KPT Sept14 NEW - Go Tri Cities

GOTri
NASCAR
EDITION
SEPTEMBER 2014
Kyle Busch
vs. Matt
Kenseth
Drivers
to watch
Vols vs. Hokies:
Battle at Bristol
Presented by
4
5 COOL ACTIVITIES
Several fun events
are going on in the region.
6
Jerry Caldwell
Internship leads to career
for BMS general manager.
10
THE CHASE IS ON
Who has locked in a spot in the playoffs
and who is still racing for the Chase?
16
DRIVERS TO WATCH
Get to know 15 drivers worth
keeping an eye on at BMS.
GOTri
7
CHANGES, CHANGES
New experience in Turn 1
at Bristol Motor Speedway.
12-13
18
Looking back
Big moments in Bristol Motor Speedway
history through photographs.
20
CALEB HURD
Former Tech football player now
a gas man for Denny Hamlin.
Editor
Kelly Story
Advertising
Billy Kirk
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
GOtri Magazine | timesnews.net
22
CALENDAR OF EVENTS
Plenty to See, Plenty to Do this
month in the Tri-Cities region.
Publisher
Keith Wilson
GoTri Magazine is published monthly by the Kingsport Times-News and the
Northeast Tennessee Media Group. For more information, visit timesnews.net.
2
Battle at Bristol
Planning for UT vs. Va.Tech
2016 football game at BMS.
14
MATT KENSETH VS. KYLE BUSCH
Kenseth will be defending his 2013
night race win, while Busch looks to lead
laps and finish strong in Bristol.
DARRELL WALLACE JR.
Talking race and racing and the
opportunities NASCAR has given.
8
10 ADULTS • 12-UNDER FREE
$
FINCHUM
2013 Champion
Kingsport
STILTNER
2013 Champion
Lonesome Pine
newkingsportspeedway.com
2961 N. John B. Dennis Hwy
Kingsport, TN • 423.288.5992
thepineraceway.com
10802 Old Norton-Coeburn Road
Coeburn, VA • 276.395.5155
Five cool activities
Race fan or not, here are a few fun things to do this weekend and throughout September.
1
PRESS PHOTOS
APPALACHIAN FAIR: Music, carnival rides, games of skill
and chance, prize-winning livestock, farm and home exhibits,
motor sports and more all can be found at this year’s 88th running of the Appalachian Fair in Gray.
Friday night’s Main Stage performer will be rising country artist
Chase Rice, co-author of Florida Georgia Line’s smash hit, “Cruise,”
who burst onto the charts last year with his own “Ready Set Roll.” The
concert will begin at 8 and will be preceded by the fair’s So You Think
You Can Dance competition at 7 on the Museum Stage.
Saturday night’s entertainment will start at 7 with an opening performance by For King and Country, the Australia-born Christian pop
duo made up of brothers Joel and Luke Smallbone. Christian singer,
songwriter and musician Francesca Battistelli will take the stage at
8:45 p.m. The Appalachian Fair’s Got Talent adult and youth talent
competitions will start at 7 on the Museum Stage.
In Appalachian Arena, the fair’s down-in-the-dirt
motor sports venue, the Tennessee Slammers &
Bangers Demolition Derby will run both Friday and
Saturday night at 7:30.
Gates open at 3 p.m. Friday and 10 a.m. Saturday. Tickets are $8, $3 for children ages 6-11 and
free for kids 5 and under. www.appalachianfair.com
Francesca Battistelli
Chase Rice
2
PHOTO BY MIKE MURPHY
Located less than two miles off Interstate 26, the East Tennessee State
University & General Shale Natural
History Museum and Gray Fossil Site offers
visitors a glimpse of what East Tennessee
looked like 5 million year ago.
Built around the ancient fossil site first
unearthed by construction workers in 2000,
the museum’s permanent exhibits include
a recreated ecosystem of prehistoric tapirs,
saber-toothed cats, shovel-tusked elephants, alligators, rhinos, camels, badgers
and bears; an active dig pit where guest can
observe the site’s ongoing exploration; and
collection rooms where the best of more
than 15,000 fossil specimens excavated
from the site and from elsewhere around the
region are on display.
The museum its located at 1212 Suncrest
Drive, Gray, and is open from 9 a.m. to 5
p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. Admission
is $6 for adults, $3 for children age 3 to 12,
and $4 for seniors, students, teachers and
members and veterans of the U.S. military.
www.etsu.edu/naturalhistorymuseum
4
GOtri Magazine | timesnews.net
PRESS PHOTO
NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM
AND GRAY FOSSIL SITE:
PRESS PHOTO
STORYTELLING:
Race week visitors and others hungry for a
sample of the area’s rich Appalachian culture
will find themselves well-fed at International
Storytelling Center in Jonesborough.
Located in the historic district of Tennessee’s oldest town, the center will present
Adam Booth
Appalachian storyteller Adam Booth in
concert Aug. 22-23; Michael Reno Hall,
Aug. 26-30; Jim Two Crows Wallen,
Sept. 2-6; Chuck Brodsky, Sept. 9-13;
Linda Goodman, Sept. 16-20; Susan
O’Halloran, Sept 23-27 and Donald
Davis, Sept. 23-Oct. 2. These appearances are part of the center’s 26-week
Storytelling Live series, which features
a different teller each week in matinees,
evening performances, children’s concerts and workshops.
The center is located at 116 W. Main
St. 800-952-8392 or www.storytellingcenter.net
Fossils found at the Gray site
Michael
Reno Hall
3
KINGSPORT AQUATIC CENTER: The
COURTESY OF KINGSPORT AQUATIC CENTER
4
NISWONGER
PERFORMING ARTS CENTER
Kingsport Aquatic Center, 1820 Meadowview
Parkway, Kingsport, is open year-round and features a
46,000-square-foot indoor area with three multipurpose, heated
pools specially designed for recreation and instruction, including
the region’s only indoor Olympic-size pool.
Outside, the center has waterpark features including two waterslides, a water playground and a 900-foot lazy river ­— open annually between Memorial
Day and Labor Day. Day
passes are available: $6
youth day pass for swimmers 3 to 21 years old,
$8 for adults ages 22 to
54, $6 for seniors over
55 and $30 for a family
pass. 423-343-9758 or
www.swimkingsport.com
5
NPAC
G r e e n e v i l l e
BAYS MOUNTAIN PARK:
COURTESY OF BAYS MOUNTAIN
If it’s been some time since you’ve visited Bays Mountain Park, new this summer are two planetarium shows
and four wolf pups. Tennessee’s largest city-owned park
has enough to keep your family entertained all day.
Now playing in the planetarium theater are “Back to the Moon —
For Good” and “Planetary Visions.” In addition to the wolf habitat,
with its four newest members, there are river otters, deer, raccoon
and bobcat habitats, as well as a raptor center and a herpetarium.
And Bays Mountain Park features more than 25 miles of hiking trails
that cover most of the 3,500 acres of the park. The main admission
cost is $4 per vehicle and the planetarium shows are $4 per person
for ages 6 and older.
To reach Bays Mountain Park from I-26, take Exit 3 in Kingsport
at Meadowview Parkway and turn left at the light at the bottom of
the exit ramp onto a road that becomes Reservoir Road. Continue
on Reservoir Road for approximately 3 miles. Turn right onto Bays
Mountain Park Road. Stay to the left at the fork in road for the park
entrance. www.baysmountain.com
•
T e n n e s s e e
“
”
The man behind the track
We are blessed with such a great team here at Bristol,
so I kind of feel like I’m here to serve them.
­— Jerry Caldwell, General Manager at Bristol Motor Speedway
A brief internship leads to a different career than
planned for North Carolina native Jerry Caldwell
F
or the past four years, Jerry Caldwell has been the
man tasked with making sure things continue to
run smoothly at the “World’s Fastest Half-Mile.”
Since November 2010, Caldwell, 39, has served as
general manager and executive vice president of
Bristol Motor Speedway. In this capacity, Caldwell
has been responsible for day-to-day oversight of
BMS and management of the facility.
Caldwell is a native of Lexington, N.C., but he was quite
familiar with the Bristol area before his tenure at BMS. He attended Bristol’s King College to pursue a degree in business.
“My plan was to go into the banking business,” he said. “I
studied international business. After my junior year going into
my senior year, that summer, I went over to Europe and did
an international business program, which was a semester in
Europe, and I really had a finance interest. My plan was to go
into that area, that concentration.”
