It's Bristol Again...

Once again I made the trip to Bristol, Tennessee for the holy grail of race tracks for NASCAR fans. I was never really into NASCAR until a few years back when a co-worker offered me a ticket to the race in Bristol just a few short days before it was happening, I took the ticket and drove there by myself and I've been a fan ever since...and will go there every year for the spring race for as long as I can.

There are many of you that do not understand why people go to NASCAR events as cars just go around in a circle for three hours....you think...BORING....I used to be one of you, until I went to Bristol.

It's 160,000 fans packed around a 1/2 mile track with 43 cars fighting for every inch of space. To put it this way...it's Lambeau Field with a race track inside with twice as many fans...most rooting for 1 of 43 divers and hating the others..some are hated more than others...people both love and hate guys like Jeff Gordon, Dale Junior, Jimmie Johnson, etc....every one hates the Kyle and Kurt Busch...Those darm Busch Boys....but that's a whole different story.

Whether you like racing or no...you'll have a good time....arrive at 7am if the race starts at 2:30pm or 7pm. If you don't you may wait 5 hours to get near the track......think about it 160,000 people in a town that basically has one to the track...it can get ugly. Once you are there, you'll experience something you've never experienced before in sports. Every one is friendly, you can get lots of free stuff from sponsors...the drivers are out signing autographs before the race. NASCAR is the most fan friendly sport out there. Could you imagine Brett Favre spending 30 minutes signing autographs two hours before the game..NOPE...or how about Donald Driver hosting a TV show just 90 minutes before a game...NOPE...Kenny Wallace does that in NASCAR..It's a whole different world.

Now, if you've never gone to a race before and want to go, you can go to a different, bigger track, ie...Chicagoland, or Michigan in our area, but you may not have as much fun. I won't ever go to a big track, unless it's maybe Daytona or Talladega for historic reasons. You have to go to Bristol...the short track is where the real entertainment is.

They say there are things that every sports fan must do in their lives...ie...attend a world series, go to the Olympics, watch a game at Fenway Park, go to Lambeau Field....and go to a race a Bristol.

If you ever get the chance.....take it....just get there early.