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08/29/2005 Archived Entry: "NASCAR Sharpie 500 at Bristol, TN"

Saturday and Sunday I had a two day trip (well, three days if you count Friday, when I left early to meet the coach part way there Saturday morning) to the NASCAR race at Bristol, Tennessee. I had a ticket, and it was the first race I got to witness up close and personal! Wow ... there's nothing quite like actually being at a race. Bristol is a half-mile oval track, 160,000 people watching from the stands (there really aren't any bad seats, I don't think), stock car racing at its finest with all the top drivers there! The noise is awesome; during the race, you can't talk to the person next to you, even shouting at the top of your voice. You have to wait until an accident and a yellow flag comes out, and the drivers take their foot off the accelerator, to have a chance of being heard by the person sitting beside you. The noise just vibrates through your whole body; it's quite a feeling!

The race was won by #17 Matt Kenseth, the pole sitter, who also led practically the whole race. He obviously had the fastest car; every time he came back from a pit stop down a few places, he just drove right back into the lead. Favorite #2 Rusty Wallace, a 9-time winner at Bristol, came in fifth place in his final race at Bristol. He led the race briefly and ran in second place for a while, but fell back toward the end of the race.

Bus parking was relatively close to the track, and well organized; a bus permit received in advance gave prompt admission when displayed in the windshield. There were at least a couple of hundred motorcoaches there. It always amazes me, though, at the number of people wandering the parking lots afterwards, looking for their bus, who can't even remember the name of the bus company, let alone the number of their bus or where it was parked. We owe it to our passengers to make that as clear as possible before they leave the coach at an event like this, and some drivers apparently don't do that very clearly -- or is it just that some passengers refuse to pay attention? Maybe some of both.