But this plan took a detour in 1997. Growing up in North
Carolina, Caldwell was acquainted with the late Jeff Byrd, who
served as BMS general manager until 2010. A call to Byrd would
lead to an internship in the speedway’s events department. “I
called him up and said ‘Hey, I’m looking for something else to
do. I don’t have that many hours to finish up my degree. Are
you guys looking for any help?’” Caldwell said. “So I came over
and talked to him, and he said ‘Yeah, let’s go ahead and actually start today.’”
Caldwell’s first day on the job was only his second visit to
BMS — he had visited two years earlier as a fan.
Although Caldwell was offered jobs in the banking industry
following his graduation from King, his stint at BMS would
prove to be more than a quick pit stop. In May 1997, Caldwell
took a job in the BMS sales department. There he would work
in various roles before working his way up to vice president
of BMS Corporate Sales. He was later named interim general
manager of BMS while Byrd dealt with health issues. And while
Caldwell’s initial interest was in the finance arena, he admits
BMS quickly grew on him.
“I loved the event business, I love the planning and then,
quite frankly, the chaos of event time. I loved all the stuff that
kind of comes at you, and I love working with a big group of
people. It’s a lot like a team sport. We’re in this together and
we kind of take on the challenge together.”
Following Byrd’s death in 2010, Caldwell was named BMS
general manager.
Caldwell said he was a fan of NASCAR before he began working at BMS. “Growing up in the Winston-Salem area, it’s what
you grew up with,” he said. “Probably as a kid, I didn’t realize
that everybody else didn’t grow up with NASCAR all around
them.”
On race day, when thousands from all over the country flock
to Bristol, Caldwell is working behind the scenes to ensure
the experience is as enjoyable as possible for the attendees.
Caldwell said race days are spent “being there in case I’m
6
GOtri Magazine | timesnews.net
COURTESY OF NASCAR
Bristol Motor Speedway General Manager and Executive Vice
President Jerry Caldwell, right, with Dale Earnhardt Jr. during
the BMS 50th anniversary announcement on Aug. 9, 2011.
needed.”
He said he works with the race’s sanctioning body to coordinate changes, such as those necessary due to inclement
weather, working with television partners, supporting fans,
entertaining dignitaries and hosting individuals.
Caldwell said he and the BMS staff always look for ways to
improve the race-day experience for the fans.
“We are blessed with such a great team here at Bristol, so I
kind of feel like I’m here to serve them, help us get the things
we need, have the resources necessary to continue to be the
best speedway in NASCAR or in the country and the world.”
On non-race days, Caldwell leads overall business operations
at BMS and works to provide the BMS team with the support
and resources necessary to ensure daily operations continue to
run smoothly. This includes working to bring new events, such
as the “Battle at Bristol” football game between Virginia Tech
and the University of Tennessee, to the speedway.
Caldwell also said he is excited about the future of BMS. “We
continue to see things improve. We continue to see great opportunities, and our core business will always be motor sports
and NASCAR, NHRA. We see great potential there and great
trends, but we also see great potential in new events, which
was evidenced in the ‘Battle at Bristol,’ and I think you’ll continue to see things like that in the future.”
Caldwell is married to wife Belton, and the couple reside in
the Jonesborough area with their four adopted children, ages 3,
6, 6 and 8.
— Brad Hicks
Seating change in
Turn 1 provides fans
with a new experience
COURTESY OF BMS
An artist rendering of The Edge, a new feature in Turn 1 at Bristol Motor Speedway. The Edge will open for the IRWIN Tools Night Race.
T
here used to be a time when simply having a seat in the
grandstands for a NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Bristol Motor
Speedway was enough to put any race fan on Cloud Nine.
But a downturn in the economy coupled with the proliferation of
large HDTV screens in living rooms around the country have left promoters at auto racing venues scrambling for ways to bring fans back to
the track.
Jerry Caldwell, the executive vice president and general manager of
BMS, said his team in Bristol has been lucky in the sense that television can’t capture all the action that happens around the tight half-mile
oval, but any of the 165,000 seats at BMS provides fans with a bird’seye view of every lap.
Still, the economic downturn has created challenges for Caldwell
and his team, leaving pockets of empty seats that have popped up
around the track during Cup races over the last four years. After a lot
of analysis and brainstorming, Caldwell said one thing is becoming
increasingly clear — a seat is no longer enough to entice many race
fans into parting with their hard-earned money. You must offer folks an
experience.
“I continue to see these different experiences around one larger
experience — a race — as something that makes a lot of sense and is
something fans want,” Caldwell said.
With that in mind, Caldwell and his team are inviting race fans to
come to the IRWIN Tools Night Race and step out onto The Edge. The
idea for The Edge, a new fan area that looms a mere 20 feet from the
race track in Turn 1, came from the success of The Roof at Turn 4, an
open-air lounge perched on top of the media center in the infield that
gave fans an up-close view of the racing as cars swooped out of the
corner and across the start/finish line.
“That has been tremendously successful and very popular,” Caldwell
said. “We hear a lot of folks that go down there that say it’s their
favorite spot to watch the race. (The Edge) is kind of taking what we’ve
done with The Roof and offering it to more race fans with a different
approach.”
Indeed, The Edge, by design, is something that will be accessible
to more race fans. While there is a block of luxury boxes in the new
section — all of those seats were quickly snapped up — The Edge
is essentially a party deck complete with food, beverages and an upclose-and-personal view of the racing action.
“It’s going to be a bit more social environment,” Caldwell said. “It’s
probably not a place you are going to stand for the entire race. It’s
meant to be shared with either someone else or in conjunction with
your seat.”
The idea is that fans with grandstand tickets will be able to buy
a separate weekend pass good for both the Food City 300 and the
IRWIN Tools Night Race. The pass is completely transferable, so when
you’ve had your fill of food, drink and burning rubber, you can head
back to your seat, hand off your pass to your buddy and let him or her
head down to get a closer look.
As entertainment venues — BMS included — continue to evolve in
the 21st century, Caldwell said ideas like The Edge and The Roof in
Turn 4 will become more commonplace as promoters search for ways
to take events and turn them into experiences.
The desire within people to gather together and witness an event
as a collective group is still alive and well. It just takes more than a
bleacher seat these days to coax many folks out of the technological
bubbles in which they reside.
“People like being part of something larger,” Caldwell said. “They
like being in groups of folks and socializing, seeing a different angle.”
— Dave Ongie
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COURTESY OF BMS
An artist rendering of Bristol Motor Speedway set for the Battle at Bristol 2016 football game.
Preparing For Battle
Excitement surrounds 2016 Virginia Tech vs.
University of Tennessee football game at BMS
COURTESY OF BMS
Virginia Tech coach Frank Beamer, former VT athletic director Jim Weaver,
Speedway Motorsports CEO Marcus Smith, BMS General Manager Jerry
Caldwell, Tennessee athletic Director Dave Hart and Tennessee coach Butch
Jones at the Battle of Bristol announcement press conference.
8
GOtri Magazine | timesnews.net
A
lthough the game is more
than two years away, the
University of Tennessee and
Virginia Tech football programs are already reaping the benefits of
the “Battle at Bristol.”
It was announced at the Food City 500
back in March that the grocery chain will
come on board to sponsor the game at
Bristol Motor Speedway scheduled for
Sept. 10, 2016.
Tennessee coach Butch Jones and
Virginia Tech coach Frank Beamer, who
served as co-grand marshals for the Food
City 500, have seen the future contest as
a great recruiting tool since it was announced with great fanfare last October.
“The recruits are excited. It shows the
foresight, the vision of the University of
Tennessee has, led by (athletic director)
Dave Hart,” Vols coach Butch Jones said.
“The ability to sell ‘you’re going to be a
part of world history,’ it’s very, very special. Where we’re playing, it just adds to it
as well. It’s going to be a great venue.”
The video produced for the game an-
COURTESY OF NASCAR
Beamer and Jones talk Battle at Bristol.
PHOTO BY JEFF BIRCHFIELD
nouncement is one of the first things
Beamer shows to recruits.
There also are reminders to the Hokies’ current group of players.
“We’ve got two pictures (of an artist’s rendering of the game) as you enter our football facility,” Beamer said.
