Bristol to host YUUUUGE U.S. Short Track Nationals race in 2017!

You are killing me Speedbowl. Dang it. So tempting to just say
Damned The Torpedo's and just go! You may already have this but
here is a link to the May 10th Entry list.
http://cra-racing.com/bristol/
 
Well, I certainly hate that weather forecast. Hope its wrong!
 
Well, since I'll be at Franklin County on Saturday night, thinking of driving halfway on Saturday night and hitting Bristol on Sunday morning. That forecast sucks bawls though.
 
Hotrod said:
Well, I certainly hate that weather forecast. Hope its wrong!
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As someone who follows weather closer than your average Joe... I'm pretty confident they'll get everything in. I watch the actual weather models, no Weather Channel for me :). Saturday. maybe a PM storm but nothing that will cause the thing to rainout. Sunday is close...very close. It's gonna rain...just a question if the rain starts falling at 2pm or 8pm...it's been trending more towards later at night.

When people see 60%+ chance of rain they freak without looking into it. Yes, it will probably rain Saturday. However, it will most likely be a shower or T-storm that passes quickly.
 
Alright, I am proceeding with pay per view then!
Safe travels.
 
...and to prove my point about the weather. This whole week Friday was forcasted to be a washout. Now this morning it's calling for sunny skies.
 
Have a 'net friend at Bristol. He just posted this pic.
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He said "This has to be one of the largest fields of street stock cars I've seen, the races to get into the A feature should be great."
 
Really enjoying the street class today so far. A mains coming up
for compacts, modifieds, and streets.
 
That was a nasty one in the modified A main for a long red flag. Never have I
seen a sitting car get hit so hard that it flies over the car next to it.
Glad to see everyone walk away. Action and racing is great!
 
This is exactly why a lot of drivers were dead set against the race.

Also saw only 30 Late Model Stock Cars ended up qualifying, and that a bunch of those guys (and SLM guys) fell out because of crashes in practice.
 
Very good street stock finish. I liked a lot of the B races. The compact race was OK. Not so much racing but fun to see those guys fly around in an endurance race. That mod crash was terrifying. There was also a nasty street stock crash in qualifying. Decent sized crowd. The speedway was pretty inadequately prepared but I'll get into that later (not at 1am). Hoping for a dry slot in the afternoon tomorrow. Very happy to spend the day at Bristol! This place is incredible!
 
Speedbowl14 said:
Very good street stock finish. I liked a lot of the B races. The compact race was OK. Not so much racing but fun to see those guys fly around in an endurance race. That mod crash was terrifying. There was also a nasty street stock crash in qualifying. Decent sized crowd. The speedway was pretty inadequately prepared but I'll get into that later (not at 1am). Hoping for a dry slot in the afternoon tomorrow. Very happy to spend the day at Bristol! This place is incredible!
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That was a good nite time crowd. When the ppv came on at 3:30 I said uh-oh ,no ones there.
Then I figured out they were mostly in the shaded areas of the stands. On the broadcast they were saying the
must place to eat is Ridgewood BBQ while in the area. They all agreed in the tv booth.

All the winners were extremely happy, proud, and grateful to win the inaugural Bristol Nationals.
The live stream is adequate. They could go up a notch on the HD thingy. Cant wait for todays
action . Bubba Wallace is my pick in the Supers. Oh before I forget, quote of the night came from the
Street Stock Champion - " I guess I got one coming to me ". His comment on moving
the leader to get around him for the win. Sounds like they have been racing each
other for a long time and have "some sort" of respect for each other.
 
Wow , I did not think it was possible but in the first 2 or 3 laps of the Pro Late final -
4 cautions and 1 red flag. Everyone's ok.
 
Remind me not to race with the pro late models at Bristol. Holy crap.
 
That was a late nite Sunday. I managed to keep one eye open through the final race.
As expected for the first time, a lot of torn up gear. I hope this event can grow in the future.
Maybe have requirements to get in such as top ranked only or something
like that. But then again, its great to see all those young drivers fulfill a dream of being on Bristol.
What a brutal rain delay though. I am sure I would have gone back to the motel for the day
till it started again.
 
