Was Bristol a success this week?

[BTExpress]

So I watched from a far for the last few weeks as The Bristol Nationals approached and saw many comments both positive and negative. It is amazing how many people had an opinion on the subject. Was it considered a success? Did the promotors make money either from PPV or ticket sales? Did the grassroot drivers have fun and check off a life bucket list item?. I know I watched a video from THE HUNT THE FRONT guys and saw how excited they were when they saw the track for the first time. I am sure that feeling was mutual for most of the teams from the Hornet teams to the DLM teams. The NASCAR drivers accomplished their goals of getting dirt experience to varying degrees of success. Yung Money did not disappoint and Davenport rolled the dice by missing Brownstown and came up the big winner.......The promotors fought the weather, schedule changes and other factors all week. I would be curious to see if they would do it again????

[TerryM]

There’s plenty to work on, adjust, tweak, etc., but the bottom line is, it brought a ton of exposure to dirt track racing and that’s 100% an awesome thing. If they do it again next year, I’m buying the PPV again, or we’ll be there in person hopefully.

[dirtSLMracing]

42 supers for 50k is an epic fail.

[JabberJaws83]

42 supers for 50k is an epic fail.

Bristol isn’t for everyone. Equipment and talent wise

[WisWildManFan]

Probably depends who you ask. I know a street stock guy that had been at Bristol since last Saturday that only ran one 8 lap heat and then had trouble in the b main early on so only got about 10-12 racing laps on the track. I think the biggest takeaway I had was they need to let that track wear out and not rework it so hard. I have a feeling if they tried this event again next your car counts would be down significantly a lot like what happened in 2000 and 2001. The good news is the track held up nicely and this group that laid this dirt down could go do it at some other iconic asphalt tracks if they wanted to. Imagine laying some dirt down at Salem, winchester, irp, martinsville. Only time will tell if it was a success financially fo those involved. I really hope the nascar weekend is a success because for this to happen other places we need the TV money behind the whole deal.

[weatherman85]

I thought it was a success speaking purely from a fan’s point of view. Sure there are things they can improve on and tweak, but you’re almost never gonna get everything right the first time around. I actually think the whole Triple Crown deal is cool. Would be even better I think if they could add a couple more and make it a 5 race series. Add the dirt track at Charlotte and be neat if Martinsville could be added but I know that’s wishful thinking. Do any of the other nascar tracks have a dirt track on or near the grounds?

[Mister Ricochet]

So I watched from a far for the last few weeks as The Bristol Nationals approached and saw many comments both positive and negative. It is amazing how many people had an opinion on the subject.

Great topic nicely laid out, sir. I too read many of the opinions, didn't cough the 40 bucks but saw some YouTube footage...... Going in what I was watching for from a lot of the comments was the dangerous speeds they were getting in practice and would someone get hurt. As far as I know that came out ok.

In that context I was amazed at the track and the prep. Whoever put the track together did a helluva job cuz as far as I could tell it held up even with the freakish speeds.

I'd echo that the exposure dirt racing got is the single best thing about Bristol. There has to be some pure asphalt fans that are intrigued, will go to a race live and maybe stream a few races. ....... Speaking personally 20 yrs ago I got dragged kicking and screaming to a dirt race at LaSalle, and I'm not even an asphalt fan, really not a race fan period, and was hooked before hot laps ended.

I can see that happening to NASCAR fans too if they find their way to a dirt track cuz of what they saw at Bristol.

[mcarter815]

42 supers for 50k is an epic fail.

42 is enough.

[kazual]

Bristol confirmed to me that there a lot of negative Nellies on 4m and social media. Some seem like they prefer a dusty, one lane used up race track that has 7 classes and takes 8 hours to run the program. Some of the underclasses got their moment in the sun, not including the frustration of some of the 4 cylinder guys. Herculean effort for the first time.

[Paradox28]

from a fan watching on XR..the two things that I was annoyed/underwhelmed/turned off by was the inopportune track farming and a very glaring time management issue. Some of the breaks seemed far too long for an event with that many cars and it seemed even more crazy with a couple known weather issues. It also seemed like every time the racing would be starting to widen out and guys could move around..they would stop and take 2 hours to re-work the track and make it one groove again. Oddly enough, I thought the best racing of the whole week was yesterday when there were a few holes in the track and it was bone dry. Purely guessing, I would say if the event happens again, there will be a lower cap on car counts for each class and maybe even two day shows for a few groups at a time through the 6 days.

