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Ken Fitzgerald
03-09-2012, 11:26 PM
We took my oldest son and his wife out to dinner one night. During the evening I mentioned I wanted to paint my home this summer. With my age and my physical limitations, this could be the last time I am able to do it. He said he didn't think with my balance issues following my October surgery, I should be up high on a ladder. He then volunteered to help me and paint all the higher areas.

He's a big time NASCAR fan. As a deputy sheriff, he lives on a tight budget. So, I asked him if he could pick any track to attend a race, which one would it be. He stated actually there was two tracks. One of them is Bristol Motor Speedway, in Bristol, TN.

I contacted a tour company that specializes in NASCAR racing tours.

Today FedEx delivered the package and a week from today we fly out to Knoxville, TN.

On Saturday and Sunday 3/17 and 3/18 we will board a tour bus in Knoxville for a trip to Bristol for both the Nationwide and Sprint Cup Series races.

I also bought the package for a track tour and entrance to the pre-race Hospitality Suite on Sunday.

I am taking my Bose QC-15 noise cancelling headphones but if they don't work well enough....I'll just remove the sound processor for the cochlear implant on my left ear and remove my hearing aid on my right ear. It won't be a bother. Being deaf, may for once have an advantage.Are you ready for some racing?

Myk Rian
03-10-2012, 9:05 AM
Bristol is one track I really want to go to. Have fun.
Go ROUSH!!

Ole Anderson
03-10-2012, 12:28 PM
My BIL lives in Bristol, I never been to a race, but they have a great Christmas light tour which allows you to drive your own car right down the dragstrip (slowly of course), then into the stadium and around 3/4 of the high banked track, what a thrill! The seating for the short 1/2 mile track is like a football stadium, Ken, you are going to love it.

Myk Rian
03-24-2012, 3:31 PM
Well, Ken. Tell us about your first race experience.
Did you go to both races, or just the Cup race?

Jerome Stanek
03-24-2012, 4:00 PM
I worked across the street in Bristol Virgina It's weird crossing the street and being in a different state.

Ron Natalie
03-24-2012, 4:07 PM
Have fun. When we go to the CUP/Nationwide races I take my aircraft ANR headsets and a portable intercom that we plug into the scanner. Not only does it decrease the engine noise but it lets us talk to each other and hear the radio.

For many years I sat at the top of the bleachers at Old Dominion Speedway every Saturday night. Then I got a job sitting inside the air conditioned tower for the next ten years.

Paul McGaha
03-24-2012, 4:35 PM
Ken,

That's a great thing you and your son did. Must have been a huge amount of fun.

So tell us about it.

PHM

Ken Fitzgerald
03-24-2012, 6:24 PM
Well, it was an interesting experience!

We attended the races on Saturday and Sunday.

Thursday evening we drove to Spokane and got a hotel room. Friday we flew to Knoxville, TN. I had used a tour company to set up the trip and they put us up at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Knoxville. Early Saturday morning, we boarded a tour bus for Bristol. The weather was gorgeous and the drive was about 1 hour 40 minutes. We wandered through the on-site souvenir vans. I bought Junior and Tony Stewart souvenirs for my daughter and her husband. My son bought Jeff Gordon souvenirs for himself and his wife. Later I bought a Bristol jacket for my wife.

We were seated in the Pearson Terrace on turn 1. What great seats! With the steepness of the stands and a 0.53 mile oval track, the cars never leave your view. It was loud! They call the place Thunder Valley for a reason! Though deaf, I wore my Bose QC-15 noise canceling headphones. The race on Saturday was pretty uneventful. Later we took the tour bus back to our accommodations in Knoxville. That evening I resisted the urge to join the St. Patrick's Day Pub Crawl and just had a couple beers in the hotel lounge. I could only imagine the results of a hangover and Thunder Valley. I didn't like the thought of the potential results. LOL!

Sunday we left Knoxville even earlier and it was raining cats and dogs. It was still sprinkling when we arrived at Bristol. I had purchased a Pepsi-Max Hospitality Suite option so we immediately went there to escape the rain and pray for clearing weather. It worked! Brad Keselowski was on stage talking with an emcee when we arrived. He was very down to earth, funny and friendly. Of course, later he won the Food City 500. The next speaker was Jeff Gordon. He was very informative, articulate and spoke about some of the strategies used during races. Then the VP of Operations for Hendricks Motor Sports spoke. His interview was very interesting from a logistics standpoint. IIRC, he said they have 14 cars in groups of 7 for each driver. A set of 7 cars is dialed in for a particular race track and shipped on Tuesday, meanwhile the 7 cars from the previous weekend's race are being shipped back. They get them back, gather the data from computers on the car, repair any damage and set them up for the following week's race. It was pretty interesting to think that 4 drivers times 14 cars/driver .......56 cars coming and going all the time. He explained how they have meetings between mechanics, engineers, and drivers to make decisions etc. about set before they ship the next 7 cars. From a sheer number of cars involved and the technical details involved, he was an interesting interview.

The Pepsi-Max Hospitality Suite served us an excellent breakfast and lunch prior to the race. It was hard to imagine that quality of food could have been any better for as large a number of people as they were prepared to serve. Though the tent would probably hold 300-400 people, I doubt there were more than 60 there. We set at a table 1 table length away from the stage

A Sunday track tour was part of the package but got canceled. They used the track tour time to dry the track for the race.
My oldest son got his picture taken by one of Jeff Gordon's cars. He was a happy camper.

Saturday we used the elevator to get up near the height of our seats. Sunday, we were later, the elevator lines were long and we were looking for oxygen masks after using just the stairway to climb up to our seats. LOL!

The seats we had were not the typical aluminum bench seats but a plastic tilting seat with armrests and a cup holder. I doubt there is a bad seat at Bristol Motor Speedway. The steepness of the stands is such that nobody needs to stand up to see and if they do, they most likely won't block anyone's view.

Sunday night back at the hotel, we were having supper at the restaurant there. A gentleman on the tour with us came to our table. He was from Amsterdam and this was his 6th race he'd seen at Bristol. Last year he flew in to watch 11 Nascar races at various tracks. He puts Bristol near the top of his favorites.

My oldest son had been to Nascar races at other tracks. Bristol became his new favorite.

We had a good time!

Chris Parks
03-25-2012, 7:09 AM
Being in Australia I don't follow NASCAR all that much but if there is one race I want to see live it is Bristol. I think it must have the greatest atmosphere of any race anywhere.

ray hampton
03-25-2012, 3:32 PM
this Amsterdam is the one in Holland right ?

Sparky Paessler
03-26-2012, 2:58 PM
Hey Ken glad you enjoyed the race. I live right down the road from the track in Johnson City (about 15 miles away) and all the hotels get packed when it is race time. Never been to a race there but hear it is great.