Legendary NASCAR star Bobby Allison will serve as Honorary Starter and Virginia Tech head football coach Frank Beamer will be the Grand Marshal for the Food City 500 March 22.
Voted one of NASCAR racing's 50 greatest drivers, Allison's career was stellar and his record at Bristol Motor Speedway was part of that. He posted four wins, 23 top-five and 28 top-10 finishes in 44 career races at BMS. Through that time, Allison showed his versatility by competing in eight different models of race cars.
Allison had two incredible periods of high performance at Bristol Motor Speedway. From March of 1969 through April of 1977, a span of 15 races, Allison finished lower than sixth only twice. He finished third or better, including posting his four career wins, in seven of those races. From April of 1979 through August of 1984, the dean of the Alabama Gang posted 10 top-five and 11 top-10 finishes in 12 races.
His last race at Bristol resulted in a fifth-place finish in April of 1988. Less than three months later, his career would be cut short as a result of injuries sustained in an accident at Pocono Raceway in Pennsylvania.
Under Beamer's direction, Virginia Tech football has enjoyed unprecedented success with 15 consecutive bowl appearances, two ACC titles, two ACC Coastal Division crowns, three Big East Conference titles and a trip to the national championship game. Since the beginning of the 1995 season, only Ohio State and Florida have posted more wins than Virginia Tech, and the Hokies have finished in the top 20 in 13 of the past 16 seasons, including five Top 10 finishes during the last 11 years.
Beamer, who has a 177-89-2 record in 21 years at Tech, has been named ACC Coach of the Year, Southeast Coach of the Year by Sports Unlimited magazine, Bobby Dodd Coach of the Year, GTE Coach of the Year, Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year, Paul Bear Bryant Coach of the Year, Associated Press Coach of the Year, Walter Camp Football Foundation/Street & Smith's Coach of the Year, Maxwell Football Club Coach of the Year, Woody Hayes Coach of the Year and is a three time BIG EAST Conference Coach of the Year. In 1997, he was inducted into the Virginia Tech Sports Hall of Fame and became Tech's winningest football coach.
The Food City 500 gets under way at 2 p.m. Sunday, March 22. Qualifying for the event takes place Friday, March 20th at 3:40 p.m. The Scotts Turf Builder 300 is set for Saturday, March 21 at 2:30 p.m., with qualifying getting underway that morning at 9:40 a.m.
Tickets still are available for the Scotts Turf Builder 300 (Starting at $45) and Food City 500 (starting at $93). Tickets for Ford Fan Friday, March 20, are just $5 and fans with specially marked Pepsi cans will be admitted free.
Tickets may be purchased at www.bristoltix.com or by calling the BMS ticket office at (423) 989-6900.
