bobby L., The Bollinger Law Firm, Charlotte Kadis, Jeffrey A., Hedrick Gardner Kincheloe & Garofalo, Charlotte Pantazis, Annemarie, Wilder Pantazis Law Group, Charlotte Shankle, Margaret, Shankle Law Firm, Charlotte Sumner, H. Randolph, Mullen Holland & Cooper, Gastonia Sumwalt, Mark T., Sumwalt Anderson Law Firm, Charlotte Sumwalt, Vernon, The Sumwalt Group , Charlotte Ussery, Andrew R., McAngus Goudelock & Courie, Charlotte

RISING STARS Ayers, Christian, Ayers Whitlow & Dressler, Charlotte Hedgepeth, Michael F., Hedrick Gardner Kincheloe & Garofalo, Charlotte Mehta, Viral V., Mehta & McConnell, Charlotte Simmons, Jerri J., Cranfill Sumner, Charlotte Spake, Marcus, Stewart Law Offices, Charlotte Walker, Lauren, Sumwalt Anderson Law Firm, Charlotte

SORTED ALPHABETICALLY

Selected to Rising Stars ERIC S. MEREDITH

JETTON & MEREDITH, PLLC

216 North McDowell Street Suite 110 Charlotte, NC 28204 Tel: 704-333-1114 Fax: 704-335-0448 ericmeredith@jettonmeredithlaw.com www.jettonmeredithlaw.com

FAMILY LAW Selected to Rising Stars BENJAMIN SNYDER

CHAROTTE IMMIGRATION LAW FIRM

205 Regency Executive Park Drive Suite 510 Charlotte, NC 28217 Tel: 704-944-3239 Fax: 704-288-3923 bens@charlottelaw.net www.charlottelaw.net

IMMIGRATION

Eric S. Meredith is a founding partner of Jetton & Meredith, PLLC, who, with his partner, established the law firm in 2009. Mr. Meredith focuses his practice on cases related to divorce and family law. Previously selected to North Carolina Rising Stars in 2012 and 2015-2022, Mr. Meredith graduated from North Carolina State University and Elon University School of Law. Benjamin A. Snyder is a North Carolina State Bar-Certified Immigration Law Specialist and partner at Charlotte Immigration Law Firm. Mr. Snyder manages Charlotte Immigration Law Firm’s employment and investment-based immigration practice. His work includes preparing and filing nonimmigrant visa petitions and applications, as well as employment-based immigrant visa matters, including PERM based EB-2 and EB-3 petitions, EB-1 petitions for multinational executives and managers, outstanding researchers, or those with extraordinary ability, EB-2’s with National Interest Waivers (NIW), EB-5 entrepreneur petitions, and EB-4 petitions for religious workers. Mr. Snyder has experience representing individuals, families, and businesses in virtually all manner of immigration matters.

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more extensive, data-driven approach to digital marketing in 2018, and last year, its overall audience share for 2021 rose among millennials and Gen Z as it fell among Baby Boomers and Gen X. The sport’s Gen-Z social media followership grew 15% from 2020, according to NASCAR-commissioned research in 2021, and NASCAR also became the rst sports league to launch an o cial server with the online chat app Discord, where more than half of its reported 250 million users are younger than 24.

YET EVEN WITH all the activity on the web, the most visible changes are happening to the machines on wheels. When NASCAR was born in 1948, drivers raced the same Fords, Chevys, Dodges, Plymouths, Pontiacs, and Hudsons that ferried fans and families to the speedways. Sometimes drivers, too. Lee Petty borrowed a Buick to drive from his home in Level Cross, just south of Greensboro, to Charlotte for the rst Strictly Stock race in 1949. Legend holds that he may not have told the owner of the Buick that he would also be racing it. Halfway through the race, Petty rolled the Buick, and he had to hitch a ride back home.

The rules originally called for participating cars to have a stock frame, a body with the doors strapped shut, and a heavy-duty rear axle to keep them from ipping. They also required seat belts, optional in passenger vehicles until 1968. But then the sport got bigger, and the cars got faster.

“They didn’t really become ‘race cars’ until the mid-to-late ’60s, when they started building speci c frames,” Kyle Petty, Lee Petty’s grandson, tells me in the fall. Before then, when Kyle was a boy, Chrysler “would bring a car hauler and unload some cars. There would be three cars, like the ’66 or ’67 Plymouth Fury. They would just unload them, and my mom would drive one, my grandma would drive one, and one of them they would turn into a race car. And if they wrecked the race car, too bad. Then my mom or my grandma was going to lose theirs because they had to turn the second one into a race car. That didn’t happen very o en, but it did happen.”

You can see the evolution since the ’60s along the Glory Road display at the NASCAR Hall of Fame. Gradually, as decades passed, bench seats, glove compartments, headlights, and working door handles disappeared, and additional steel tubing and other safety measures for drivers began to show up. The largest and loudest cry for driver safety came a er the death of Dale Earnhardt Sr. at Daytona in 2001, when Earnhardt crashed into a retaining wall and su ered a fatal skull fracture. Within months, the sport had mandated specialized restraints, like the HANS device, to prevent drivers’ heads from whipping violently in crashes.

The improvements curbed driver deaths, the most important thing, but they came with an aesthetic price. By the Generation 5 car, used in NASCAR from 2007 to 2012, vehicles were homogenized, with a common body and chassis across all manufacturers. Fans could tell the di erence only from the decals. The seventh-generation car, which will make its debut this season, has given manufacturers greater latitude to replicate the look and feel of their distinctive street cars.

“It is just a monumental task that NASCAR has undertaken, and it’s one that we’ll look back on in a year or ve years and really have an even better appreciation for the challenge and

Lee Petty was the patriarch the accomplishment of a four-generation stock of developing a new car racing family. (Above) Petty, in the No. 42 Plymouth, outpaces Johnny Allen (11) race car,” says Marcus Smith, the president and Speedy Thompson (94) and CEO of Speedway in the second Daytona 500 in 1960. Junior Johnson won, and Petty came in fourth, just Motorsports, which owns racetracks around behind his son Richard. the country—including Charlotte Motor Speedway, where it’s headquartered. “It’s been just a huge undertaking and really impressive to see everybody’s pulled together.” The fans, as always, are the intended bene ciaries. “This is a proactive move by NASCAR,” Kyle Petty says, “to put a product on the track that, as you move to the next generation of fans, they can say, ‘Oh, yeah, I understand that car.’” A generation ago, in 1997, former Charlotte Motor Speedway President and CEO Howard “Humpy” Wheeler told me about a late-’70s Charlotte Chamber event at which he spoke. On his way out, thenNorth Carolina National Bank Chairman Luther Hodges Jr. gave Wheeler a gag gi : a can of Pabst Blue Ribbon, a pair of white socks, and a trucker hat. “As I was getting in the car to leave,” Wheeler recalled, “I thought, Man, have we got a long way to go, ’cause that’s what these people think of us out here.” Not anymore, and there’s no way to know where NASCAR will end up in a generation or two. That’s its appeal: It never takes its foot o the pedal. STEVE GOLDBERG is a longtime journalist and sports writer who lives in Charlotte.