[John Boy]

I was there Saturday night. Glad I went, but wouldn't go again. Turned out to be a long day and night. Nice sized crowd though. I was in the second row coming out of two. No dustier than any other track I've been to. They did spend a bunch of time working one and two. What ate up a lot of time was moving cars in and out of the track.

[latemodelman]

I say it was a mixed bag. The success was they got alot of laps on it and had alot of paying customers so that was good. Also you got alot of exposure as well and you had cup guys trying it out. Now the failures this one is gonna hurt. The big one was the track worker playing on his cell phone when 2 cars were stopped in the middle of the backstretch and the green was thrown and they got hit at full speed 1 suffering 6 broken ribs and a punctured lung and another with a severe concussion that caused his pupils to become unstable and shake. That track official should be banned from ever being an employee of a track. Also where were the guys in the tower at. Also 42 Super lates not good but seems like most guys did not want to hurt their motors. Also it was a tuneup to the cup race.

[TS FAN]

Cup race should be entertaining

[dirtSLMracing]

I say it was a mixed bag. The success was they got alot of laps on it and had alot of paying customers so that was good. Also you got alot of exposure as well and you had cup guys trying it out. Now the failures this one is gonna hurt. The big one was the track worker playing on his cell phone when 2 cars were stopped in the middle of the backstretch and the green was thrown and they got hit at full speed 1 suffering 6 broken ribs and a punctured lung and another with a severe concussion that caused his pupils to become unstable and shake. That track official should be banned from ever being an employee of a track. Also where were the guys in the tower at. Also 42 Super lates not good but seems like most guys did not want to hurt their motors. Also it was a tuneup to the cup race.

What class was it when the guy was on the phone? I havent seen a video of it.

[Josh Bayko]

Only people that can really answer if it was a success are the promoters of the race.

[c1ty5tar]

What class was it when the guy was on the phone? I havent seen a video of it.

I doubt you will find a video, they edited it out of the replay. But here is an article about it with photos. Kind of hard to see, but looking at the people along the pit wall and the accounts, they were all yelling trying to get them to call it out.

https://racingnews.co/2021/03/18/bristol-dirt-crash-sends-multiple-racing-drivers-to-hospital/

[dirtSLMracing]

I doubt you will find a video, they edited it out of the replay. But here is an article about it with photos. Kind of hard to see, but looking at the people along the pit wall and the accounts, they were all yelling trying to get them to call it out.

https://racingnews.co/2021/03/18/bristol-dirt-crash-sends-multiple-racing-drivers-to-hospital/

Thanks for the reply to my question and the info.

[ZERO25]

On a scale of 1-10 id give them a 7.5.

I do think they overworked the track and wasted some time there, but for the first time, they did a heckuva job.

One of the disappointing things is only 823 outa 1200 showed up. Im sure more would have showed up if they knew they had a slot. Maybe next time, raise the entry fee so theyll think twice about not showing up!

If they do this next year, ill be there! Im sure it will depend on how successful the cup race is!

[Rajflyboy]

Pretty much a fail

[GrocMax]

42 cars for one million or more, and 1/4 of them start and park is an epic fail.

[gb81racing]

42 supers for 50k is an epic fail.

While the car count was lower than expected your numbers are off. There was 55 cars entered Friday and bc of some cars wrecked and others having to leave there was 49 entered Saturday.

[NormP]

Now that they've done alright with it at Bristol, I hope they consider doing it at Talladega or Daytona. Or even a smaller track like Kentucky Speedway or whatever that NASCAR track is in the sh it ty northern part of the state.

[WisWildManFan]

Now that they've done alright with it at Bristol, I hope they consider doing it at Talladega or Daytona. Or even a smaller track like Kentucky Speedway or whatever that NASCAR track is in the sh it ty northern part of the state.Cover talladega or Daytona in dirt lol

[Waldo]

Would it not make more sense to just build a dirt track, instead of covering a perfectly good asphalt track with dirt?

[T-MAC 39 FAN]

They do the same thing the last 3 seasons for super dirt week at oswego before cv19 hit.

[DoubleZero]

In the aftermath of Bristol, Martinsville would likely be the best candidate for a future dirt track, if they choose to continue this idea.

