Nancy Joanne Langley

Nancy Joanne Langley passed away peacefully in her sleep on March 14, 2023 at the age of 85. She was born on Valentine's Day of 1938 in Arlington Virginia to the late Eloise and Raymond Naylor. Nancy was the first born and was followed by her two sisters, Marsha Clark and Joyce Fall. After graduation from Washington-Lee High school, she married rising professional stock car driver Elmo Langley. Shortly after getting married, they had three sons: Roddy, Billy and Steven. In 1967 they moved their family south to Charlotte NC, so that Elmo could pursue a full-time NASCAR career. Nancy quickly formed lifelong friendships with other driver's wives like Faye Negre, Judy Allison, Lynda Petty and Colleen Baker, and even served as a board member for the GNRWA (Grand National Racing Wives Auxiliary). An avid bowler, Nancy competed in women's bowling league tournaments nationwide.

She put her cooking to good use by catering to Elmo's race team out of the back of the family station wagon. Often, crew members worked for only the reward of Nancy's home cooking and a cold beer. 

After raising her 3 boys, Nancy started working outside of the home as a Banquet Manager for Sheraton Hotels and The Adam's Mark. Working there she met Joe Smith, and together they launched a very successful catering business. 

With the announcement of a new club being built at Charlotte Motor Speedway, Nancy had a great opportunity to combine  her love of cooking and hospitality with her well established connections in the racing world by becoming the banquet manager at the new Speedway Club upon the request of Speedway Manager, Humpy Wheeler. She worked at the club from the day that it opened until the day that she retired, and earned the love admiration and respect of everyone that worked with her. In addition to her great run as the Banquet Manager at The Speedway Club, Nancy also launched a cake baking business on the side called "Nancy's Homemade Cakes", where she offered a wide variety of original, unique and specialty cakes to 1000's of her customers. 

Nancy Langley is preceded in death by her husband, Elmo Langley, and is survived by her 2 sisters, Marsha Clark of Annapolis MD & Joyce Fall of Arlington VA. Also, her 3 sons, Roddy (Cindy) of Matthews, Billy (Dana) of Concord, Steven (Julie) of Huntersville and stepson Elmo Jr. (Mary Lou) of Carolina Beach. Grandchildren include Bradley Langley, Sarah and Emily Langley, Shawn Langley, David and Dan Young. 

A visitation and celebration of life will be held on April 1st between 3:00 - 5:00 in the "600 Room" on the 6th Floor of The Speedway Club at Charlotte Motor Speedway, 5555 Concord Parkway South, Concord NC 28027

In lieu of flowers, please make donations to "Victory Junction" at https://victoryjunction.org/the-gift-of-camp/