It’s Bristol, Baby!     11/01/18

Shadrack Campground, Bristol, Tennessee

And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.  Acts 2:1

 

I don’t know, maybe I shouldn’t make (actually repeat) a joke involving Scripture, but God gave us a sense of humor.  A portion of this verse is part of a joke from way back – – How did the apostles travel around?  In an Accord.  Ha!

“You might be a Redneck . . . . if you think the last four words of the ‘Star-Spangled Banner’ are gentlemen start your engines.”

So says Jeff Foxworthy.  He’s always been a great stand-up comedian!

And the reason for these jokes?  For some unknown reason, I was trying to find NASCAR jokes to begin this post.  And yes, this is the best I could come up with.  😊

Why NASCAR?  Because we visited the track at Bristol Motor Speedway today.  What a great tour!  There was no one else there when we arrived just before 10am, so we got our own private tour with our own tour guide in our own private tour van!  And all for just $4/person!  ($5 regular)  We actually qualified for a Senior discount!  For some reason, they consider seniors 55+.  Yea!

 

Gayle did a great job, driving us around the place and even on the track!

 

As well as giving us tons of interesting information.  For example – the half-mile oval speedway was built in 1960 at a cost of $600,000 and had a seating capacity of just 18,000.  The first pole sitter earned the position with a top speed of 79.225mph and the winner took home a purse of $3,225.  The race was billed as the world’s fastest half-mile and held on July 30, 1961 and was 500 laps.  After lap 290, the driver (and the man awarded the win) got out of his car – because the extreme heat was blistering his feet – and a new driver entered.  In 2013, Kyle Busch set a new track record of 129.535mph (it took him 14.813 seconds to make the lap!).  Seating capacity was gradually increased until, in 2002, it reached 162,000.  The Dragstrip was added in 1965 at a cost of $1million.  A good chunk of that cost was earth-moving expenses because they had to practically level a mountain (locals call them ‘knobs’).  We weren’t able to visit the dragstrip because they were setting up Christmas decorations that will include over 2 million lights, but more on that later.

 

There are currently 70 full-time employees, but the number swells significantly to about 7,000 (no that’s not a misprint!) for the larger events.  The current owner, Billionaire O. Bruton Smith is still going strong at 91 years young and owns a total of 8 tracks – Atlanta, Bristol, Charlotte, Kentucky, Las Vegas, New Hampshire, Sonoma and Texas.

Tired of reading facts yet?  If you’re not a NASCAR fan, here’s one you’ll probably like.

Every year, the owner hosts one of those “drive-around” Christmas light festivals.  Part of the 5-mile drive takes you down to actually drive around the track!  Slowly of course.  😊  It costs $15-20/car ($20 on the weekend), and every single penny goes to an organization founded in 1996 by Mr. Smith called Speedway Children’s Charities.  The local power company covers the cost of the electric and Mr. Smith pays the staff himself.  Wanna know how successful it is?  In 2013, the attendance was 10,000 – – in one single night!  Up to 2013 (that’s the most recent information I could find), the average annual attendance has been 200,000.  Oh.  And guess what?  Better make sure you have a full tank (gas and food!) when you go, because if they’re busy, it can take 4 hours to get through it. (I’m assuming that includes some waiting-in-line time?)

 

Let’s get on with the tour, shall we?  First up.  The owner’s suite!

 

Back down to the van where Gayle tried to maneuver us around the decorating process.

 

Eventually, she found her way to the entrance to the track!

 

She took us up onto the bank at 25mph, and we were really leaning in our seats.  Then the next bank was 35mph and we didn’t lean hardly at all.  Finally, it was 45mph.  Felt a little fast to us!  Can’t imagine what 100+ would be like!  Especially if other cars are on the track!

 

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So now our tour is complete and we arrive at the starting point.  But it turned out, we weren’t finished yet!  Gayle told us Gate 6 was open and we could walk all around the stands – – just stay off the track.  How great is that!

 

 

 

I was prepared to give credit to Darrell Waltrip for the phrase, “It’s Bristol, baby!”  It just sounds like something he’d say.  But no.  Turns out it was Dale Earnhardt, Jr.

 

I thought I was finished filling your mind with interesting (or maybe not?) racing facts, but no.  I just remembered that stock car racing began with bootleggers.  Here’s a well-written, interesting article I found at auto.howstuffworks.com:

Did NASCAR really start with bootleggers?

BY LAURIE L. DOVE

Many of stock car racing’s early stars learned their driving trade as bootleggers. Here, driver Joe Littlejohn’s race car (painted with a 7) is seen outside a tavern, looking like all the other cars in the street.

