"You Don't Have Time to Breathe" ~ The Buzz on Bristol An Opinion
August 24, 2006
By Rebecca Gladden
Rebecca Gladden
One of the toughest tickets in all of sports.
That's the way many fans describe trying to score seats to a Nextel Cup race at the famed Bristol, Tennessee, short track.
Despite the fact that it seats more than 160,000, it seems there is never quite enough room in the stands to satiate the appetites of hard-core NASCAR fans.
Bristol Motor Speedway has been a favorite stop on the Cup circuit for 45 years, and fans everywhere get a tingle when they talk about Bristol under the lights.
The Bristol brand of racing is a throwback to the Saturday night short track days of old that many fans and drivers remember fondly. The atmosphere in the bullring is rowdy and raucous - so loud, in fact, that it more than lives up to its nickname - "Thunder Valley."
The truth is that only a fraction of NASCAR's estimated 75 million fans will ever see a Cup race at Bristol first hand, and even those fortunate enough to so will not see the track from the unique vantage point of the drivers themselves.
But it is possible to get a sense of what the drivers see and feel from the cockpit as they charge through the field on the track often called "the world's fastest half mile."
Here is a collection of some descriptive quotes from NASCAR drivers past and present regarding night racing at Bristol. Taken together, their comments provide a pretty good look at the experience characterized by Bristol's motto: "Racin' the way it ought'a be!"
"Bristol is the highest banked and most intense track we go to. You don't have time to breathe and it is super competitive. It is extremely difficult to pass at Bristol, so track position is crucial. It also makes pit strategy really important because if you get on the wrong pit cycle, it can cost you the race. For the fans, I think Bristol may be one of the best tracks we go to because there is not a bad seat in the house" -- Greg Biffle
"Bristol can be crazy. I've always said it is like flying a jet fighter around the inside of a basketball arena, and try that with 42 other jets doing it at the same time. It can get really intense and it takes a great deal of patience by everyone. You just have to hope that you run well and that you can stay out of all the trouble, which isn't always easy to do. Over the years, Bristol has been the source of some real highs and lows for me." -- Mark Martin
"The coolest thing about Bristol is that you have 160,000 fans that you can see all day or all night long. I can remember races where I passed Jeff Gordon for the lead and I could see the people cheering. It's one of the coolest tracks I've ever been to in my life. The grandstands are right on top of you. I mean, when you get out of the car after practice or qualifying, you can see what the fans are eating or drinking. You're that close." -- Tony Stewart
"It's very unpredictable. You never know what's going to happen next at this little bullring. It's like the Bermuda Triangle. You fly in here, all kinds of weird things happen, and there's no explanation for it." -- Darrell Waltrip
"I want to run up front because this is probably the most exciting place that we race at. The fans are pretty much on top of you. They're very loud. They're very vocal. So to come here and to run good and have success here is a great feeling." -- Elliott Sadler
"At Bristol, I would say it's 60-40. 60 percent of it you're in control, and 40 percent you're not. Even if you have a good race car, it doesn't guarantee you'll stay out of trouble." -- Jeff Gordon
"Bristol is unpredictable. It's so fast, there's no margin for error. Bumping is part of racing at Bristol, but a bump in the wrong place can put you in the wall or into a big wreck. If you have a little luck, stay clean and keep it on the track for 500 laps, you can have a good finish." -- Kasey Kahne
"It's one of my favorite tracks to race at. The track is so fast and there's such a fine line between in control and out of control. If you cross it, you'll find yourself in the wall in a hurry. I thoroughly enjoy racing there. Is it a one groove racetrack? For the most part, yes. Is it impossible to pass without running into somebody? Absolutely not. You just have to be patient and get your car to turn a little better than the guy in front of you." -- Matt Kenseth
"As a driver, it's a hard 500 laps around here, but at the end of the day you look back and say most of the time that you had a lot of fun. Everybody that you talk to, no matter where you go from the east coast to the west coast, they talk about wanting to go to Bristol to watch a race. That's why I own six tickets of my very own. You can't get tickets to Bristol, and everybody wants them … I don't know when I retire in a few years what races I'll go watch, but this will probably be one of them. It's the most exciting show anywhere." -- Dale Jarrett
"It's Bristol, baby … (Dad) had some great races here. That's why this place is so magical to me. I've wanted to win here so bad. I never thought I'd win a Busch race and a Cup race the same weekend at Bristol. Good Lord, what a great day!" -- Dale Earnhardt, Jr.
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.
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