Thunder Valley
Did you know that the fans at Bristol a couple of years back made the Guinness World Record Book?
In August of 2008 the crowd made the biggest stadium wave in history… I’m not really a big fan of the wave (old fuddy-dutty as my daughter would say), but this is BIG… WOW!!! lol
Then, one year later they did made the world record book again when the whole crowd sang Garth Brooks’ “Friends in Low Places”. The first time 168,000 people all sang together… Man, I tried to find a video of this but YouTube struck out.
So, listen up to the genuine article while following along…
Tucked into the beautiful, quiet hills of northeast Tennessee you’ll find an oval racetrack. Two weekends of the year the sleepy town of Bristol Tennessee (population 40,000 people) where this track is located swells to become larger than Tennessee’s third largest city!
This is Bristol Motor Speedway…
.533 miles around a graduated slope banked concrete track completely surrounded by 168,000 screaming fans, the roar of the engines is almost drowned out by the crowd. Forty-three drivers running at over 100 miles per hour with one thing in mind… Win!
What makes Bristol unique, beyond the stadium seating and capacity, is the graduated banking and the need to have two pit roads.
The banking on the infield side of the track starts off around 6 degrees and graduates up to almost 30 degrees at the top of the turns. This keeps fast cars on the high line forcing anyone wanting to pass on a slower low line fighting centrifugal forces that act to push the car back up the track. This certainly makes for interesting situations when drivers go two or three wide pushing the speed envelope while trying to pass.
The two pit roads made a special rule necessary for fairness so we’ll see all cars headed to the pits under cautions have to enter on turn two, make a complete circumference on pit lane and then pull into their pit. Upon leaving, everyone exits on turn one. Pay attention to how this works…
One consideration the fans don't really think about is the volume level inside this big bowl as it concerns the racing teams. They actually have to resort to using hand signals to communicate among themselves. They just can't hear! Watch for any trackside announcers as they try to speak over the noise...
Here are the track records the drivers are interested in:
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Records
(As of 7/1/10)
Most Wins----------12-----Darrell Waltrip
Most Top 5s-------- 26-----Darrell Waltrip, Richard Petty
Most Top 10s------ 37-----Richard Petty
Starts ----------------60-----Richard Petty
Poles -----------------9-----Mark Martin, Cale Yarborough
Most Lps Cmpltd-25036-Terry Labonte
Most Laps Led----4305---Cale Yarborough
Avg. Start*---------3.2-----Fred Lorenzen
Avg. Finish---------8.6-----Benny Parsons
So… Are you ready for some racin’? Remember this one?
Finally, (For the fun of it!)… It’s Thunder Valley and The Thunder Rolls…
Nice tribute to Thunder Valley - after the Daytona 500 its the last track on my bucket list. Another factoid - no room in the infield for garages only the haulers so the teams have to work on the cars on pit road and the front stretch. No garage = nearly impossible to get creds unless you are deemed absolutely necessary by nascar - so I ain't ever getting in there with a hot pass unless Jr and I finally wed....
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Kristen this track is a heck of a change... Why it isn't in the final ten races is beyond me. Could you see it as the final race with two or three drivers in contention? Maybe they're afraid too many people would hyper-ventilate!lol
ReplyDeleteThanks for checkin' in and leaving a comment!
Even though I'm not a fan of Edwards (to put it mildly), it was GREAT that he turned Kyle Busch around after the 2008 night race. Great homage to Thunder Valley, and great historical perspective. Cale Yarborough won the first Bristol night race, in 1988 as I remember.
ReplyDeletejon you quit pickin' on my boy! lol Kyle and Brad were bumpin' and grindin' out there tonight. I wasn't able to watch the race so I don't know all the details that led up to Brad unsuccessfully tryin' to turn Kyle followed by Kyle showing him how it's done! LOL The post race interviews were a lot of finger pointing... One of these times I want to see a Yarborough / Allison kind of deal. Maybe the Busch boys taking on JJ and Jeff Gordon!
ReplyDeleteI'm gonna miss tomorrow night's race too... I'll record it for posterity!
Thanks jon!
Bristol does put on a show. There is action all the way around the track... if the leaders aren't racing side-by-side, someone further back is.
ReplyDeleteI had season tix for Bristol from 1995-2005. Made some great friends up there, too. There is nothing else like Bristol!
I guess I'm gonna have to figure out how to get up there one of these days... I figure it's a 700 mile trip from here... Have to make a trip out of it and see some of the old south.
ReplyDeleteGene, you should of seen quite a few great races over the times you spent in Bristol. It's gotta really be something.
It's too bad I hear the race tonight isn't sold out...
Thanks Gene!