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CUP: Following A Legend At Bristol
Jerry Caldwell named to replace Byrd as Bristol Motor Speedway general manager...
Mike Hembree  |  Posted November 02, 2010   Charlotte, NC
Jerry Caldwell, 35, has been named General Manager at Bristol Motor Speedway. (Photo: Courtesy of Bristol Motor Speedway)
Being named the new general manager at Bristol Motor Speedway was a dream come true, said Jerry Caldwell, who, as expected, as promoted to the position Monday.

The promotion is bittersweet, however, Caldwell said, and in more ways than one.

Caldwell, 35, replaces Jeff Byrd, the Bristol speedway’s long-time general manager and (later) president. Byrd, 60, died Oct. 17 after a battle with cancer.

Caldwell not only was a top member of Byrd’s BMS staff, but he also was Byrd’s son-in-law. He and Byrd’s daughter, Belton, met while she was working at the speedway during summer break.

“It’s a dream come true for me but definitely not with the circumstances that were in that dream,” Caldwell said. “I understand full well the man I’m following in this leadership capacity. I’m very fortunate to have called him my mentor.

“One of my goals is going to be to continue to make sure we stay focused on the core values he instilled in us as a team.”

Byrd was known for being very involved with fans. He often greeted them at the speedway gates, gave fans rides around the speedway property on golf carts and stressed to his staff that service to fans came first. He often responded directly to fan phone calls and e-mails.

“I’m going to have an open-door policy like Jeff did,” said Caldwell, who moves up from BMS vice president of corporate sales. “Bruton Smith [Speedway Motorsports Inc. chairman] signs our checks, but we work for the race fans. We want to make sure they have an unparalleled experience here.”

Caldwell, who said a new sales vice president will be named to replace him, said he doesn’t plan any significant changes at BMS, one of NASCAR’s most successful tracks for decades.

“I’m not focusing on doing anything differently,” he said. “We have a tremendous team in place here, the best established group in motorsports. We’ll continue to focus on exceeding expectations and raising the bar and creating new experiences for race fans at every event.”

For years, tickets to Bristol Sprint Cup races were hot commodities, particularly for the late-summer night race. The track’s streak of 55 straight sellouts ended this year, however, as there were thousands of unsold seats for both Sprint Cup dates as BMS wrestled with the same economic troubles that have plagued other tracks.

“One of the things we focus on is controlling the things that we can control,” Caldwell said. “The racing here has been great. It’s a little different than in the past, but it’s great. Our focus is on the full fan experience.”

Mike Hembree is NASCAR Editor for SPEED.com and has been covering motorsports for 28 years. He has written several books on NASCAR, including "NASCAR: The Definitive History of America's Sport" and "Then Tony Said To Junior: The Best NASCAR Stories Ever Told". He is a six-time winner of the National Motorsports Press Association Writer of the Year Award.

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