Bristol Motor Speedway

Bristol Motor Speedway is a NASCAR short track located in Bluff City, Tennessee, near Bristol. It was constructed in 1960, and held its first NASCAR race on July 30, 1961.

Track History

Bristol Motor Speedway could very easily have opened in 1961 under a different name. The first proposed site for the speedway was in Piney Flats but, according to Carl Moore, who built the track along with Larry Carrier and R.G. Pope, the idea met local opposition. So the track that could have been called Piney Flats International Speedway was built five miles down the road on Hwy. 11-E in Bristol. 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 CMS, something with a more intimate setting and opted to erect a half-mile facility instead of mirroring the 1.5-mile track in Charlotte.

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Work began on what was then called Bristol International Speedway in 1960 and it took approximately one year to finish. Carrier, Moore and Pope scratched many ideas for the track on envelopes and brown paper bags.

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Purchase of 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.

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Seating capacity for the very first NASCAR race at BMS ? held on July 30, 1961 ? was 18,000. Prior to this race the speedway hosted weekly races.

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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.

Related Topics:
Tiny Lund - Pontiac - David Pearson - Fred Lorenzen

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Atlanta?s Jack Smith won the inaugural event ? the Volunteer 500 ? at BMS on July 30, 1961. However, Smith wasn?t in the driver?s seat of the Pontiac when the race ended. Smith drove the first 290 laps then had to have Johnny Allen, also of Atlanta, take over as his relief driver. The two shared the $3,225 purse. The total purse for the race was $16,625.

Related Topics:
Jack Smith - Johnny Allen

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Country music star Brenda Lee, who was 17 at the time, sang the national anthem for the first race at BMS.

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A total of 42 cars started the first race at BMS but only 19 finished.

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In the fall of 1969 BMS was reshaped and re-measured. The turns were banked at 36 degrees and it became a .533-mile oval.

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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.

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In August of 1978 the first night race was held on the oval.

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On April 1, 1982 Lanny Hester sold his half of the speedway to Warner Hodgdon.

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On July 6, 1983, Warner Hodgdon completed 100 percent purchase of Bristol Motor Speedway, as well as Nashville Speedway, in a buy-sell agreement with Baker. Hodgdon named Larry Carrier as the track?s general manager. On January 11, 1985, Warner Hodgdon filed for bankruptcy.

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After Warner Hodgdon filed for bankruptcy, Larry Carrier formally took possession of the speedway and covered all outstanding debts.

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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.

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On May 28, 1996 the track?s name was officially changed to Bristol Motor Speedway. By August of 1996, 15,000 seats had been added bringing the seating capacity to 86,000.

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BMS continued to grow and by April of 1997 was the largest sports arena in Tennessee and one of the largest in the country, seating 118,000. The speedway also boasted 22 new skyboxes.

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For the August 1998 Goody?s 500 the speedway featured more than 131,000 grandstand seats and 100 skyboxes. Improvements to the speedway since Smith took possession are in excess of $50 million.

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The seating capacity for the Food City 500 in March of 2000 was 147,000 as the Kulwicki Terrace and Kulwicki Tower were completed. Both were named after the late NASCAR star Alan Kulwicki, who was the reigning NASCAR champion when he died in a plane crash in 1993 while on his way to the spring race at Bristol, which he won the previous year. Kulwicki's sponsor Hooters runs a USAR Hooters ProCup event on the Wednesday night undercard of the Sharpie 500.

Related Topics:
Alan Kulwicki - 1993 - Sharpie 500

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As has been the case sine the SMI purchase of BMS, improvements continued in and around the Speedway. The 2002 season saw the addition of a long-awaited infield pedestrian tunnel, allowing access into and out of the infield during on-track activity. Also in 2002, a new building was constructed in the infield to house driver meetings.

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The 2002 also witnessed the christening of a new BMS Victory Lane atop the newly constructed building. Kurt Busch won the 2002 Food City 500 on March 24 and became the first Winston Cup winner in the new BMS winner's circle.

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Additional improvements in 2002 included new scoreboards located on the facing of the suites in Turns 2 and 3.

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On Monday, August 26, 2002 work began on the most ambitious construction project since Speedway Motorsports, Inc., purchased BMS in 1996. The entire backstretch, including the Speedway?s last remaining concrete seats, was demolished. The new backstretch increased the venue?s seating capacity to more than 160,000. The new backstretch includes three levels of seating and is topped with 52 luxury skybox suites.

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