Bristol, TN: The FASCAR Classic Series will run it's 7th race of the season at the Bristol Motor Speedway this Friday night at 7:00 PM (EST) on ESPN. There is only 4 Races left in the FASCAR Classic Series Season.
This will be the 3rd FASCAR Classic Nationwide Series race of the season, earlier this season the FASCAR Head 2 Head Cup Series raced at the Bristol Motor Speedway. Points Leader Linda Schmaltz driver of the #55 Diet Coke Chevy finished the "Too Tough To Tame 200" 6th and lost 5 points to Wendal Ebach driver of the #23 ND Game & Fish Chevy but, remains on top of the standings. Linda has won both of the Nationwide Series races so far this season can she make it 3 for 3. 2nd: Wendal Ebach driver of the #23 ND Game & Fish Chevy scored his 6th Top 5 last weekend at Darlington which is the most by any drivers. Can he make it 7 in arow and take back the top spot in the standings? 3rd: Joseph Cardwell driver of the #31 Dr. Pepper Toyota scored his 1st win of the season and jumped up 4 spots in the standings to 3rd. Can he become the 2nd Driver this season to win Back 2 Back Races? 4th: Jonathan Carlisle driver of the #96 Omega Chevy scored his best finish since Race 3 and is looking to keep this momentum going as he will try and get his 1st win of the season and keep the south streak going for the 2nd Half of the Season. 5th: Austin Ebach driver of the #95 John Deere Chevy tied his worst finish of the season and is looking to rebound this weekend at the Bristol Motor Speedway. Qualifying is this Friday Aug, 20th 2010 at 9:00 AM (CST). Will we have a 1st or 2nd time Pole Winner or will Mychal Cardwell driver of the #39 Bakugan Chevy get his 4th Pole of the Season find out Friday Morning?
The land upon which Bristol Motor Speedway is built used to be a dairy farm.
Larry Carrier and Carl Moore traveled to Charlotte Motor Speedway in 1960 to watch a race and it was then that they decided to build a speedway in Northeast Tennessee. However, they wanted a smaller model of the Charlotte track, something with a more intimate setting and opted to erect a half-mile facility instead of mirroring the 1.5-mile track.
Work began on what was then called Bristol International Speedway in 1960 and it took approximately one year to finish. Officials scratched many ideas for the track on envelopes and brown paper bags.
The land on which BMS now sits, as well as construction of the track, cost approximately $600,000. The entire layout for BMS covered 100 acres and provided parking for more than 12,000 cars. The track itself was a perfect half-mile, measuring 60 feet wide on the straightaways, 75 feet wide in the turns and the turns were banked at 22 degrees.
Seating capacity for the very first NASCAR race at BMS, held on July 30, 1961, was 18,000. Prior to this race, the speedway had hosted weekly races. The first driver on the track for practice on July 27, 1961, was Tiny Lund in his Pontiac. The second driver out was David Pearson. Fred Lorenzen won the pole for the first race at BMS with a speed of 79.225 mph.
Atlanta's Jack Smith won the inaugural event, The Volunteer 500, at BMS on July 30, 1961.
In the fall of 1969 BMS was reshaped and remeasured. The turns were banked at 36 degrees and it became a .533-mile oval.
The speedway was sold after the 1976 season to Lanny Hester and Gary Baker. In the spring of 1978, the track name was changed to Bristol International Raceway. In August of that year, the first night race was held on the oval.
On July 6, 1983, Warner Hodgdon completed 100 percent purchase of Bristol Motor Speedway. Hodgdon named Larry Carrier as the track's general manager. On Jan. 11, 1985, Warner Hodgdon filed for bankruptcy.
Larry Carrier formally took possession of the speedway and covered all outstanding debts.
In August 1992, BMS became the first fully concrete speedway to host a Cup event.
On Jan. 22, 1996, Larry Carrier sold the speedway to Bruton Smith at a purchase price of $26 million. At the time of the sale, the facility seated 71,000.
On May 28, 1996, the track's name was officially changed to Bristol Motor Speedway. By August of that year, 15,000 seats had been added bringing the seating capacity to 86,000.
For the August 1998 Goody's 500 the speedway featured more than 131,000 grandstand seats and 100 skyboxes. On Aug. 26, 2002, work began on the most ambitious construction project since Speedway Motorsports Inc., purchased BMS in 1996. The new backstretch increased the venue's seating capacity to more than 160,000.
We have been working hard to get the right set up for Bristol and I think we have a good chance of getting a win there. The #55 team has been working around the clock to get things in order for the race and I do think we have what it takes to get another win under our belt.
Congrats Katie on the pole. The #55 Chevy will have its work cut out for them starting tenth but I think we have the car that can get it done. Good luck to all.
I'm still in shock, I can't believe that we pulled it off and won the Food City 250.
We circled Bristol on the schedule as one of the races & tracks that we want to win at.
Our #23 ND Game & Fish Chevy wasn't the best in qualfying and I thought we where going to have a long night but, my crew cheif made some right calls and my pit crew was on tonight.
I would like to thank everyone on the Whooz Racing Team for making this a dream come true. I cant forget to thanks my great sponsors ND Game & Fish, Budweiser, Snickers, Pizza Ranch, FishingBuddy.com & HP and Chevy for all of their support. Because without them we wouldn't be racing. Thanks
Man, that #23 was tough tonight we sure didn't have anything for them at the end. Congrats Dad on winning the Food City 250.
Our #95 Chevy started the race outside of Pole Sitter Katie and we had a great car but towards the end of the race we where holding on for dear life as the car got loose dropping us back back to 4th.
We lost a few points on the points leader but, overall it was a good night for the #95 John Deere, Pizza Ranch & ND Game & Fish Chevy.
Last week it was the #31 beating us to the line for the win and this week it was the #23 beating us to the line.
On lap 498 I did a bump & run with the #31 which got a him a little loose giving me that 2nd spot but ran out of laps trying to catch that #23. Overall the #11 Coca-Cola, Folgers, Hersheys, Wal-Mart, Budweiser & Suave had a great day in the standings and gaining 3 points on points leader. Tho, we will needed to get another win here so if we want to win this championship.