“So they walk by it every day. There is
no question, being a part of history,
being part of something … the largest
crowd ever to watch a football game,
that’s a once-in-a-lifetime deal. I think
they’re very excited.”
It is expected to draw in an estimated 150,000 fans, which would easily
set an all-time attendance record for a
football game.
The current NCAA record is 115,109,
set last September at Michigan Stadium to see the host Wolverines beat
Notre Dame. The unofficial record is
123,000 for a 1927 game at Chicago’s
Soldier Game when Notre Dame defeated Southern Cal.
While the Vols play in front of a
weekly crowd of more than 100,000,
Jones said it’s a different ballgame at
Bristol with the anticipation and the
chance to break a world record.
Tennessee had already sold an allotment of 40,000 tickets by the end of
January, which came as no surprise to
Jones.
“
Mascots from the University
of Tennessee, Bristol Motor
Speedway and Virginia Tech
celebrate news of the big game.
“That’s another illustration of the
excitement and the passion that surrounds Tennessee football,” he said.
“I say we have the best fan base in
America and that’s another illustration
of that.
“Our fan base has provided so much
positive energy moving this program
forward. You feel that throughout the
state of Tennessee and throughout the
country.”
The Vols hope to add to the momentum of a strong recruiting class,
ranked in the top five of the country
by all of the major services. Jones has
been able to do well courting local
products, adding that Brendan Downs,
Mack Crowder, Malik Foreman and
Devaun Swafford are all expected to
contribute heavily this season.
“We continue to be a work in progress, but we have a lot of positive
energy going on at Tennessee,” Jones
said. “We’ve been through five practices for spring football. There is a lot
of positive momentum, but opportunities like this to come to Bristol Motor
Speedway and talk about the Battle at
Bristol, it’s exciting.”
Both teams do have question marks,
however, particularly at the quarterback position. They also have other
challenges.
Tennessee is coming off a 5-7 season, its fourth-straight losing campaign. Virginia Tech finished 8-5 last
season, but was blown out by UCLA in
the Sun Bowl.
On the flip side, there are more positives to build on.
Jones, who is starting his second
season, was able to lead Tennessee to
a 23-21 win over then No. 11 South
Carolina, the Vols’ first win over a
ranked opponent since 2009.
Beamer, entering his 27th season at
Virginia Tech, is the nation’s longest
tenured coach. His 224 career wins
(209 with the Hokies) rank him as the
nation’s winningest active coach and
under him the Hokies have 21 consecutive winning seasons.
“Fantastic,” he said, is the one word
that sums up his feelings about the
Battle at Bristol, which is being touted
as bigger than any bowl game or even
a national championship game.
“I think it’s going to be a fantastic
game in a fantastic setting,” Beamer
said. “To be part of history, this area
is going to benefit from it. People for
a long time wanted us to schedule
a game with Tennessee and we’re
playing right here in the middle. It’s a
fantastic situation.”
— Jeff Birchfield
The ability to sell ‘you’re going to be a part of world history,’
it’s very, very special. Where we’re playing, it just
adds to it as well. It’s going to be a great venue.
­— Butch Jones, University of Tennessee football coach
”
September 2014 | GOtri Magazine
9
The Chase is on
A
t first glance, the 2014 NASCAR
Sprint Cup Series season looks a
lot like a blast from the past.
An Earnhardt has multiple
wins under his belt, and not to
be outdone, Jeff Gordon has tasted victory as
well. Even the iconic No. 43 car made famous
by Richard Petty has visited victory lane after a
15-year absence.
And then there’s the age-old battle for supremacy pitting Ford against Chevrolet.
But for all the familiar names, ancient rivalries and well-worn storylines, the 2014 season
is actually a brave new world for the sport of
stock car racing. No sir, this ain’t your daddy’s
NASCAR.
The biggest change from last year to this
year is the playoff format. The Chase for
the Sprint Cup title, first introduced in 2004,
underwent a major overhaul prior to the start of
the season. Sixteen drivers will now make the
playoffs and there will be a series of eliminations during the final 10-race stretch, which will
culminate in a four-driver, winner-take-all event
in Homestead, Fla., in November.
In another interesting wrinkle, drivers can
now qualify for the Chase by simply winning
one of the 26 regular-season races instead of
chasing points. This move has made winning
each race more important and it has also given
virtually every race team a puncher’s chance
of qualifying for the Chase.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. was the first driver to
punch his ticket when he captured the second
Daytona 500 win of his career to open the season, allowing his massive fanbase to breathe a
collective sigh of relief.
The new format allowed drivers like Kevin
Harvick, Kurt Busch and Carl Edwards to relax
a bit when they each recorded victories early in
the season. Those wins erased some horrible
early season luck for all three race teams, al-
PHOTOS COURTESY OF NASCAR
lowing them to spend the summer working out
the kinks in preparation for the playoffs instead
of potentially trying to salvage their respective
seasons.
You can also count Aric Almirola among
those preparing for the Chase. Almirola
punched his ticket with a rain-shortened win in
Daytona back in July, putting Richard Petty’s
famous No. 43 in victory lane for the first time
since 1999.
As the month of May unfolded, Rick Hendrick’s four-car team began to flex its muscle.
Starting with Gordon’s win in Kansas on May
10, the Hendrick Motorsports fleet won five
consecutive races, with six-time champion
Jimmie Johnson accounting for three of them.
Talk in the garage turned to the dominance of
Hendrick’s Chevy engines and speculation ran
rampant that Toyota and Ford had miles to go
in order to catch up with the army of engineers
at Hendrick’s massive race shop.
But the tide quickly turned back in favor of
the Fords when Edwards captured his second
win of the season at Sonoma in June, starting
a string of four consecutive wins for the Ford
camp.
When the lights come on at Bristol Motor
Speedway for the IRWIN Tools Night Race,
there will only be three races remaining before
the Chase begins in Chicago. Those three
races will offer three golden tickets to race
teams unable to qualify for the Chase on
points, which should amp up the intensity of
each event.
With so much on the line, there is nothing a
driver won’t be willing to do in order to win, and
that could lead to the sort of fender-tearing,
temper-flaring action that put BMS on the map
in the first place.
— Dave Ongie
Several drivers have secured spots in the playoffs, including (clockwise from bottom),
Aric Almirola by winning Daytona in July; Carl Edwards, who was awarded his spot
for his March victory in Bristol and also took the win in Sonoma in June, pictured;
Kevin Harvick with his April win at Darlington; Kurt Busch, who took the checkered
flag in Martinsville in late March; and Dale Earnhardt Jr., who claimed his spot
in the first race of the season in Daytona in February.
10
GOtri Magazine | timesnews.net
BY THE NUMBERS:
44,000
million
1.2
4,100
19,100
Hot dogs sold (18,300
hamburgers are sold)
Bottles of Pepsi products sold
Cans of beer sold
Linear feet of
toilet paper used
Sets of tires Goodyear
brings to the track
57,000
Race weekend at BMS
11
Countries represented
25,000
Bottles of water sold
2,700
Toilets on the property
500
Gallons of paint used to
prepare for race weekend
5,575 400
People working,
both paid employees
and volunteers
Approximate number of
media credentials issued
The 2015 GLK-Class
The 2015 M-Class
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COURTESY OF TOYOTA RACING
COURTESY OF TOYOTA RACING
Matt Kenseth, left, and Kyle Busch, talk before t
Kenseth and Busch are teammates
Matt Kenseth looks
to repeat as champion
M
COURTESY OF BMS
Kenseth celebrates with a burnout after winning the
night race at Bristol Motor Speedway on August 24, 2013.
COURTESY OF TOYOTA RACING
Kyle Busch in the Doublemint Toyota Camry and Matt Kenseth in the
Dollar General Toyota Camry are shown in the pits in Bristol last August.
Both drivers credit their pit crews for their success on the track. Kenseth’s crew
is one of the fastest on pit row with frequent 11-second pit stops.
12
GOtri Magazine | timesnews.net
att Kenseth has three Sprint Cup victories
at Bristol Motor Speedway. But, the defending champion of the IRWIN Tools Night
Race looks back to his days before reaching NASCAR’s top level for his best memory of the World’s
Fastest Half-Mile.
