January 3, 2008

By Allen Madding

Allen Madding

After attending a race with Carl Moore, in 1960 at Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina, Larry Carrier became motivated to build a stock car racetrack in Northeast Tennessee. After meeting opposition on the first proposed site, Carrier and Moore settled on a track of land on the outside of Bristol, Tennessee. The two men purchased the one hundred acre site and began construction in 1960. It took one year to complete the project, but when it was done, Bristol International Speedway was an exact half-mile racetrack with 60 feet wide straight-aways and 75 feet wide 22 degree turns.

The grandstands accommodated 18,000 and the parking lot could hold 12,000 cars. The two men had invested approximately $600,000 on the project. The first NASCAR event at Bristol, the Volunteer 500, was held on July 30, 1961. Fred Lorenzen qualified on the pole but Jack Smith and his relief driver Johnny Allen, both of Atlanta, scored the first win.

In the fall of 1969, the shape of the track was altered and an official re-measurement showed the track to be .533-mile in length.

In 1965, Carrier and Moore also constructed a quarter-mile drag strip on the grounds to host NHRA drag racing. Disagreements with NHRA executives led Carrier and Moore to part ways with NHRA and to sign up with the AHRA. Problems with AHRA’s vice-president later developed and they disassociated the track with the AHRA as well. So, in 1970, Carrier and Moore elected to launch their own drag racing sanctioning body, the International Hot Rod Association, better known to the public as the IHRA. Carrier oversaw the operation of the IHRA for 17 seasons. In 1987, Carrier sold the IHRA to drag racer Billy Meyer.

In 1976, Lanny Hester and Gary Baker purchased Bristol Speedway.

In 1982, Hester sold his half-ownership to NASCAR Winston Cup Series car owner Warner Hodgdon. Hodgdon purchased Baker’s remaining half in 1983 in a package deal buying the Nashville fairgrounds track as well. Hodgdon then hired Carrier as the track manager. In 1985, Hodgdon filed bankruptcy and forfeited the track. Carrier sprung to action covering the track’s outstanding debt and assuming control of the assets.

After nine years, Larry Carrier was once again the owner of Bristol Motor Speedway.

Carrier experienced a great deal of difficulty maintaining the asphalt in the bottom of the turns of the track for years. As track speeds increased the force of the cars cornering was literally ripping the asphalt up. Carrier noted that Martinsville Speedway had resolved a similar problem by concreting the turns at their racetrack. Carrier eventually solved the problem at Bristol by concreting the entire track in 1992.

In 1996, Bruton Smith, CEO of Speedway Motorsports, Inc., owner of Charlotte Motor Speedway, purchased the Bristol track from Carrier for $26 million dollars. At the time of the sale, Bristol seated 71,000.

Larry Carrier died at age 82 on Jun 7, 2005 after a long battle with Alzheimer’s disease.

Career Acomplishments:

Inducted into the Drag Racing Hall of Fame

Discuss this and other racing matters in the Prodigys@Speed Forum

You can contact Allen Madding at .. Insider Racing News

The thoughts and ideas expressed by this writer or any other writer on Insider Racing News, are not necessarily the views of the staff and/or management of IRN.

   More Articles By Allen Madding

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