[PAbigbear]

If they want to cover a current Nascar track in dirt Martinsville is the only logical choice and would probably race well for DLM. If they cover Bristol again I won't go again. The track is too fast and doesn't produce good dirt racing, although Saturday was much better than Friday.Anyone else catch the atv that got hooked the rear bumper of the super that barrel rolled when it broke loose in turn 3?

[d-glenn]

$7.00 beers and $9.00 personal pizza didn't hurt.... I would think they did very good.

I want go back, walking that hill almost got this old man.

[WisWildManFan]

$7.00 beers and $9.00 personal pizza didn't hurt.... I would think they did very good.I want go back, walking that hill almost got this old man.No coolers were allowed?

[NormP]

Cover talladega or Daytona in dirt lol

Well if I could think of a bigger track I'd throw it in there. Maybe Watkins Glen or Sonoma so we can see what these guys can do.

[foxfire2dirtracing]

Flyboy

Ole Flyboy said “it was pretty much a fail”- so that’s all that matters!
I’m sure he wasn’t there or paid to watch the ppv.
He thinks Cherokee at Gaffney is “awesome.”

I was at Bristol both nights and I definitely don’t consider it a failure. Yes-it could use some tweaking in some areas!! Overall, I give it a 7.5 score.

[ClampedUp]

Do you really want NASCAR getting their hooks in dirt track racing. All one has to do is look at what Brian France and his shills have done to NASCAR and every other form of racing they've got controlling interest in.
Everyone wanted the "Next Level". Be careful what you wish for......

[Raceready]

Do you really want NASCAR getting their hooks in dirt track racing. All one has to do is look at what Brian France and his shills have done to NASCAR and every other form of racing they've got controlling interest in.Everyone wanted the "Next Level". Be careful what you wish for......NO THANK YOU ! ! Back in the 60's Nasky signed many Lucrative weekend tracks to be sanctioned by them. As soon as the little guys running the tracks signed their lengthy contracts they soon found out that Nasky all of the sudden changed their nights of operation. Tracks that ran on the weekend were given Tuesday and Wednesday night dates when the common man didn't either have time off work or money left before payday to attend each race. They destroyed the operation of the affordable local tracks in order to force the layman to have to go to the big national events to see a race.

[Switchback29A1]

I guess success vs failure all depends on whos view point were looking at. If were talking about raceXR, its hard to say yes or no without knowing what it cost everyone to bring the dirt in, insurance, and what they took in. As someone who was only able to go for saturday, i will say im glad i was able to be there and see it after hearing about it from the early 2000's. I understand the more divisions they brought in, the more cars/people would come and increase revenue, but its hard to say the whole week wouldnt have run smoother with less divisions. Ive been to tracks all over the country and ill say this was the first time ive ever bought a pit pass ($50) and then needed ANOTHER pit pass ($30) to get into the actual infield. Essentially $80 for a 1 day pit pass was steep to say the least, but the worst part was it was the racers who showed up to support the event that took the brunt of that hit. Secondly the amount of wrecks that happened due to cautions not being thrown just to try and keep the show moving are inexcusable. Those guys in the modified race sat stuck together on the back stretch for nearly an entire lap and the caution wasnt thrown until they were basically being run into. Could i see them doing it again next year, absolutely. Do i also think youll see the same trend as 2000/2001 where the car count dramatically drops, also yes.

[0cents]

No coolers were allowed?

You could bring in items in a clear type bag.
I was surprised at the amount of people that did not take advantage of that and were buying those high priced beers like crazy.

[d-glenn]

No coolers were allowed?

Clear plastic bags were allowed for your beer, no coolers...

[dirt crow]

I’m glad I wasn’t at it. Had a better time in Knoxville pitching bags. Outlaws will be way better. Top drivers. I like it.

