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Family Race Night moving from Kingsport to Bristol Motor Speedway
Wes Bunch
A pre-race tradition that lets NASCAR drivers and fans meet is expected to officially end its 20-year run in Kingsport this week.
Preliminary reports indicate Food City’s Family Race Night will be moved from MeadowView Conference Resort and Convention Center in Kingsport to Bristol Motor Speedway prior to this year’s Food City 500, which is slated for March 22.
The decision is expected to be announced by Food City and Bristol Motor Speedway officials at a press conference Thursday.
Speedway officials said a press conference will be held Thursday at 11:30 a.m. but that they could not yet confirm or deny reports that the event is being moved.
Although it has not been officially announced yet, Kingsport Mayor Dennis Phillips said he’s disappointed BMS and Food City decided to pull Family Race Night out of Kingsport.
Phillips said he was told economics was behind the decision to move race night. The sport’s top drivers had not been coming to Kingsport like they had in the past, he said, and attendance has been on a downward trend for the past few years.
“The bottom line is to get the crowds you’ve got to have the top drivers, and these drivers have got to the point that, in some cases, they’re not as responsive to the fans as they were back in the Richard Petty, Cale Yarborough and Harry Gant days,” Phillips said. “Quite frankly, the economic situation could cause some of the drivers to get a little more fan-friendly.” Phillips said he would liked to have talked to BMS and Food City before they made their decision to pull out.
The city is hoping to have the event back, he said, and is currently working with both the speedway and Food City to see how they can better promote the event.
“I do think that it’s an opportunity for Kingsport to sit down with the BMS and Food City and even maybe Pepsi and others on how we can make this a better event for Kingsport and surrounding people than what it was last year,” Phillips said.
Andy King, general manager of MeadowView, said he too is disappointed with the decision to pull out, but they won’t give up trying to bring the event back.
“I think we’re going to try and get them back next year,” King said. “The mayor would like to do that, and we certainly enjoy hosting the event. We’re going to do what we can to get them back here if we can do it.” Food City President and CEO Steve Smith said Monday that he is still gathering information about next month’s Family Race Night, and other company officials who would supply him with that information were out of the office Monday.
The event, which is held each year prior to the spring Nextel Cup and Nationwide Series races, draws NASCAR fans from around the region to meet and mingle with their racing heroes.
Kingsport’s race night was first held in 1987 at the Food City on Eastman Road. It has been held at MeadowView for 10 years.
In its heyday the event would draw 8,000 to 10,000 people. In the past couple of years attendance has been down considerably, from 3,000 to 5,000 people.
Times-News
staff writers Kevin Castle and Matthew Lane contributed to this report.
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