Thursday was no ordinary day at Bristol Motor Speedway. In fact, the track was buzzing with last-minute activity as the finishing touches were being made in preparation for one of the biggest events held at The Last Great Colosseum: the Speedway Classic.
Dickenson Media and news partner Augusta Free Press were granted exclusive entry to BMS to view the progress, the finished product and the little finishing touches being placed on the MLB FanZone and the “Field of Dreams” itself, the playing surface in the infield on the World’s Fastest Half Mile.
The Cincinnati Reds will travel from Great American Ballpark, on the river front in Cincinnati, and the Atlanta Braves will also make the trip from the banks of the Ohio River and travel to a place that has been magical for NASCAR and play one of the biggest games in MLB history and in the history of that small little track envisioned by Larry Carrier and Carl Moore back in the early 1960s.
The track has undergone a number of changes, including the purchase of the track by Bruton Smith and Speedway Motorsports in the mid 1990s, to hosting college football’s biggest game with Tennessee taking on Virginia Tech in the Battle of Bristol in 206.
For this weekend, the infield has been transformed into a major league baseball diamond thanks to the work of countless workers and a vision of MLB’s Murray Cook.
Cook, a recent addition to the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame and based out of Roanoke, is the man with vision of transforming the infield of Bristol Motor Speedway into an experience like no other.
So, pardon the paraphrasing here: “Is this Heaven?” No, It’s Bristol Baby.
I had the chance to ask Cook if this was his favorite project. His response was as diplomatic as can be. Each one of the other tracks he has overseen, the Field of Dreams in Iowa, Fort Bragg in North Carolina, soccer and cricket fields in Europe have all been special but “Bristol in and of itself, is truly unique.”
“All of them have been special,” replied Cook talking with Dickenson Media on Thursday, “But this one, Bristol is unique in its own right.”
For me, a long-time Cincinnati Reds fan, it’s a chance to see the Reds play for the first time in a place where I have come to know as my racing home away from home.
I grew up knowing The Big Red Machine, hearing Marty Brennaman and Joe Nuxhall call the games on radio while I pretended to be playing at Riverfront Stadium on a Sunday afternoon. It was watching the Reds play in the ‘75 and ‘76 World Series games against Boston and the New York Yankees.
It was also watching the front office dismantle the team in later years and hoping for one more post season of the Autumn Classic. I would have to wait until 1990 to see the underdog Reds and those “Nasty Boys” win another World Series, this time over the over-hyped Oakland A’s. The Reds swept the A’s in four games, but since then, fans like me haven’t had much to cheer about.
I have, along with some other friends on social media, have been branded as sort of outcasts in the area for our support of the Reds. In a Tri-Cities market where the Braves are king, Cincinnati is barely on the radar. But travel north of the VA/TN state line, and you see a “blending” of the fan base. There are some Braves fans but the further north you go into Virginia, Kentucky, West Virginia, there are Reds fans.
Reds fans are sort of like the Hank Williams’ Jr. song that says “You can’t starve them out, and you can’t make them run.”
SWVA used to be Reds Country. I’m often reminded of Bruce Pilkenton of Pound, who was the owner of the Pound Phillips 66, a huge Reds fan, who travelled to Cincinnati on a regular basis to see the Reds play. He also managed to bring Pete Rose to Pound High School for a “Meet Pete Rose” night in the school’s “gymatorium”.
But this is now.
MLB and Bristol Motor Speedway have combined forces after an announcement almost one year ago, that baseball was coming to the track, and yes, both have pulled off a feat that I personally don’t think could have been accomplished 10, 20 or even 50 years ago.
The time was right and both struck while the iron was hot.
Thursday afternoon was a tour of the facility and a chance for the first time to step on this Field of Dreams.
Saturday it all comes to life starting around 12 noon for the FanZone and the first pitch at 7:24 PM on FOX.
We already know the field itself passed a big test on Wednesday as thunderstorms and heavy rain rolled through the Tri-Cities and while Bristol Motor Speedway did not receive the 4+ inches of rain responsible for flooding in the area, the field received about an inch and a half of rain and Cook said the field did great. “It passed one big test”, replied Cook. “Now let’s get ready for Saturday.”
With an anticipated 85,000-plus fans set to see this baseball spectacle, it’s my hope that we get to see baseball again at BMS. It won’t be next year by any means but it’s a start in weaving together some closer ties to Major League Baseball.
And Bristol Motor Speedway is just the place to begin the move.
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