“Winning my first Cup race was exciting, but I
think back to how fun it was winning my first
Nationwide race there,” said Kenseth, who
has 18 top-10 finishes in 29 starts at Bristol. “There were a lot of things I remember about it. I ran the Friday night and
had a Bristol party the next night and
watched the Cup race on TV at my
house. My best friend came down
and I see him after that Nationwide
race was over, he’s over there carrying that big trophy over his head,
running down the frontstretch.”
The Bristol trophy is always a special one, both for its size and for what
it means. A win at Bristol is one that
said a driver not only survived 500
laps, but was able to conquer the
high-banked track. Kenseth, driver
of the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, has done so on three occasions.
He was quick to credit his pit crew, however, for
the win last August, along with crew chief Jason
Ratliff’s decision to just take on left-side tires.
“I sped on pit road in the middle of the race and
got to the back,” said the 2003 NASCAR champion. “That changed our strategy. We had to take a
chance at the end to get lefts (tires). We ran our
rights a long time. Barely made it to the end with
them, so we had a great car. I tried to mess it up,
but Jason bailed me out.”
To win the race, Kenseth had to hold off a determined Kasey Kahne at the end.
“He raced as hard as he could — we ran out of
room off (turn) four. We were both digging as hard
as we could to try to get it. I got real tight on them
KENSETH and BUSCH co
COURTESY OF TOYOTA RACING
fore the race in May in Concord, North Carolina.
ates on the Joe Gibbs Racing team.
Kyle Busch works to
improve a slow season
K
yle Busch, in a word, is enigmatic. A mystery
wrapped inside a riddle — a force of nature
equal parts amazing and underwhelming.
On one hand, the 29-year-old just may be the
best pure driver on the elite NASCAR Sprint Cup
Series circuit. There have been days when Busch
has climbed behind the wheel of his finely tuned
No. 18 Toyota Camry and laid the entire field
to waste, powersliding through the corners with reckless abandon, pushing his
vehicle just a hair further than anyone
else on the track is willing to go.
After Busch came through with
a daredevil move during a laterace restart to secure a victory in
California earlier this season, his
car owner, Joe Gibbs, could only
shake his head. “We have the perfect driver behind the wheel of that
car,” Gibbs said.
But for all of Busch’s heroics, he
has yet to win a Sprint Cup championship despite racking up 29
victories so far in his 11-year career. Some of that can be chalked
up to bad luck — blown engines,
ill-timed crashes and assorted parts failures.
The larger problem for Busch, however, has
been an inability to consistently take an ill-handling race car and bring it home to record a decent finish. Points racing has always been the key
to winning championships, and a major part of
being a good points racer is to get the most out of
your car on a bad day at the track.
So far this season, Busch has shown more patience as his Joe Gibbs Racing team has struggled
to keep up with the lightning-fast cars fielded by
Hendrick Motorsports and Roger Penske Racing.
Playing catch-up been a tough pill to swallow
for Busch and his teammates after the JGR drivers combined to win 12 of the 36 races run last
season, but Busch has embraced the process of
CH continued on page 21
COURTESY OF BMS
COURTESY OF TOYOTA RACING
Kyle Busch poses in Victory Lane after winning the NASCAR
Sprint Cup Series IRWIN Tools Night Race at Bristol Motor
Speedway on August 21, 2010. He became the only driver in
NASCAR history to “sweep” the Truck Series, Nationwide
Series and Sprint Cup Series in the same weekend.
Right, Busch in the Doublemint Toyota Camry cockpit.
INSET PHOTOS COURTESY OF TOYOTA RACING
COURTESY OF TOYOTA RACING
Busch in the M&M’s Toyota Camry and Matt Kenseth in the
Dollar General Toyota Camry in Sparta, Kentucky, in June.
September 2014 | GOtri Magazine
13
Looking back at BMS
Snapshots of NASCAR’s early days at Bristol Motor Speedway
COURTESY OF BMS
1967: Richard Petty gets advice from his
COURTESY OF NASCAR
JULY 29, 1961: Jack Smith, second from
left, got the race-win credit but Johnny Allen,
second from right, was in the car when the
checkered flag fell on the 1961 Volunteer
500 at Bristol International Raceway. Allen
took over and drove the final 209 laps after
Smith’s foot was burned during the race.
COURTESY OF NASCAR
father, Lee. Petty’s victory at Bristol was
one of his NASCAR record 27 that season.
JULY 24, 1966: Promoter Larry Carrier,
right, presents the Volunteer 500 trophy
to Paul Goldsmith. Carrier envisioned
and then built his dream track in the
side of an East Tennessee mountain.
Carrier’s Bristol International Raceway
opened with its first Cup race in 1961.
COURTESY OF BMS
1978: Cale Yarborough wins the first
Night Race in the No. 11 Oldsmobile.
COURTESY OF BMS
1967: Cale Yarborough receives the
winner’s trophy from BMS founder
Larry Carrier.
1975: Above, Richard
Petty’s crew services
the No. 43 STP Dodge.
Right, Petty receives
the winner’s trophy
from then-BMS track
owner Larry Carrier.
Petty won both Bristol
races that season.
COURTESY OF BMS
COURTESY OF BMS
Late 1970s: Bobby Allison in the
No. 15 Ford and Cale Yarborough
in the No. 11 Chevrolet battle on
Bristol’s high banks.
COURTESY OF NASCAR
APRIL 1, 1979: Dale Earnhardt
won his first-ever NASCAR Cup
race when he took the 1979
Southeastern 500 at Bristol
International Raceway. Earnhardt
won nine Cup races at Bristol.
14
COURTESY OF NASCAR
COURTESY OF BMS
1980: Yarborough wins
the August race.
GOtri Magazine | timesnews.net
1981: Darrell Waltrip wins
the Bristol 500. He scored a
record seven-straight wins
at Bristol from 1981-84.
COURTESY OF BMS
1999: Dale Earnhardt spins out Terry
Labonte on the final lap of the 1999
night race, considered Bristol’s most
famous finish in Speedway history.
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Drivers to watch
Danica Patrick
Slowly but surely, one of the most
popular drivers on the circuit is finding
her way around the demanding half-mile
oval in Bristol. After struggling mightily
at BMS during her first three starts at the track, Patrick looked
much better en route to an 18th-place finish in the Food City
500 back in March. Patrick’s strong run in Bristol was part of
a general upswing for the former open-wheel driver, who has
been improving her qualifying efforts as well as her average
finishes during her second season of full-time Cup competition.
Carl Edwards
Like Kenseth, Edwards has three
career Cup victories at BMS. After winning the Food City 500 back in March,
Edwards is looking to complete the
season sweep in Bristol by capturing the IRWIN Tools Night
Race. Edwards has a pair of victories under the lights in Bristol,
including a memorable triumph over Kyle Busch in 2008 that
was made possible by a bump-and-run move that left Busch
fuming after the checkered flag waved.
Denny Hamlin
Once Hamlin, a Virginia native, finally
recorded a Cup victory at his home
track in Richmond, his attention quickly
turned to BMS. Hamlin spent his youth
watching races in the grandstands in Bristol and made no bones
about his desire to win a Cup race at the track.
Hamlin finally sealed the deal in August of 2012, and he
remains a threat to visit victory lane again. He has won two
consecutive poles at the track and figures to be fast again under
the lights this month.
Kyle Busch
There was a time when Busch absolutely owned BMS. During a five-race
span from 2009 until 2011, Busch tallied
five Cup victories in Bristol with a ninth-place result wedged
in the middle. Over the course of his career, the man they call
Rowdy has led more than 1,500 laps in Thunder Valley and
etched his name in the history books in August of 2010 by
sweeping the Camping World Truck Series race, the Nationwide
Series race and the Cup race in the same weekend at BMS,
making him the first driver to accomplish the feat.
16
Kyle Larson
The first time most NASCAR fans
heard of Larson was during his first
Nationwide Series start at BMS back in
March of 2013 when the youngster lost
a photo finish to Cup star Kyle Busch.
Now the 21-year-old phenom is a regular on the Cup circuit
and he’s wowing the veterans with his ability to run consistently
in the top 10. Larson recorded a 10th-place finish at BMS in his
first Cup start at the track in the spring and seems primed to
contend again this time around.
Kasey Kahne
Years of close calls and bad breaks in
Bristol ended for Kahne when he finally
broke through and recorded his first
career Cup victory by winning the Food
City 500 back in 2013.
