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Ward Burton
Guest
By Lee Montgomery, Turner Sports Interactive March 18, 2003
1:38 PM EST (1838 GMT)
With a deadline looming for Saddam Hussein, the United States is on the verge of war with Iraq. But this weekend's NASCAR events at Bristol Motor Speedway are still scheduled to be run as planned.
Track officials have gotten numerous phone calls about the Food City 500 Winston Cup race and the Channellock 250 Busch Series race at Bristol this weekend.
A conference call between BMS officials and NASCAR is planned for 2 p.m. Tuesday, and the running of the race is sure to be discussed. For now, however, the race will be run as scheduled.
"Right now, NASCAR holds the position that unless a terrorist event occurs between now and Friday, all events will proceed as scheduled," said Ben Trout, Bristol's senior manager of communications.
That could change, of course, given the U.S.-imposed deadline of 8 p.m. Wednesday for Hussein to leave Iraq. The NCAA has already said it would consider postponing the start of the NCAA basketball tournament if military action begins in the Middle East. The tournament starts Tuesday with an opening-round game, and then begins in earnest Thursday.
The last race to be postponed was the New Hampshire 300, which was moved after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The UAW-GM Quality 500 at Lowe's Motor Speedway later that year started only a few minutes after U.S. troops began the invasion of Afghanistan.
And after the start of the Gulf War in 1991, NASCAR did not postpone the season-opening Daytona 500.
"The last time U.S. troops went into war, the Daytona 500 ran on as planned as a tribute to the troops that were overseas," said BMS director of communications and events Wayne Estes said. "It was an opportunity for Americans to rally around and let the troops overseas know that the Americans were behind them. It was a cool thing."
NASCAR was the last sporting sanctioning body to postpone an event after the Sept. 11 attacks.
One problem that faces a possible postponement is a make-up date. Bristol could be looking at running Mother's Day weekend, a date that has traditionally been reserved as an off weekend.
Rusty Wallace, pointing to the New Hampshire race, said he believed the Bristol events would be run as scheduled.
"The race will always go on," Wallace said. "NASCAR Winston Cup racing is one of the most entertaining forms of racing in the world. What absolutely sold me on that was when we canceled the race on Loudon, N.H. after the Sept. 11 disaster. We rescheduled the race for Thanksgiving, and I said, 'No one in their right mind is going to come out on a Thanksgiving when they can be with their families at home and watch the race. Well, the place was completely sold out and packed. I would have never believed that.
"NASCAR Winston Cup, whether it's live or at the race track, it bring so much enjoyment to people, it's incredible. The race will go on."
If it does, there will be no increased security planned, track officials said. BMS instituted a new plan last year that worked well. Fans will be able to bring in a cooler and one other carry-in item, but everything will be searched. New for this race is the addition of 16 bomb-sniffing dogs, but Estes said the dogs were already scheduled to work the event.
After Sept. 11, 2001, the track decided to upgrade its security. Working with officials from the Bristol Police Department, the Sullivan County Sheriff's Department, the Tennessee Highway Patrol, the National Guard and FBI, BMS came up with a new plan.
In addition to the search of all items brought into the grandstands, and the checking of cars to make sure they are properly credentialed, the bomb-sniffing dogs will do a sweep of the grandstands every day from Thursday to Sunday. Also, the dogs will be used at the track's main entrances.
There are other measures in place, but track officials didn't want to discuss more details.
"There's a lot that we're doing," Trout said.
The U.S. government raised the national terror threat level to orange, or "high," Monday night. That's the second-highest of the country's five-level alert system.
There could be more security added.
"We are in the process of evaluating plans that are currently in place and working with agencies to see if there are areas of concern that need extra attention," Trout said. "We will address those as we see needed."
Plus, after discussions with NASCAR, Bristol is arranging for American armed forces to be present for Sunday's pre-race ceremonies.
"It's hard to imagine any more patriotic group of people than NASCAR race fans," Trout said. "One of the things NASCAR has talked about is to add a military presence to pre-race. That would be two-fold: to have them for added security and also to pay tribute to our troops."
