One of the best parts about travelling is you meet some of the best, most interesting people along the way. We met Jonathan “JT” Thomas at Overland Expo East a couple of weeks back. In from Johnson City, Tennessee, JT has a love of vehicles, adventure, and motorsports and works as a Senior Account Executive for Bristol Motor Speedway, the famous 1/2 mile Nascar track straddling the Virginia/Tennessee border.
One thing we quickly learned about JT is just how enthusiastic he is about sharing the story and experience of Bristol Motor Speedway – he’s one heck of an ambassador for the Nascar institution. He was nice enough to offer us a tour of Bristol Motor Speedway on Sunday as a slight detour on our drive back to Northern Virginia. No way we could turn that down!
Out of the whole Overland Expo East weekend, meeting JT and getting his tour of Bristol was a highlight for all of us. JT met us at the track Sunday afternoon and spent over 2 hours with us (on his day off!) showing us the facilities and sharing the history of the track. We got the “all access” tour, which included checking out the corporate boxes both at the Speedway and “Thunder Valley”, the drag racing facility. We even got to ride along with JT on the track. The property is a sight to behold even when Nascar isn’t in town.
Some quick Bristol Motor Speedway Facts:
- The track is a .533-mile oval with banking up to 28 degrees in the corners (steep!)
- BMS is one of the largest sporting facilities in the U.S. (and world), having held upwards of 160,000 race fans on Nascar Sprint Cup weekends
- On race weekends, Bristol goes from being a sleepy town of 26,000 to the third largest city in Tennessee!
- Bristol hosted its first Nascar Race in 1961
The Nascar Sprint Cup Series comes to Bristol 2x per year in April and August – after getting an up-close look at Bristol, we are planning on making it to at least one of the weekends to experience the madness/spectacle of a race weekend in Bristol, and we’d recommend you consider it as well, even if you aren’t a huge racing fan.
We can’t thank JT enough for taking time away from his family to spend a couple of hours with us on a Sunday afternoon – he’s very passionate about Bristol Motor Speedway, the history, and sharing the experience with folks and for that we are thankful.
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