Victory seemed to be a foregone conclusion in August of 2007
when Kahne started on the pole and led 305 laps, but he was
forced to settle for a runner-up finish behind Carl Edwards.
Kahne has found consistency at the track over the last couple
years, recording four straight top-10 finishes.
Kurt Busch
There was a span from about 2002
through 2004 when Busch was practically unbeatable on the high banks of BMS.
He won four out of five Cup races during that span, and he walked away from the race he didn’t win
with a sixth-place finish. Another win in 2006 put him in an elite
group of drivers who have won five Cup races in Bristol.
Busch has been fast plenty of times this season, and he’s just
one more good day away from recording win No. 6.
Matt Kenseth
When the sun goes down in Bristol,
Matt Kenseth has proven to be a very
dangerous driver. Kenseth has won
three August night races at BMS over
the course of his career, the most recent coming last year.
The veteran’s win in 2005 will go down in history as one of the
most dominant Cup Series wins at the track. Kenseth started
on the pole and led 415 of 500 laps, leaving a field full of elite
drivers in his wake.
Brad Keselowski
Keselowski captured back-to-back Cup
series wins at BMS by winning the IRWIN
Tools Night Race in 2011 and following it
up with a Food City 500 victory in 2012.
Keselowski went on to win his first Cup championship in 2012,
earning his status as an elite driver.
Since then, however, Keselowski has struggled to regain his
mastery of Bristol’s half-mile concrete oval. Keselowski led a combined 321 laps during his back-to-back wins in 2011 and 2012. In
the four races since, he has only led 102 laps with one third-place
finish, a 14th-place result and two 30th-place showings.
Kevin Harvick
“Feast or famine” has been the theme
of Harvick’s 2014 season thus far, and
fans on hand at the Food City 500
caught a first-hand glimpse of that back
in March. Harvick’s Chevrolet was certainly fast, but after leading 28 laps, a crash ended his chances of securing his second
career Cup win at BMS. Entering the IRWIN Tools Night Race,
Harvick has established himself as a title contender thanks to
a pair of utterly dominating victories in Phoenix and Darlington.
But the disappointing days have far outweighed the good ones
so far, and Harvick hopes to right the ship in Bristol.
Jeff Gordon
Gordon is a five-time winner at BMS,
but it’s been awhile since the No. 24 car
has visited Victory Lane in Bristol. Gordon’s first win at BMS came in 1995 and his fifth came in 2002.
Since then, Gordon has alternated between solid top-10 runs
and days at the track he’d rather forget. The IRWIN Tools Night
Race, however, has been good to Gordon as of late.
In his last three August Cup races in Bristol, Gordon has
finished third, third and seventh. Another seventh-place finish in
the most recent Food City 500 will have Gordon confident and
ready heading into the August night race.
Clint Bowyer
The freewheeling Kansas native has
shown amazing ability at BMS over the
years, but Bowyer has yet to win a race
at the track.
Bowyer has finished in the top 10 in nearly half the Cup races
he’s run at the venue and was part of a 1-2-3 finish for Richard
Childress Racing back in 2008.
The third-place finish he picked up that day is the highest
Bowyer has ever finished, but his ability to run consistently up
front makes him a threat to win.
Jimmie Johnson
If it weren’t for a blown right-front tire,
Johnson may very well have won the
Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway
in March. But after leading 44 laps early
in the race, trouble struck the No. 48 team when Johnson’s tire
literally unraveled, sending him to the pits where he fell three
laps down, forcing the six-time Sprint Cup champion to settle for
a 19th place finish.
Johnson found his groove in May and quickly rattled off three
victories to put himself in the mix for another Cup title.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Earnhardt sent a jolt of excitement
through NASCAR Nation when he won
the Daytona 500 to kick off the 2014
season and has done nothing to tarnish
his position as a strong title contender.
Junior added another thrilling victory in Pocono and has been
competitive week in and week out so far, routinely finishing in
the top 10. Earnhardt scored his lone Cup victory at BMS back
in 2004 and has struggled to master one of his favorite tracks
in the decade since. But in a season of rejuvenation for the
one-time phenom, it’s hard to imagine Earnhardt not contending
under the lights.
Tony Stewart
Coming off a broken leg that ended
his 2013 season prematurely, Stewart’s
first strong finish of the 2014 season
came in Bristol when he managed a fourth-place finish in the
Food City 500. It has been an up-and-down campaign for Stewart to say the least, and BMS has been an up-and-down track
for the veteran over the course of his 30 career starts.
His win in Bristol in 2001 seemed as if it would be the first of
many, but a trail of broken parts and battered race cars tell the
tale of the hard luck Stewart has endured at the half-mile track.
In four separate races, Stewart has led at least 200 laps only
to fall out of contention. His triumph in 2001 remains his only
Cup win at BMS, but Stewart has a burning desire to overcome
all the bad fortune he has endured at one of his favorite tracks.
— Dave Ongie
17
Darrell Wallace Jr. leads a pack of trucks during the NASCAR
Camping World Truck Series Kroger 200 at Martinsville
Speedway on October 26, 2013, in Martinsville, Virginia.
Wallace Jr., center, with Wendell Scott Jr. (left) and
Franklin Scott, sons of Wendell Scott, the first black
driver to win a NASCAR premier series event.
Wallace talks race and racing
W
hen the word “race” is
mentioned to Darrell
Wallace Jr., it’s as often
about the color of his
skin as the sporting
event he’s about to participate in.
While it’s perhaps the most uncomfortable subject in American culture to
discuss, the 21-year-old driver who became the first black driver to win a major
NASCAR race in 50 years last year
said it’s something that can’t be
ignored.
“At the end of the day,
you have to talk about it
because there is no one
else there,” he said. “It
might get played up to
an extent and get old, but
you have to talk about it.
After 50 years, it’s a cool
accomplishment to have,
but at the same time, it’s
sad.”
Wallace, who raced the No. 54
Toyota for Kyle Busch Motorsports
in Wednesday’s UNOH 200 for the Camping World Truck Series, was referring to
his win last season at Martinsville, Virginia.
It was the first win for a black driver since
Wendell Scott’s victory at Jacksonville,
Florida, in 1963.
Scott, a 2015 NASCAR Hall of Fame inductee, competed as an independent racer
most of his career. Wallace is with one
of the top teams in the Truck Series and
recently scored a second win in St. Louis.
He is quick to credit NASCAR’s “Drive
for Diversity” program for allowing him to
have the opportunity to race with such organizations as KBM and Joe Gibbs Racing
before that in the K&N East Series, where
he was a six-time winner.
“I came up through the diversity program and that’s what it’s all about. The
18
GOtri Magazine | timesnews.net
Photos COURTESY OF NASCAR
Darrell Wallace Jr., driver of the No. 54 ToyotaCare Toyota, celebrates in
victory lane after winning the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Kroger 200
at Martinsville Speedway on Oct. 26, 2013, in Martinsville.
effort NASCAR put behind that and their
statement behind that is growing with the
talent they’re bringing in. For me to come
through that program, I can honestly say I
wouldn’t be here without that.”
While there have been some critics of
the diversity program, Wallace is not one
of them. The program opens the door for
young drivers, but Wallace said those in
the diversity program are like any other
aspiring shoes. It is talent and work ethic
which ultimately lead to a driver making it
at the top levels.
“I would give it an A for sure,” he said.
“It’s a program, but the drivers have to be
up to par to do it. With who they’re bringing in now, everybody is performing well at
the top level and trying to break through.
The next thing is signing on with a big
team and getting that next chance. I believe
NASCAR has given that opportunity to do
that.”
Wallace first caught the eye of the Gibbs
team with his success in Legends cars.
”
­— Darrell “Bubba” Wallace Jr.
Before that, he raced go-karts, where he learned the
fundamentals of the sport.
This is certainly not his first time at Bristol Motor
Speedway, where he’s raced late model stocks and
in the K&N Series before the Truck Series.
“It’s so fast it just takes everything out of you,”
Wallace said about the World’s Fastest Half-Mile.
“No matter if you’re in practice or trying to catch
your breath after the first lap of qualifying or racing side-by-side to the finish line, it’s a bunch of
fun. You’ve got to be on the edge of your seat the
entire time.”
While the average lap at Bristol is only around
120 mph, Wallace said the sensation of speed is
greater than going 200 at the larger tracks.
