How did we get to May already?  Wow. 

What that means here in Bristol is our Street Fights are underway at Thunder Valley Dragway;  The inaugural Thunder Valley Fly & Wine is May 3-4; the Ford NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals are next month over Father’s Day weekend; Global Rally Cross/Monster Truck Madness is in July; and then we have the August IRWIN Tools Night Race. 

Let’s face it… there’s nothing quite like the first time. While that can be said for a variety of life experiences, I’m specifically talking about your first NASCAR Cup race.

Well, the first of our big events at Bristol Motor Speedway is in the record books – and let’s face it, the Food City 500 weekend definitely got 2013 started off on a high note.

It was another amazing trio of races. Couldn’t have asked for much better because the action on the track was definitely top-notch.   You guys all saw that so you know what I’m talking about. There are other things, however, that I saw or heard about that you likely did not. 

I'm so blessed to be able to do what I do as part of the Bristol Motor Speedway team. I coordinate our research efforts to learn more about what you like, don’t like, as well as what you experience and encounter during your time at our events. 

Ultimately, the combined findings are shared with every member of the team here and often discussed at length, which many times leads to fine-tuning, improvements or upgrades of experiences. It’s fascinating from a data point of view, if there is such a thing, to see your willingness to share your time and your opinions with us.  It’s downright humbling, to be frank.

There are a lot of numbers tossed around in NASCAR. 5 Championships, 12-time Bristol winner or 4th consecutive top ten. But here are some numbers that excapsulated the 2013 Food City 500 weekend at Bristol Motor Speedway

Bristol Motor Speedway is an amazing place to work; not because of what it is, but because of people: the guests, the employees and the racers. Bristol IS the experience. 

My name is Patrick Savage and this is my first blog post as an employee of Bristol Motor Speedway. I just passed my one-year anniversary of employment this week. I am sure you can guess how exciting... hectic and blessed that year was, but there is more to it.

The Sprint Cup boys ran the first “competition” race of the 2013 season Saturday night behind the wheels of the new Gen-6 cars. All I can say is watch out! When they unleash those new cars on the high banks of Bristol in just four short weeks, who knows what’s going to happen? As we promoters like to say, “You gotta be here to find out!” Well-seasoned Bristol veterans know, and first-timers soon will discover, that particular statement truly means something different at Bristol.

It is hard to believe racing season is here and at Bristol Motor Speedway we are foot-to-the-floor getting ready for everyone to hit town for the Food City 500 week. A member of my family, to whom I now am not speaking, said to me the other night “boy I bet you guys are going to be getting busy here in the next month or so.”

Yep, last night’s Discover BCS National Championship Game ended up being a route. But the buildup to the game (for weeks and up until kickoff) certainly was intense and enjoyable – especially in the world of social media. The one common thread that echoed from fans across Twitter, Facebook and YouTube throughout the period clearly was “passion.”

What was your New Year’s Day meal? Traditionally speaking, it should have consisted of black-eyed peas, turnip greens or cabbage and cornbread. At least that’s considered the official good luck meal around these parts on Jan. 1. Black-eyed peas bring prosperity, turnip greens and cabbage are green, so that means you’ll have good fortune and enough money. And cornbread… well…um, I can’t remember.