Food City 500 campground

My annual trip down to Bristol, Tenneessee for the Food City 500. It was 13th down to Thunder Valley USA and the trip gets better every year.

I went with family in the 90's but began asking friends to join me and my father. I am always interested to see someone attend their first race and hear their expressions of the race after the smell of the fuel and tires has settled.

In August 2008, I caught the sign of a campground that provides a family-friendly experience without a bunch of booze and drugs. I called and made a reservation for the spring of '09. I got my group together and had a great time. So much so, that I decided to do it again this year.

Eight of the thirteen decided to return with me, leaving five making the trip to Peaceful Valley for the first time. My friend Jeremy allowed us to take him and his 20 by 12 foot canopy tent. It is a massive structure for a small campsite.

We finally got down to the campground on Saturday afternoon after making stops at Wade's Corvair parts, Wal-Mart, Hardees, Chick Fila, and a Sunoco for gas.

Barry led us to section 'G' of the campground and we secured a similar spot to last year, which is fairly close to the church building containing food and restrooms. I asked one in the group to document the trip which he was glad to do with the help from his school's media department.

We ran into a minor burn victim situation last year so fire repelant was on hand this year. The grills fired up and cooked up the burgers and dogs. Fixins made it all very tasty. The sun went down and time passed by.

Countless interviews took place to give the consensus view and the night was fairly young. The camp had a quartet sing for about an hour. NCAA basketball followed on the big projection in the gym.

I only awoke two or three times due to snoring and snoring outside the tent. I used the compressed chest and mouth technique to quell the Gnasty's snoring and a rattle the tent cage technique for those outside. Somewhat effective.

The sun arose around 7:30 and it was time to do the necessary camp morning routine of raising the flag and racing to the mess hall. I opted for a bagel with strawberry cream cheese, made by my lovely fiance, and some cereal to compliment my grapes, orange, and apple.

The camp provided a church service at 9 and a minister from Racing Outreach. He shared a powerful messsage. The prayer requests were read aloud and one mentioned the hope that the health care reform would not pass. However, about 12 hours later, it did just that.

At 11, it was time to buy the tickets. My favorite time of the day. A lady drove up in a white Mercedes with tickets flaling out the passenger window. She said $5! Then the driver said $25 each with three total. I pulled out $15 and put it in her lap and took the tickets. She was driving away from the track so I didn't worry too much. She probably would have taken a lot less.

The next 10 tickets came at an average of $16 a piece so we all got in for good and cheap.

The lunch brought about a polish off of most of the remaining food and with the start of the race coming at 1:15 P.M. Overcast skies led to intermittent rain throughout the day but never stopped the race.

Pit road speeding, a big wreck caused by a faulty radio, and the same ole winner winning again took the headlines.

Bristol in the Fall? We'll see!