Pre-race flyovers are still planned, but Estes said the speedway will take that on a "moment-by-moment" basis.
1:38 PM EST (1838 GMT)
With a deadline looming for Saddam Hussein, the United States is on the verge of war with Iraq. But this weekend's NASCAR events at Bristol Motor Speedway are still scheduled to be run as planned.
Track officials have gotten numerous phone calls about the Food City 500 Winston Cup race and the Channellock 250 Busch Series race at Bristol this weekend.
A conference call between BMS officials and NASCAR is planned for 2 p.m. Tuesday, and the running of the race is sure to be discussed. For now, however, the race will be run as scheduled.
"Right now, NASCAR holds the position that unless a terrorist event occurs between now and Friday, all events will proceed as scheduled," said Ben Trout, Bristol's senior manager of communications.
That could change, of course, given the U.S.-imposed deadline of 8 p.m. Wednesday for Hussein to leave Iraq. The NCAA has already said it would consider postponing the start of the NCAA basketball tournament if military action begins in the Middle East. The tournament starts Tuesday with an opening-round game, and then begins in earnest Thursday.
The last race to be postponed was the New Hampshire 300, which was moved after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The UAW-GM Quality 500 at Lowe's Motor Speedway later that year started only a few minutes after U.S. troops began the invasion of Afghanistan.
And after the start of the Gulf War in 1991, NASCAR did not postpone the season-opening Daytona 500.
"The last time U.S. troops went into war, the Daytona 500 ran on as planned as a tribute to the troops that were overseas," said BMS director of communications and events Wayne Estes said. "It was an opportunity for Americans to rally around and let the troops overseas know that the Americans were behind them. It was a cool thing."
NASCAR was the last sporting sanctioning body to postpone an event after the Sept. 11 attacks.
One problem that faces a possible postponement is a make-up date. Bristol could be looking at running Mother's Day weekend, a date that has traditionally been reserved as an off weekend.
Rusty Wallace, pointing to the New Hampshire race, said he believed the Bristol events would be run as scheduled.
"The race will always go on," Wallace said. "NASCAR Winston Cup racing is one of the most entertaining forms of racing in the world. What absolutely sold me on that was when we canceled the race on Loudon, N.H. after the Sept. 11 disaster. We rescheduled the race for Thanksgiving, and I said, 'No one in their right mind is going to come out on a Thanksgiving when they can be with their families at home and watch the race. Well, the place was completely sold out and packed. I would have never believed that.
"NASCAR Winston Cup, whether it's live or at the race track, it bring so much enjoyment to people, it's incredible. The race will go on."
If it does, there will be no increased security planned, track officials said. BMS instituted a new plan last year that worked well. Fans will be able to bring in a cooler and one other carry-in item, but everything will be searched. New for this race is the addition of 16 bomb-sniffing dogs, but Estes said the dogs were already scheduled to work the event.
After Sept. 11, 2001, the track decided to upgrade its security. Working with officials from the Bristol Police Department, the Sullivan County Sheriff's Department, the Tennessee Highway Patrol, the National Guard and FBI, BMS came up with a new plan.
In addition to the search of all items brought into the grandstands, and the checking of cars to make sure they are properly credentialed, the bomb-sniffing dogs will do a sweep of the grandstands every day from Thursday to Sunday. Also, the dogs will be used at the track's main entrances.
There are other measures in place, but track officials didn't want to discuss more details.
"There's a lot that we're doing," Trout said.
The U.S. government raised the national terror threat level to orange, or "high," Monday night. That's the second-highest of the country's five-level alert system.
There could be more security added.
"We are in the process of evaluating plans that are currently in place and working with agencies to see if there are areas of concern that need extra attention," Trout said. "We will address those as we see needed."
Plus, after discussions with NASCAR, Bristol is arranging for American armed forces to be present for Sunday's pre-race ceremonies.
"It's hard to imagine any more patriotic group of people than NASCAR race fans," Trout said. "One of the things NASCAR has talked about is to add a military presence to pre-race. That would be two-fold: to have them for added security and also to pay tribute to our troops."
Pre-race flyovers are still planned, but Estes said the speedway will take that on a "moment-by-moment" basis.