[MasterSbilt_Racer]

I guess success vs failure all depends on whos view point were looking at. If were talking about raceXR, its hard to say yes or no without knowing what it cost everyone to bring the dirt in, insurance, and what they took in. As someone who was only able to go for saturday, i will say im glad i was able to be there and see it after hearing about it from the early 2000's. I understand the more divisions they brought in, the more cars/people would come and increase revenue, but its hard to say the whole week wouldnt have run smoother with less divisions. Ive been to tracks all over the country and ill say this was the first time ive ever bought a pit pass ($50) and then needed ANOTHER pit pass ($30) to get into the actual infield. Essentially $80 for a 1 day pit pass was steep to say the least, but the worst part was it was the racers who showed up to support the event that took the brunt of that hit. Secondly the amount of wrecks that happened due to cautions not being thrown just to try and keep the show moving are inexcusable. Those guys in the modified race sat stuck together on the back stretch for nearly an entire lap and the caution wasnt thrown until they were basically being run into. Could i see them doing it again next year, absolutely. Do i also think youll see the same trend as 2000/2001 where the car count dramatically drops, also yes.

Bringing the dirt in was done for the Nascar events. This event just capitalized on the fact the dirt was there. The possibility of an event next year depends mostly on the success of Nascar's events.

[foxfire2dirtracing]

I agree with dirtcrow- I think the Outlaw show in April will be much better. I was there both days this past weekend and I honestly think the track preparation throughout the week was expiermenting with what they needed to do for the NASCAR weekend.

[dirty-white-boy]

800 plus total cars across many different classes got to race at Bristol Baby!

Nobody was airlifted...

The headline race winner came from 10th and the race had 4 different leaders (not follow the leader like many had predicted)

Rowdy showed up after winning truck race in Atlanta, tagged the tail of the B and made the big show and almost had a top 10. Not many guys who race DLM every week could pull that off
(I am not a fan but you cannot deny his talent)

It blows my mind as to why Shepp was not there chasing 50k. Not the first time he has sat out big paying races. Hats off the Superman for missing a points race and winning 2/3 of the what it pays to win the points in just one night!

Promoters sold lots of tickets, pit passes, entry fees and PPV subs.


How was it NOT a success.
Prove me wrong!

[foxfire2dirtracing]

You are 100% correct dirty-white-boy! I believe all the negativity came from those who had no intention of going and needed an excuse? So-let the bashing begin!

[MasterSbilt_Racer]

800 plus total cars across many different classes got to race at Bristol Baby!

Nobody was airlifted...

The headline race winner came from 10th and the race had 4 different leaders (not follow the leader like many had predicted)

Rowdy showed up after winning truck race in Atlanta, tagged the tail of the B and made the big show and almost had a top 10. Not many guys who race DLM every week could pull that off
(I am not a fan but you cannot deny his talent)

It blows my mind as to why Shepp was not there chasing 50k. Not the first time he has sat out big paying races. Hats off the Superman for missing a points race and winning 2/3 of the what it pays to win the points in just one night!

Promoters sold lots of tickets, pit passes, entry fees and PPV subs.


How was it NOT a success.
Prove me wrong!

BShepp practiced there beforehand. They probably decided it was more important to run normal tracks and try to regain speed.

[weatherman85]

Totally agree dirty-white-boy. The racing Friday night wasn't that good and Davenport even pointed out in Victory Lane Sat night how happy he was with the promoters listening to the drivers to stop completely re-prepping the track after every race nearly. I left Friday night thinking, okay, this is just a novelty show so I can say I went and it was really cool to see Super Lates zipping around Bristol on dirt.

The racing on Saturday though was WAY better throughout the whole day. The little battle between Bloomer and Larson in their heat race was exciting. Kyle Bush's drive through the filed in his B-Main. One more lap and he would have had a tussle with ole Guard Rail............I mean GR. A lot of people don't like K. Bush, but man they're were a LOT cheering around me for him during that B main. Would have been interesting to see how a tussle between him and GR went. Then the main was awesome. Thought Fergy was going to run away with a clean sweep but then Larson ran him down and got by. Bloomer was clearly fast as he was firing up right away on restarts. He and Larson had a tight race for a few laps. I didn't even notice that Davenport had been moving up from 10th until he blew by bloomer and Larson like they were sitting still. Certainly not a boring race at all.

[EvelB7]

As a racer in a support division class I will say that we did feel like an 'act in the circus'. That being said, to try and run that many races and cars, moving them in and out, rain, etc. was a huge undertaking that I do not feel comfortable throwing rocks at them. I knew going in it was a crap shoot, we had fun and rolled the car in the trailer on its own Saturday night. I will pass my 'advise' on to them and they can do what they want with it... Also A+ to Mr. Carlton and crew, made tech straightforward and easy.

