BREAKING NEWS: Bristol Motor Speedway, Food City Announce Caravan Ticket Tour

BRISTOL HERALD COURIER
BRISTOL, Tenn. – Bristol Motor Speedway and Food City are bringing the product to the people.

NASCAR’s most famous track and the three-state, 92-store supermarket chain announced Tuesday afternoon a joint venture that will make NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Food City 500 tickets for the March 22 race available to regional racing fans at participating Food City grocery stores.

Dubbed the Food City 500 Fan Appreciation Caravan Tour, the 29-store jaunt opens today and runs through Feb. 14, and it visits outlets in Tennessee, Virginia and Kentucky.

While the push of the caravan tour is to reach out to fans and help market the nearly 17-year relationship between BMS and Food City – the second-oldest track-sponsor relationship in NASCAR – the basic idea is to sell more race tickets.

Bristol Motor Speedway has sold out 53-consecutive Cup races, dating back to Aug. 28, 1982.

But the streak is in jeopardy.

A sinking national economy, now mired in a full recession, coupled with a variety of issues facing NASCAR, has an energized BMS crew scrambling to come up with new ideas and ways to reach out to race fans.

According to Steve Smith, Food City president and CEO, the single Cup tickets made available to fans are renewable and will be desirable ones – tickets will be pulled from Food City’s corporate collection.

“Our seats are good seats,” Smith said. “There’s not too many bad seats in the house.”

Tuesday’s promotional announcement follows a move by BMS on Dec. 22, 2008, to make a limited supply of NASCAR Cup race season tickets available to fans – the first time in 12 years the half-mile, 160,000-seat capacity track has made such an offer.

Jeff Byrd, Bristol Motor Speedway president and general manger, sounded confident BMS would be able to sell out the March 22 Cup race.

“We have a better chance of selling out the Spring race than any track in NASCAR,” Byrd said, adding that some NASCAR tracks with rapidly approaching Cup dates still have upwards of 100,000 tickets still available.

Asked how many tickets are still available for the March 22 Cup date at BMS, Byrd said, “There are thousands of tickets, but not multiples of thousands.”

According to Byrd, the deciding factor as to whether BMS’ sellout streak will continue is a large block of marketing tickets that have a late deadline for purchase.

The relationship between Bristol Motor Speedway and Food City dates back to April 1992.

“Food City’s been such a good partner,” Byrd said. “Too often in this business, tracks tend to take those partners for granted.”

The first stop on the caravan tour is set for today at Food City store No. 699, located in Piney Flats, Tenn., while a visit planned for Feb. 14 to store No. 605 in Kingsport, Tenn., will end the journey.

Along the way, Food City stores in Knoxville, Tenn., Marion, Va., and Pikeville, Ky., among others, will receive a presentation run by BMS employees scheduled from 3-7 p.m. at each location. The event will be filled with promotional giveaways, and a chance to win a grand-prize package that includes VIP suite passes for the entire NASCAR race weekend in March, as well as pit and hospitality passes.
Joni Cole, BMS marketing and customer service coordinator, said she was excited for the opportunity to meet and interact with fans she normally only deals with from afar.

“Everybody’s saying this is kinda exciting,” Cole said. “This is going to be fun to be able to be out there. Because a lot of people during race time are in at their desk, selling tickets in the ticket office.”

Tuesday’s promotional announcement was preceded with news that Ford will be the official vehicle of BMS in 2009, replacing General Motors. Bristol Motor Speedway signed a three-year sponsorship agreement with Tri-Cities and Charleston Ford Dealer Advertising Group on Monday.

In addition, Bruton Smith’s Speedway Motorsports, which owns BMS and six other race tracks, announced Jan. 2 it had acquired Kentucky Speedway, a 1.5-mile, 66,000-seat track located in Sparta, Ky.

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Date   Store Location
1/7   Piney Flats, Tenn.
1/8   Bristol, Va. (Bonham Rd)
1/9   Greeneville, Tenn. (Snapps Ferry Rd)
1/10   Knoxville, Tenn. (Strawberry Plains)
1/11   Johnson City, Tenn. (South Roan St)
1/12 Sevierville, Tenn.
1/15   Vansant, Va.
1/17 Newport, Tenn. (Western Plaza)
1/17   Pikeville, Ky. (Cassidy Blvd)
1/18   Richlands, Va.
1/19   Knoxville, Tenn. (Chapman Hwy./Mtn. Grove Dr)
1/22   Rogersville, Tenn.
1/23   Oak Ridge, Tenn.
1/24   Middlesboro, Ky.
1/25   Marion, Va.
1/26   Maryville, Tenn.
1/29   Paintsville, Ky.
1/30   Dandridge, Tenn.
1/31   St. Paul, Va.
2/1   Knoxville, Tenn. (Fountain City) *** noon-4 p.m.
2/2   Lenoir City, Tenn.
2/5   Gray, Tenn.
2/6   Morristown, Tenn. (Andrew Johnson Hwy)
2/7   Kingston, Tenn.
2/8   Wise, Va.
2/9   Knoxville, Tenn. (Peters Rd)
2/12   Blountville, Tenn.
2/13   Crossville, Tenn.
2/14   Kingsport, Tenn. (Eastman Rd)

Tickets will be sold Jan. 7 through Feb. 14 between 3-7 p.m., with the exception of Feb. 1, which will run from noon-4 p.m.