“The concrete tracks feel like the fastest tracks
we go to,” he said. “The speeds are not as high as
Daytona, but it feels like it. The banking is very similar and to be thrown into a corner like that, there is
no other feeling like it. At Dover and Bristol, it feels
like 1,000 G-forces pushing down every lap. Some
might think that’s crazy, but I think it’s awesome.”
Wallace is better known in racing circles and by
other friends as “Bubba,” a nickname that
came from his sister, who couldn’t say
brother when he was born.
He remembered going into the
Martinsville weekend last fall and
telling the sons of Wendell Scott
he was going to win the race. Since
then, Wallace has added wins at St.
Louis and in the Truck Series’ lone
dirt track race at Eldora,
Ohio. Still, that first win
was more than making
history. For Wallace, it
was about having a
vision and seeing it
through.
“I didn’t let
anybody take
that vision away
from me. Denny
Hamlin was in
that race and it
all of a sudden
became all about
Denny Hamlin. It
was like, ‘You’ve got
to beat him.’ I was
like, ‘He has to beat me.’
That’s how the mentality
was. There was a time I got
behind him, but I was learning from him. I knew we
had a good solid motor for
that race and it would get
the job done.”
— Jeff Birchfield
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thethe2014
Train
2014Santa
Santa Train
Celebrate
Scott
County’s
Celebrate
Scott
County’s
RIDEBi-Centennial
THE
2014
Bi-Centennial
SANTA TRAIN!
&&
for a chance to
Celebrate Register
ScottRegister
County’s
Bi-Centennial
chance
to
winfor
twoaseats
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win two
seats
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the to
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for
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2014
Santa
Train
2014
Santa
Train
WIN TWO SEATS on the 2014 Santa Train
All you have to do is attend one of the official Bi-Centennial Events listed below and
register for a chance to ride the Santa Train. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity.
AllAllyou
todo
doisare
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the
Bi-Centennial
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listed
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only.
youhave
haveTickets
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Bi-Centennial
Events
listed
below
register
forand
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chance totoride
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Santa
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register for a chance
ride
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a lifetime opportunity.
Nickelsville Days, Sat., May 24, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., Keith Memorial Park
are
never
sold
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the
train;
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on the
Santa
is by25,
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First
Annual
Nickelsville
Community
Church
Service
&
Gospel
Sing,Train
Sun.,
May
1-4
Keith
Memorial
Park
Tickets Tickets
are never
sold
to ride
the
train;
a atrip
on
the
Santa
Train
isinvitation
byp.m.,
invitation
only.
Duffield Jams, Thurs., May 29, 6:30-9:30 p.m., Thomas Village Community Center, Cecil Quillen Rd.
Golden Gaits Horse Show, Sat., May 31, 4-6 p.m., Scott County Horse Park, Dungannon
Nickelsville Days, Sat., May 24, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., Keith Memorial Park
Allen Hicks
Friday30,
Night11am-3pm
Jams, Fri., June 20, 6-8 p.m., 1844 Bethel Road, Nickelsville
Duffield
Daze,
Aug
First Annual Nickelsville Days Community
Service
& GospelJuly
Sing,
1-4 p.m., Keith Memorial Park
DungannonChurch
Fourth of
July Celebration,
4, 10Sun.,
a.m.-2May
p.m.,25,
Dungannon
Duffield
Jams,Joe
Thurs.,
May
6:30-9:30
p.m.,
Thomas
Community
Center, Cecil
Quillen
Christmas
at the29,
Zoo,
Creation Kingdom
Zoo, Fri., Village
July 11,
6-9
p.m.,
1642 Snowflake
Rd., Gate
City Rd.
Papa
Smiddy
Concert
featuring
Hello
Stranger,
Train Day
@ Natural
Tunnel
Sat.,
July 19,Horse
11 a.m.-3
p.m.Dungannon
Golden Gaits Horse Show,
Sat.,
May 31,
4-6 State
p.m.,Park,
Scott
County
Park,
Aug
31,
5-8pm,
Amphitheatre,
Natural
Tunnel
Carter
Fold
40th
Anniversary
Celebration,
Aug.
1,
5-7
p.m.;
Aug.
2,
5-7
p.m.,
A.P.
Carter
Hwy.,
Hiltons
Allen Hicks Friday Night Jams, Fri., June 20, 6-8 p.m., 1844 Bethel Road, Nickelsville
Scott County Fair, Sat., Aug.16, 11 a.m.-3 p.m., Scott County Regional Horse Park, Dungannon
Dungannon
Fourth
July
Celebration,
July 4, 10 a.m.-2
p.m., Dungannon
Grillin’
at the
Gate,of Sept
13,
and
Duffield
Daze,11am-4pm
Sat., Aug. 30, 11 a.m.-3
p.m.6-8pm,
Christmas Papa
at the
Creation
Zoo,Stranger,
Fri., JulySun.,
11,Aug.
6-931,
p.m.,
1642Amphitheatre,
Snowflake Rd.,
Gate
City
JoeZoo,
Smiddy
ConcertKingdom
featuring Hello
5-8 p.m.,
Natural
Tunnel
Downtown
Gate
City
Train
Day @
Natural
Tunnel
July6-8
19,p.m.,
11 Downtown
a.m.-3 p.m.
Grillin’
at the
Gate, Sat.,
Sept.State
13 11 Park,
a.m.-4 Sat.,
p.m. and
Gate City
Grillin’ at the
Gate,
Sept. 14,
1-52,
p.m.,
CityA.P. Carter Hwy., Hiltons
Carter Fold 40th Anniversary Celebration,
Aug.
1, Sun.,
5-7 p.m.;
Aug.
5-7Gate
p.m.,
Grillin’ at the
Gate,
Sept
14,
1-5pm,
Gate
Punkin’
Patch Fall
Sat.,
Sept.
27,
11City
a.m.-3Horse
p.m., Nickelsville
Scott County Fair, Sat.,
Aug.16,
11Harvest
a.m.-3Celebration,
p.m., Scott
County
Regional
Park, Dungannon
Bush Mill Days, Sat., Oct. 4, 11 a.m.-3 p.m., Nickelsville
Duffield
Daze,
Sat.,
Aug. Oct.
30, 11,
11 11
a.m.-3
p.m.
Punkin’Frontier
Patch
Fall
Harvest
Celebration,
Sept
27, Tunnel State Park
Harvest
Celebration
@ Blockhouse,
a.m.-3
p.m., Natural
Papa Joe Smiddy Concert featuring
Hello
Sun.,
Aug.1642
31, 5-8
p.m., Rd.,
Amphitheatre,
Natural Tunnel
Boo @ the
Zoo,Stranger,
Fri., Oct. 31,
6-8 p.m.,
Snowflake
Gate City
11am-3pm,
Nickelsville
Drawing—Board
of Supervisors
Meeting,p.m.
Wed.,
Nov.
5, 11
a.m.,Downtown
Tickets drawnGate
by Santa
Grillin’ at the
Gate, Sat., Sept.
13 11 a.m.-4
and
6-8
p.m.,
City
Grillin’
at
the
Gate,
Sun.,
Sept.
14,
1-5
p.m.,
Gate
City
Bush
Mill
Rules for Santa
TrainDays,
Drawing Oct 4 11am - 3pm, Nickelsville
Punkin’ Patch Fall Harvest Celebration, Sat., Sept. 27, 11 a.m.-3 p.m., Nickelsville
This is a once in a lifetime
chance
to Celebration
ride
the Santa
Frontier
Harvest
@ a.m.-3
Blockhouse,
Bush
Mill
Days,
Sat.,Train
Oct. 4, 11
p.m., Nickelsville
Frontier
Celebration
@ Blockhouse,
Oct.
11, 11 a.m.-3 p.m., Natural Tunnel State Park
DrawingHarvest
for two spots
on the
2014 11am-3pm,
Santa
Train Special, Nov.
22,
2014
Oct
11,
Natural
Tunnel
Boo @ the Zoo, Fri., Oct. 31, 6-8 p.m., 1642 Snowflake Rd., Gate City
You may register ONE time at each of the events, venues and times listed. You may register more than one time by attending and
Drawing—Board
ofofficial
Supervisors
Wed.,
5, 11at a.m.,
Tickets
drawn
Santa to win!
Boo
@at th
Zoo,
Oct
31,Meeting,
6-8pm,
registering
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of the
Bi-Centennial
events.
