It was a tremendous experience for me to be a personal part of last weekend's Sharpie 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway. Thank's to an Army buddy of mine (Retired Engineer Colonel Gary Wright)who was able to get hard-to-find tickets, I was able to go to Bristol.It's situated in a mountainous valley area of Eastern Tennessee; a place where you'd hardly expect to find such a MASSIVE facility, which seats 160,000 people, and has perhaps another 20,000 or so outside the track doing whatever they could to be a part of it all. Looking at it from about a mile away from where we'd parked the truck hours before the race (to share several beers with Gary's son Chris and his friend Jimbo) the track looks incredible. (That's me at the far right seated in the stands, Gary next to me, Chris, then Jimbo)
As we walked about a mile to the track for the 8PM start time, the track kept getting larger and larger, so by the time we entered the entrance way to the main track and vendor area, my jaw was continually in a dropped position, and my eyes were bugging out at the sights and sounds I experienced.
The pre-race ceremonies were incredible, complete with a military skydiver parachuting with a large U.S. Flag right onto the track, fighter jets overhead, and the world's largest "card-show" which portrayed the colors of the United States. NASCAR fans are perhaps the most patriotic people in the country. The race itself was super-fast with the new concrete surface, and there was enough excitement to keep us on the edge of our seats throughout.