Got home from Bristol today! My dad and I had one hellova trip! First off, use this as your context- I've never been to Bristol, never driven more than 5 hours from home. The 12 hour drive going down is a lotttt. For this New England boy Virginia is a looooooong state. I've never seen the speed limit above 65mph either. It was 70mph most of Virginia. Three things we noticed on our way down: McDonalds, trucks, and "Bridge ices before road" signs. Lot's of all of 'em.

Saturday: It was a gorgeous day. A little hot for us (not used to 90 degrees yet in Connecticut), but we managed. We got the track 11:45. What shocked me (and I know, everybody says this) is how huge the place is. Just outside, in the parking lot on the backstretch, I was looking up at the tallest, most impressive grandstand facade I've seen. It takes your breath away. Then when you walk inside...and realize half the grandstands are below the the grade of the parking lot...it's just insane. It's incomprehensibly large. 80 rows of grandstand seating with double-decker suites enclosing a half mile track. You can't envision it until you're there.

The racing was good. Lot's of cars, lot's of wrecks. The mods were the only "bad" race of the night. The compact race was my favorite. 36 4-cylinder cars took the green and it was an endurance battle to the end. I think only one or two cautions in the beginning, the rest was green. The leader almost lapped the field! It was like watching an enduro with cars taking up every inch of the track. Street stocks just kinda drifted though the corners. Fun to watch.

Sunday: It rained. We knew it would rain. We hung out at the hotel and talked to some great people. One older gentleman told us how he used to sell ice cream at Daytona in the pits. Dale Sr. wanted a free ice cream, but this guy wouldn't have it and made the Intimidator pay up! My dad and I walked around the city of Bristol. I was disappointed to find no NASCAR gear in the shops. We finally went racing around 8pm. That Pro LM feature was something else! The wrecks sucked but they cleaned up their act and put on a show! Some kid dumped the leader...then punches were being thrown in the pits right in front of our seats! Bubba Wallace, NASCAR superstar, casually walked up through the bleachers in between the SLM segments. In a televised race the fans in the stands would of of gone mad trying to get to him! Not here, someone casually said "Good luck", he thanked them and kept going. He was just like any other driver at your local short track trying to get up to the Press Box or Race Control. We finally got out of there at 12:15am. On the road the next day at 7:45am, and after 11 hours of driving, my first (but hopefully not last) trip to Bristol is complete!

I loved the event. I got some mixed opinions though from crews, fans, and the media. Some crews at the hotel were saying that Bristol wouldn't help them out at all with things like getting their car back on the trailer after dropping it at their pit after it crashed. Yes, it was a pretty messy event with the crashes. The big complaint from everyone (myself included): Why didn't we know about a rain plan until 4pm Sunday? Sunday morning people didn't know whether to cancel their night at the hotel or add another one because the track was being uncommunicative.

Some things I didn't like- I got charged $10 each day to park my car. What kind of money grab is that? And it wasn't announced on the track website either. Concessions were understaffed and understocked. Keep in mind this was Saturday with a small crowd due to the weather forecast. Sunday wasn't bad because the "small crowd" from Saturday had turned into a "slightly large gathering" by Sunday. Apparently they ran out of "Short Track Nationals" Tee-shirts on Friday...before the fans even showed up.

My ideas for next year- Spotters required for every car that hits the track. More safety lights around the track (there's 6 around the whole track...that's pathetic. How about 30 laps for the compacts, mods, and street stocks, 100 laps for the LMSC and Pro LM classes, and 150 laps for the Supers? Open up more seating around the track...maybe not the whole thing...but more than the Jeff Gordon Terrace and the backstretch aluminum.
 
Been waiting for your review and it was a good one! What a trip. No hurry, but did you sit down close to the track
or up high enough to see the whole track?
 
Hotrod said:
Been waiting for your review and it was a good one! What a trip. No hurry, but did you sit down close to the track
or up high enough to see the whole track?
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I sat in the first row of the Jeff Gordon Terrace (where the red seats start after the aluminum, equivalent to row 40 but the numbers reset). I started off higher up but I couldn't read the car numbers. I went up to the Earnhardt Terrace, which are the most expensive seats and they were waaaaaayyyy to high up for my liking. Bring an oxygen tank. I couldn't imagine what it must be like up on the Wallace tower.