[stock car driver]

First time I EVER paid to watch a dirt track race in my life.... 22 seasons of racing before hanging it up after the 2015 season.

Id do it again.

If I could suggest anything it would be dont limit the 602 class entries, and run that class every other race... wow talk about junking a lot of cars.


I also think super lates should have a tire rule, one tire. It would make for closer racing.......

[Rocky]

When I was there Friday and I saw the car count for the late models , 42 and about 5 with any chance at all of winning I was pretty heated. The racing Friday night didn't warm my mood on a cold night. I declared the event an epic, total failure. Maybe I would have been less upset had they NOT advertised over 100 SLM entries.

Saturday, I got there as the late model heats rolled out. I was pretty dang shocked by the size of the crowd to be totally honest with you. The racing was a little bit better, then there was that fist fight in turn 1, right in front of me between an very angry, Austin Holcombe and some other guy in the modified last chance race and the hooks chucking those guys.... I don't know how many people were there but they were all really riled up.... Then the Stock Stocker boys went out there and put on 4 break neck epic B features in front of the biggest darn crowd that I have ever seen at a dirt track race, including Eldora not limited to a guy missing the feature by about 2 feet in a 71 Dart with a Chrome rear bumper. This btw showed me that the NASCAR races will be entertaining... So that part was a success.

Kyle Busch runs the B main and gets in (twice). Johnny Huck makes the $50k A-Main... NASCAR fans that came to see Elliot and Larson saw something. What they saw, was a bunch of anonymous dudes that race in the middle of nowhere, in front of nobody putting on a show in front of the kind of crowd that I wish every track got. As a dude that eats sleeps and breathes weekly racing, I loved that. Everybody that made it to Saturday Night deserved that. So that part was definitely a success.

I don't see this race returning with Supers headlining. Because as I stated before, there wasn't gonna be any upset special at that joint and they would be LUCKY to get 20 cars next time. Sanctioned or not, even a good regional car is a lapper on that race track.

Was it a success? I dunno. I had a good time.

FWIW the incident with the cars stopped in the modified heat, is on a guy I know a little bit's YouTube Channel GavinHunyady187 with incar because he got caught up in it.... Go search it on YT, you'll find it.

[Rocky]

There you go, That's the incident video. Gavin's a decent fella, watch it all for him. That and I don't remember exactly where in there the wreck is.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OM3Pu2IkGEo

[JimBo]

It was a success to this guy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYdx3enOyRs

[JimBo]

There you go, That's the incident video. Gavin's a decent fella, watch it all for him. That and I don't remember exactly where in there the wreck is.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OM3Pu2IkGEo

The wreck is just after the 20:00 minute mark.

[ZERO25]

With the one driver suffering broken ribs and a collapsed lung, im sure the lawyers are lining up!

Lets hope that one big mistake doesnt make the promoters gun shy about doing it again!

[FlatTire]

Things they got right:
Entertaining, good media, lots of track prep equipment, track was good, impressive wrecker crew, kept things moving.

Things that need improved:
Too much track prep that wasn't necessary and ultimately wasted everyone's time, too many fees, poor to no response to email or phone calls, need to see what can be done to make the top faster or slow the bottom down so there is more two groove racing, cut out the hornet's and 602 crates, tell the 604 guys to get their schitt together if they want to come back because no one wants to see crashing every 2 laps, pay the stock cars more because they put on the best show.

As a spectator , Overall job well done. As a racer I have no desire to be a part of the carnage or sit there all week and race a few times spending big money to be a part of it. I think the car count will be down if they don't address this.

It's pretty obvious the promoter did well. Big crowd, lots of cars and out passes over multiple days. The vendors all said they did well.

[Jking24]

First time I EVER paid to watch a dirt track race in my life.... 22 seasons of racing before hanging it up after the 2015 season.Id do it again.If I could suggest anything it would be dont limit the 602 class entries, and run that class every other race... wow talk about junking a lot of cars.I also think super lates should have a tire rule, one tire. It would make for closer racing.......Super latest did have a tire rule you could run a 1350 or a 1600 but with the speed/ loads and the surface being on the abrasive side at times. Tire prep was as big a deal as ever most of the guys that had speed through out the weekend hit the prep right. And by prep I mean cutting and siping