Things are looking up. You managed to extract 100 gallons (378.54 liters) of hooch from your illegal backwoods still, pour the 150-proof white lightning into jars and load them into the trunk of your car — all without being discovered by the law. Your illicit stash is tucked under blankets, just for good measure, and covered with an assortment of old coats. Now all you have to do is deliver it.

Unfortunately, that may be the most dangerous task of all. By making and delivering alcohol, you’re continuing a roughly 20-year-old illegal tradition brought on by Prohibition. The 18th Amendment officially outlawed spirits, but it didn’t dampen the desire of “spirited” entrepreneurs to fill the void. In fact, even the ratification of the 21st Amendment, which officially ended the Prohibition era, did little to curb illegal bootlegging.

So, while your black 1940 Ford Coupe may look stock (the same as any other purchased from a dealership), it’s backed by a souped-up engine so powerful it could give any revenuer a run for the money. And so could you, now that you’ve spent years honing your skills on some of America’s most challenging roadways.

As you speed through the Appalachian foothills under the cover of nightfall, navigating switchback turns and avoiding wildlife that’s wandered onto the tree-lined roads, you can’t help but smile. Instead of a stock V-8 under the hood, your car has the most powerful V-8 available at the time — an ambulance engine. Even at breakneck speeds, the car’s tight suspension keeps your load of flammable liquid stable. And you know these roads like the back of your hand, so much so that you could turn off the car’s headlamps and still get to your destination [source: AutoFoundry].

In fact, you’ve even raced some of your fellow bootleggers on these treacherous paths, vying to see who can drive away with bragging rights. You all share the same competitive drive, one that’s fueled by the souped-up vehicles that could show off your abilities. From races on public highways to dirt tracks carved into pastures, stock car racing began to take shape. Born of moonshine runners, it would eventually grow into one of today’s most popular racing circuits: NASCAR.

In 1947, one of the emerging racing sport’s most influential drivers, Big Bill France, spearheaded a meeting with fellow drivers, mechanics and owners to standardize some racing rules. Out of this meeting, the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR) was formed. A mere two months later, on Feb. 15, 1948, NASCAR held its first official race on the sands of a Daytona, Florida, beach. Most — perhaps all — of the drivers were involved in the moonshine trade. One of them, Red Byron, won the inaugural race. The next week, NASCAR became incorporated, and France was named NASCAR’s first leader, a post he would eventually hand down to his son [source: Levinson].

Two years later, on Sept. 4, 1950, NASCAR held its first 500-mile (805-kilometer) race, the Southern 500. From there, NASCAR only continued to grow. By 1989, every NASCAR race was televised, lucrative sponsor partnerships had been formed and the drivers — whose predecessors were once considered outlaws — even began making regular appearances at the White House [source: Danner].

Now, with millions of fans (in 2013, televised NASCAR races drew an average of 5.8 million viewers per race), NASCAR is an integral part of American motorsports — moonshine not required [source: Margolis].

 

 

On to Warrior’s Path State Park, where we started out with lunch.  By the way, we were surprised to discover how far along the trees are here.  We’re not that far from where we were just yesterday!

There was little information to be had at this Park.  We took a walk around Duck Island, before trying to find the Visitor Center to try and find trail information.

 

We had to go to the Park Office, where we were given two different maps – of the same thing.  However, they had some contradictory information on them which led to a bit of frustration.

 

We decided to try out the Woodland Trail (which also happens to be a horse trail), but there were no trail markers.  However, we finally realized the trail began at the horse barns and instead of following bread crumbs, we chose horse apples.  Well, they’re larger, easier to see amongst the fallen leaves and won’t blow away in the breeze. . . .

 

We didn’t really take into consideration that this trail – where we were told there’d be ‘the excitement of a woodland full of wildlife’ – was in the hills of Tennessee.  Other horse trails we’ve hiked have been relatively flat.  This was not.  It was up and down and uuup and down and uuuuppp and down.

 

We did not see a full woodland, but we did see two deer.  Several times.  I’m pretty sure they weren’t too happy to keep running in to us.

 

Next, we chose the Overlook Trail.  Now, when you hear ‘overlook’, what comes to mind?  Hold that thought for a minute.

We had some trouble locating the trailhead, because once again, things just weren’t marked well – neither on the maps, nor in the Park.  But we persisted and eventually found it.

 

According to the maps, it was supposed to be a straight trail with a heart-shaped loop.  Think heart-shaped balloon with a string hanging down.

 

We never found the loop, or at least not the whole thing.

 

We turned around, but on the way back, we accidentally stumbled upon an overlook.  Sort of.  It was the only place.

Oh.  And we heard Christmas music on the way home!  Sheesh!  Bah Humbug!

Okay. I’ll admit it.  I enjoyed Debbie Gibson singing “Sleigh Ride”.  But then it was time to change the station.