The days don't get much better than this

[Clipper]

What a great day. Sunny all day long so I got a lot of work done outside, but supper time was the show stopper. Kathy deep fried haddock filets from Stan's Seafood in Rome, made coleslaw and a macaroni salad. Now we are waiting for the green flag to drop for the Bass Pro Shop fall night race and Bristol Motor Speedway. 500 laps of bumping and banging.

Bristol is a half mile oval with 26 degree banking. It is unique to have 43 cars running 150+ mph on such a short oval track. It doesn't take very long into the race before the leaders are coming up the traffic at the back of the pack. Due to being an enclosed stadium-like venue the speedway has been nick-named Thunder Valley. I have never attended a race here but they say in that enclosed space the noise is deafening. We can hear the cars here at the house and we are over 3 miles from the speedway with a line of mountains between here and there. I can see the race as well on TV as I could in the stands and don't have to fight the crowd or spend a couple of hundred bucks on tickets.

Check out the photos. Notice how small the foot-ball field looks in the infield. They temporary built the football field for the "Battle at Bristol" football game between Virginia Tech and Tennessee Vols. It set an attendance record for a football game with over 155 thousand people attending the game.

www.bing.com/images/search?view=detailV2&mediaurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.bristolmotorspeedway.com%2Fimages%2Fgallery%2Frp-c-lg.JPG&expw=1600&exph=1067&cbid=OLC.tOdQ14Gnhc2DhQ480x360&cbn=local&idpp=local&ypid=YN812x401386215&usebfpr=0&eeptype=PhotoGroups&datagroup=local:datagroup.photos&photogroupname=AllPhotos&pagetag=AllPhotos&selectedindex=10&id=OLC.tOdQ14Gnhc2DhQ480x360&q=bristol%20motor%20speedway&noidpclose=0&form=LOCIMG&ajaxhist=0&ajaxserp=0&vt=0&sim=11

[Atticus Pizzaballa]

155 thousand. Caesar would be pleased!!!!

[Atticus Pizzaballa]

The speedway is huge. It must be larger than New York Mills.

[Clipper]

Bristol Motor Speedway started as a dirt track. The founders bought a 100 acre dairy farm and built the original track. Over the years it has expanded to include the Thunder Valley Dragway. The venues and parking now encompass 670 acres.

There are also hundreds of acres in close proximity to the speedway that are privately owned campgrounds. the magnitude of what goes into the operation is unbelievable. For example there is a gravel field where a portable toilet company stores the blue porta-potties for the race. There are over 500 of them that are distributed to the track and surrounding parking areas, as well as those that are rented by the campgrounds. I don't know as I would want to be downwind of that many outhouses, lol. With 155,000 people in the area around the track those things must need pumping and cleaning more than once a day.