If you
attend Nov.
and register
each event,
this will
give youby
20 chances
In the event the winner cannot ride the train, an alternate will be drawn and held in the vault at the Scott County Treasurer’s Office. The
original
winner must
notify Scott
County Tourism one Rd,
week prior
to the Santa
Train if they are unable to ride on Nov. 22.
1642
Snowflake
Gate
City
Rules for Santa Train
Drawing
There are no official tickets to ride the train (only available seats). The name of the winning ticket holder will be delivered to train officials.
Tickets are not transferable nor may be sold for cash!
This is a once in a lifetime chanceDRAWING
to ride the Santa Train
No riders under 18
EVENTS
“
At Dover and Bristol, it
feels like 1,000 G-forces
pushing down every lap.
Some might think that’s crazy,
but I think it’s awesome.
Board of Supervisors Meeting November 5, 11am
Winners will arrive at the Kingsport Area Chamber of Commerce, 400 Clinchfield St., Suite 100, Kingsport, Tenn., Friday, Nov, 21, to load a
Tickets
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byvenues
Santa!
bus for transport
to Pikeville,
Kentucky.
You will spend the night in Pikeville, Kentucky compliments of the Scott County Bi-Centennial
You may register ONE
time at each
of the events,
and times listed. You may register more than one time by attending and
Drawing for two spots on the 2014 Santa Train Special, Nov. 22, 2014
Committee. You must be up and ready to board the bus, Sat., Nov. 22, by 5 a.m. (The train leaves promptly @ 6:30 a.m. from Shelby, Ky.)
registering at eachIf of
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The
name
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Tickets are not transferable nor may be sold for cash!
FOR DETAILS AND RULES GO TO:
www.explorescottcountyva.org
No riders under 18
Winners will arrive at the Kingsport Area Chamber of Commerce, 400 Clinchfield St., Suite 100, Kingsport, Tenn., Friday, Nov, 21, to load a
Former Hokie trades
football for gas can
C
aleb Hurd fuels his competitive
spirit these days by fueling race
cars.
As the gas man for the No.
11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota in
NASCAR’s Sprint Cup Series,
Hurd often likens his role to his days playing football at Virginia Tech.
You see, he was one of those
special teams players for the
Hokies, and points out how
one big play on a kick or
punt return can have the
same affect as a crucial
pit stop.
“Special teams is the
perfect example of what
the pit crew does,” he
said. “You sit on the side
30 minutes at a time, but
when it’s time to go, there
is no time to make a mistake.
“Your driver is out there
busting his hump to get a position or two. You can lose it for him,
or gain him another one. It’s kind of like fumbling a punt or returning a punt for a touchdown.
It’s the same idea.”
Hurd played at Virginia Tech from 1996-2000
and he started all four years. His duties included
being a long snapper on punts and a holder for
the kicker on field goals and extra points. He was
part of the Hokies’ biggest game ever when they
played Florida State for the BCS national championship.
With that, he’s nearly as excited to see the
“Battle at Bristol” as he is to come to Bristol with
driver Denny Hamlin. Hurd pointed out a potential matchup between Tennessee and Virginia
Tech in front of the biggest crowd ever to see a
football game was something talked about back
when he played for the Hokies.
“I remember they were talking about it even
when we were playing and they were redoing the
infield. I was disappointed when it fell through,
but I’m happy to see it happen now.
“It’s always been a cool idea to get that many
people in there, especially the fan bases of Tennessee and Virginia Tech. You know it’s going to
be cool, kind of rowdy and fun. I think it’s going to
be a heck of a spectacle.”
While Hurd’s Hokies lost the national championship game 46-29 to the Seminoles, he
reached the top of the sport of NASCAR as a
member of Jeff Gordon’s “Rainbow Warriors” pit
crew in 2001.
In fact, Hurd has worked with the biggest stars
in the sport with Gordon for nine years and Dale
20
GOtri Magazine | timesnews.net
COURTESY OF NASCAR
Caleb Hurd, a former Virginia Tech football player, is the gas man in the Denny
Hamlin Toyota Camry pit crew. Before moving to Joe Gibbs Racing, Hurd was in
Jeff Gordon’s “Rainbow Warriors” crew and in Dale Earnhard Jr.’s team.
Earnhardt Jr. for three before coming to Joe
Gibbs Racing.
Another way racing is like football is the way a
superstar driver interacts with the team is often
the same as the way star quarterback Michael
Vick was around his teammates.
“You have that team atmosphere,” he said.
“The guys who are superstars, you try to help
them succeed and do their thing. All drivers or
quarterbacks, there are moments when they
kind of lose it. The good ones, they get over it
and they get with you and you find a common
ground. It works both ways. Sometimes you don’t
feel like the driver is giving 110 percent. Like the
whole special teams deal, he works hard for 30
minutes and he comes in. You take away all his
hard work, he’s going to be mad.”
An engineer through the week, Hurd also
doesn’t want to make car owner Joe Gibbs and
team president J.D. Gibbs angry either. He added that both Gibbses are like fellow car owner
Rick Hendrick and Virginia Tech head coach
Frank Beamer in their attitude of dealing with a
problem.
“They’re like coach Beamer, they don’t rant
and rave. That works for me — kind of my mindset. It’s easy to respect a person that you know
when they get mad, they mean it. They’re not
just flying off at the mouth all the time. With those
two, you want to earn their respect and do what
they hired you to do because you don’t want to
let them down.”
Still, there are some differences with the Gibbs
organization compared to Hendrick Motorsports.
With his background, Hurd often finds that both
team owner Joe Gibbs, who coached the Washington Redskins to three Super Bowl championships, and J.D. Gibbs, who was a quarterback
at James Madison, are often speaking his language.
“They definitely have the football mentality, so
the way we are approaching something, they get
it from that side of things. It is nice to have a manager like coach Gibbs who is used to the different personalities. He’s good about getting us all
together and to work together.
“Mr. Hendrick has a little different approach
and the infrastructure is set up a little different,
but it’s obviously working. You just need a good
manager, but with coach Gibbs, I like how he
shares a lot of the mindset that we have.”
Still, Hurd has been fortunate to win races with
both organizations. He said there are reasons
Gibbs and Hendrick are considered the best car
owners in the NASCAR garage.
“Just by my experience, they are people persons. They get the right people in place. They let
you develop, give you the tools and then kind of
let you do your thing. The willingness to do that
is part of it and then both are good about getting
the right group of people together.”
— Jeff Birchfield
rolling up his sleeves and finding a way to catch up to the competition.
“There’s been some teams that have had some really, really
fast cars all year round. We’re not quite there,” Busch said. “We
have gotten some good finishes, though, but we haven’t led the
laps we want to be leading. We haven’t been such dominant forces that we were last year.
“Trying to get better, and once we do, I think everybody will see, and you’ll start hearing the name
JGR a little bit more.”
After a miserable four-race stretch that saw
Busch record finishes of 42nd, 12th, 41st and
25th, things finally came together in Kentucky.
Busch came home with a second-place finish and
repeated the runner-up result two weeks later in
New Hampshire after starting that race on the pole.
Even though Busch appeared to have righted the
ship in New Hampshire, he still wasn’t satisfied.
“The last two races for us we’ve been second, but it would be
nice to get up there and lead some more laps, be a little bit more
dominant and show that we’ve got a little bit better car than
where we’re running,” he said. “We’ll get there hopefully. It’s not
quite time to get ready to have to go for the Chase, but it’s about
that time, so we’ve got a few weeks.”
Busch is certainly excited about running another race at Bristol Motor Speedway, a track he’s won at five times over the
course of his Sprint Cup career. His last two outings in Bristol
have been a bit of a struggle, but given his track record, he’ll
certainly be one of the odds-on favorites to win the IRWIN Tools
Night Race.
And beyond Bristol, the goal is obvious for Busch — put it all
together over the final 10 races and win a championship. With
a change to the playoff format this year that allows a victory to
erase the sort of bad luck that has doomed Busch’s previous
title runs, the deck might finally be stacked in Busch’s favor.
Or, as Gibbs might put it, Busch could be the perfect driver
for the task at hand.
— Dave Ongie
Busch
Kenseth
old rights and had just enough to hold on. TRD (Toyota Racing Development) did a great job — we had awesome horsepower ... and that saved me
again. It was a fun race.”
