HEMBREE: Smith Ponders From Mountaintop

Sprint Cup

HEMBREE: Smith Ponders From Mountaintop

Will Bristol Motor Speedway undergo another transformation?

Mike Hembree | Posted March 23, 2012 Fontana, CA

A sparse crowd was on hand for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Food City 500 at Bristol. (Photo:LAT Photographic)

Apparently it will be at least next week before word comes down the mountain on Bruton Smith’s big Bristol decision.

He and his staff of engineers (I’m thinking of hiring me some engineers, when I get the time and money) seem to be poring over charts and plans and graphs and revisiting the density of concrete and the destructive power of the jackhammer as they ponder the reinvention of Thunder Valley.

Despite the expenditure of millions of dollars – and, literally, the mountains that have been moved, Bristol Motor Speedway has found its way onto fans’ blacklists. Ain’t what it used to be, they say. Ain’t going no more. Just ain’t Bristol.

They got Smith’s attention last week when tens of thousands of them didn’t show up for the Food City 500. It was not a promising day, to be sure, with rain blanketing the region most of race morning. But that kept away only a few thousand – maybe. The track’s colosseum-style grandstands (seemingly built all the way up to the sky, in hopes that the Christians and lions might battle once more) slumped in embarrassment. The place was less than half full.

A bigger crowd will be in attendance for the more popular night race in August, but the spring race was sold out for a long run of years, and the lonely crowd that showed up Sunday got officials’ attention quickly.

Smith almost immediately jumped on the bandwagon, saying he would make changes if changes are needed to make fans happy. And, he said, he could make those changes before the August race.

Whatever happens next is likely to cause controversy. The majority of drivers like the new surface, simply because there is more room to race and there are fewer multi-car accidents. As Jeff Burton put it, there now is room to “escape”.

Some drivers, Kevin Harvick perhaps chief among them, prefer the “old” Bristol, however, and Smith might ultimately decide to try to recreate that scenario, which generally involved drivers trying to make passes in the blink of an eye as they entered or exited the turns, moves that often led to calamity.

Even those Smith says he has every particular about the old surface tucked away in the bowels of the Speedway Motorsports computer system, it will be virtually impossible to duplicate the old track. Part of its charm was the fact that its surface had been raced on for year after year, an experience that obviously can’t be recreated with new concrete.

Perhaps Smith’s engineers can add a water hazard to the backstretch or a jump ramp at the exit of turn four.

In any case, it’s a short turnaround to August, and, ideally, there would be time before the race for Goodyear to test tire compounds on any new Bristol surface.

Smith, the last true tycoon in the racing business, leaves the impression he’s enjoying this latest carousel of calamity at what used to be one of his most reliable moneymakers.

The guess, though, is that he enjoys stacking $20 bills more.

Mike Hembree is NASCAR Editor for SPEED.com and has been covering motorsports for 30 years. He is a six-time winner of the National Motorsports Press Association Writer of the Year Award.

The opinions reflected herein are solely those of the above commentator and are not necessarily those of SPEED.com, FOX, NewsCorp, or SPEED

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Mike Hembree

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