If/when I go to Bristol for a Cup race, I'm giving in and bringing ear plugs. I feel that row 30-50 would be the "sweet spot" of not too low not too high. Any of the Terrace seats other than those on the backstretch would be too high for my liking. I also tried out the 10th row of the backstretch becasue that's where the cheap-seats are for the Cup races. I thought it was fine. There were also no haulers in the infield to obstruct the view.
 
Very good, also, good point about the haulers.
 
Why was the s/f line on the backstretch? Not a fan, everything else seems cool about the event.
 
Speedbowl14: Thanks for a great report. Always fun to read about a person's first visit to a different track.
 
AuzGrams said:
Why was the s/f line on the backstretch? Not a fan, everything else seems cool about the event.
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I'm not positive on why. They opened the seats on the backstretch and re-numbered the turns so it didn't affect anything. The backstretch had its own start/finish line and flag stand. Since the track is symmetrical it didn't affect the racing.
 
The CARS tour released their full schedule, they have this tidbit of information...

May 20 TBA TBA SLM $10,000/LMSC
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That probably means Bristol backed-out of its 5 year agreement and they're searching for another track to go to...:(

Oh well, I had a once-in-a-lifetime experience. That was a crazy weekend I'll never forget. Who's ready for NHMS September 18-19, 2018??? :headbang:
 
Speedbowl14 said:
Oh well, I had a once-in-a-lifetime experience. That was a crazy weekend I'll never forget. Who's ready for NHMS September 18-19, 2018??? :headbang:
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Definitely one of the best pay per views I was ever involved with.
 
YEAH BABY!!!!

http://cra-racing.com/2017/11/short-track-u-s-nationals-returns-to-bristol-motor-speedway-in-2018/

BRISTOL, Tenn. (Nov. 16, 2017) – For the second consecutive season, the world’s best short track racers will descend upon The Last Great Colosseum when Bristol Motor Speedway again hosts the Short Track U.S. Nationals, May 18-20.

The second annual running of the signature event will be sanctioned by five different racing organizations and brings together six elite short track racing categories to compete on the high banks of The World’s Fastest Half-Mile in one spectacular weekend of action.

“Last year’s Short Track U.S. Nationals showcased an epic weekend of competitive racing in six different categories,” said Jerry Caldwell, executive vice president and general manager at Bristol Motor Speedway. “Seeing the best-of-the-best in the short track racing world take to the signature high banks of Bristol was a sight to behold. We anticipate this to be an even better event in 2018.”

Champion Racing Association powered by JEGS (CRA), who took the lead sanctioning role in developing this event, will be co-sanctioning the Super Late Model race with the ARCA/CRA Super Series Powered by JEGS, The CARS Super Late Model Tour (CARS) and the Southern Super Series (SSS). CRA also will oversee the action for the crate late model event with their JEGS/CRA All-Stars Tour presented by Chevrolet and the Street Stocks with their Lawrence Towing/CRA Street Stock Series. The CARS officials will oversee the Late Model Stock portion of the event with their CARS Late Model Stock Tour. The compacts will be organized and overseen by the Vore’s Compact Touring Series while the Modified portion of the weekend will be sanctioned by a Midwest based Touring Modified organization to be named at a later date. The Short Track U. S. Nationals is being presented by Vore’s Welding & Steel.

The inaugural event featured nearly 350 cars on track, leading the Short Track U.S. Nationals to join the likes of some of short track racing’s most revered events, including the prestigious Snowball Derby in Florida, Indiana’s famed Winchester 400 and Nashville’s All-American 400. The event featured 13 different winners who added their names to Bristol lore among multiple features in six divisions. Winners included soon-to-be fulltime NASCAR Cup Series driver Darrell “Bubba” Wallace, Myatt Snider, Cole Williams and Chad Poole, among others.

Specific details of the event regarding daily schedules, additional racing information, parking and more will be released in the coming weeks. Information on tickets, camping and general details will be announced at a later date. Those who are interested can stay tuned to BMS’ social channels and www.BristolMotorSpeedway.com for updates.
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Same as last year with a different modified series sanction. Fitting given that that was a dumpster fire of a race last year.
 
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