It was Kenseth’s first win at Bristol since the track was resurfaced in
2007. He won the final two night races on the old surface and it took him
a while to come around to liking the new surface.
“I always enjoyed the old track, but the new track is fun as
well. It’s just a place I like. We’ve had some good races there
and some bad races there, like most people.”
This has been a difficult season for Kenseth in many ways.
He has been among the points leaders all season, but he
hasn’t been able to win a bunch of races like the year before.
His win at Bristol was the fifth of the year last season on his
way to a series-leading seven victories. In mid-July this year,
Kenseth had yet to win a race.
He said it’s no secret that winning is a lot harder than
when he was a rookie in the series in 2000. “I think the competition has been coming up a lot of years. Especially with
the Gen-5 and Gen-6 cars, everything is more equal. There are less people
overall in the garage who control things as far as chassis builders, engine
builders, manufacturers and technology sharing. All of that has brought
the cars close for sure.”
Still, Kenseth has a distinct advantage over most of the drivers in the
field. His team is consistently among the fastest on pit road, churning out
11-second pit stops. Kenseth explained that the driver has to play his role
in a team’s stop as well. “The timing of getting in the stall to them hitting
the first lug nut, there are a lot of things that go on. Certainly, everyone
has to do their jobs to make the whole thing work. Your in-lap, your-out
lap, the getting in the stall, all of that stuff all works together, but the guys
who go over the wall are the most important part of it.”
Kenseth has never seemed happier, with a good rapport with teammates
Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin, while also finding time to spend with family. “I have a lot of things going on, and everything has been going well for
me professionally and on the personal front. It’s been fun having the girls
around and doing all that. I feel really at home here and was excited to
come here and go racing. Plus we had the success last year and I enjoy the
people I work with. Everything has been good.”
— Jeff Birchfield
5
SeptembeR
Plenty to see, plenty to do
The Johnson City Symphony will perform in the Lakeside Concert
Series at Winged Deer Park, Johnson City, from 6-8 p.m. Bring a
lawn chair or blanket. Admission is free. 423-283-5815 or
www.facebook.com/jcparkstn
“Sittin’ Up With the Dead,” presented by The Foggy Valley Gang,
will be on stage Sept. 5-7 at LampLight Theatre in Kingsport.
Performances are 7 p.m. Friday, 2 and 7 p.m. Saturday and 3 p.m.
Sunday. Tickets: $10 for adults, $5 for students and free for children 5 and younger. 423-343-1766 or www.lamplighttheatre.com
The 14th Annual East Tennessee Celtic Festival (formerly the
Sycamore Shoals Celtic Festival) at Sycamore Shoals State
Historic Area in Elizabethton, Sept. 5-7. Torchlight ceremony and
Calling of the Clans at 7 p.m. Friday; festivities will continue from
10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and from 10 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. Sunday.
423-737-6726 or www.facebook.com/UETCS
6
12
“Back to the ’80s” musical at Theatre Bristol ARTspace runs
weekends through Sept. 14. Performances will be on Fridays
and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. and Sundays at 2:30 p.m.
www.theatrebristol.org or 423-383-5979
13
Puttin’ on the Ritz ’60s-style fundraiser, 6-11 p.m. for the Paramount Center for the Arts in Bristol. Cocktails, dinner buffet,
$5,000 giveaway, auction and music by BeatlesBeat. Tickets:
$125. 423-274-8920 or www.theparamountcenter.com
Big Country Bluegrass and Wayne Henderson & Friends will
play Footstompin’ Friday at the Carter Family Fold, Hiltons,
Va., at 7:30 p.m. Admission is $10 for teens and adults, $1
for children 6-11 and under age 6 are admitted free. 276386-6054 or www.carterfamilyfold.org
Matt Wertz, independent singer/songwriter, will headline the
4th annual Barnaroo Music Festival at Grace Meadows, 200
John France Road, Johnson City. Matt Sanders and Friends
also will perform. Proceeds will benefit Agape Women’s
Services. Gates open at 7 p.m.; music begins at 7:30.
Concessions available (cash only). Tickets are $15 for ages
16-plus; under-16 admitted free. www.barnaroo.com
The 6th annual Historic Bloutville Flea Market and Yard Sale
will take place rain or shine from 8 a.m.-3 p.m. in downtown
Blountville. The Nomadz, The Scat Cats, Wells Brothers and
others will perform. www.historicsullivan.com/events.htm
Symphony of the Mountains will present “Sax and the
Symphony” at 7:30 p.m. at the Toy F. Reid Eastman
Employee Center, Kingsport. Tickets are $30.
423-392-8243 or www.symphonyofthemountains.org
The Honey Dewdrops, 8 p.m. at the Kingsport Renaissance
Center. Tickets: $15. www.engagekingsport.com
Kingsport Oktoberfest, a one-day street festival in the heart
of downtown Kingsport, will feature wiener dog races, live
music, a kids zone, Craft Bier Garden (tickets required) and
more. Festival admission is free. Bier Garden admission is
$50 for early bird and $40 general admission in advance, or
$55 and $45 at the gate. www.kingsportoktoberfest.com
“My Fair Lady” opens at Barter Theatre. Show times and
ticket prices vary. 276-628-3991 or www.bartertheatre.com
19
20
21
25
26
27
28
30
Bristol Rhythm & Roots Reunion in downtown Bristol.
Performers include Emmylou Harris, Jeff Tweedy, Billy Joe
Shaver, Willie Watson, Parker Millsap, Folk Soul Revival,
Bombadil, Annabelle’s Curse, Barlow Gin & The Hatchetmen and Ed Snodderly, among others. $70 for weekend
pass; $30 for Friday pass, $35 for Saturday pass and $25
for Sunday pass. www.bristolrhythm.com
Sol Driven Train will perform a free show on the courthouse
steps for Music on the Square in Jonesborough from 7-9
p.m. Bring a lawn chair. www.musiconthesquare.com
“Wash, Rinse, Spin Dry” opens at Barter. “As a single mom
with a job waiting tables, Janelle barely has time to play her
music, much less go on a date. She definitely knows better
than to get involved with an actor, but sometimes a girl just
has to do what she has to do.” Times and ticket prices vary.
276-628-3991 or www.bartertheatre.com
“Sherlock Holmes and the Hound of the Baskervilles” opens
at Barter. A classic Victorian whodunit. Show times and ticket
prices vary. 276-628-3991 or www.bartertheatre.com
The Johnson City Folk Festival will be held Sept. 25-28
at Farmhouse Gallery and Gardens, Unicoi. Americana
and folk artists performing include Cowboy Slim, Cutthroat
Shamrock, Lou Shields, The Empty Bottle String Band, Dixie
Ghost, Kryss Dula, Tim Avram, Skip Cochran and others. A
storytelling stage is new this year. All access four-day passes
are $30, daily access passes are $10, seniors 65-plus and
children under 12 are $5. Uniformed military and retired
veterans with current ID admitted free. 202-255-1995 or
www.johnsoncityfolkfestival.com
Scythian, 7:30 p.m., at the Paramount Center for the Arts
in Bristol. Tickets: $15 in advance, $20 at the door.
423-274-8920 or www.theparamountcenter.com
Lightnin’ Charlie & the Upsetters will play Music on the
Square in downtown Jonesborough from 7-9 p.m. Bring a
lawn chair. www.musiconthesquare.com
Trey Hensley & Drivin’ Force will play at the Carter Family
Fold, Hiltons, Va., at 7:30 p.m. Admission is $10 for teens
and adults, $1 for children 6-11 and under age 6 are admitted free. 276-386-6054 or www.carterfamilyfold.org
Dennis DeYoung: The Music of Styx will be on stage at the
Niswonger Performing Arts Center, Greeneville, at 7:30 p.m.
Tickets: $35-$45. 423-638-1679 or www.npacgreeneville.com
The Pink Bride Tri-Cities bridal show at Meadowview
Convention Center, Kingsport, from noon-4 p.m. Wedding
vendors, tastings, giveaways and cash prizes. Save $2 by
purchasing tickets in advance. www.thepinkbride.com
The Barter Players production of “Anne of Green Gables”
begins at Barter Theatre. Showtimes and ticket prices vary.
276-628-3991 or www.bartertheatre.com
event
included |intimesnews.net
next month’s Plenty to See, Plenty to Do calendar? Email it to Editor Kelly Story at [email protected].
22 Want your
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