Johnson City Press from Johnson City, Tennessee • 34

NASCARRace week Page 2 Johnson City Press Wednesday August 22 2007 BMS improves with changes some fantastic Some of the figures from a BMS press release are staggering It required 3000 cubic yards of concrete for the top layer of the 17-inch deep surface Overall more than 20000 cubic yards of concrete was required for the project with sub-surface walls etc More than 650 tons of rebar was needed to complete the entire project Changing the track surface was only part of the process Pit road wais converted from asphalt to concrete and the pit stalls were widened by two feet Fans have come to expect great action at Bristol Motor Speedway Unfortunately multicar crashes often meant watching cars run under the yellow flag for long stretches at a time a good bet drivers battling for the same spot on the race track will still beat and bang fenders but expect to see the same amount of caution laps drivers riding around behind the pace car See BIRCHFIELD Page 3 Motor Speedway SiwwA FOOD PI CITY Schedule Wednesday am Food City 150 practice 10 -11 am 200 practice am Foot) City 150 Practice Noon-1 pm 200 Final Practice 2:30 pm Food City 150 qualifying 4 pm O'Reilly 200 qualifying 5:15 pm Food City 150 driver introductions 5:45 pm Start of Food City 150 7:30 pm O'Reilly 200 driver introductions 8 pm Start of 200 Friday 9 am Spectator gates open 9 9:50 am Food City 250 practice 10:15 am Food City 250 final practice 11:30 am-l pm Sharpie 500 practice 3:20 pm Sharpie 500 qualifying 4:35 pm Food City 250 qualifying pm Sharpie 500 final practice 7:30 pm Food City 250 driver introductions 8 pm Start of Food City 250 Saturday 1 Spectator gates open 7:30 pm Sharpie 500 driver introductions 8 pm Start of Sharpie 500 1 ARMACY Bristol Motor Speedway president Jeff Byrd thrilled when it was time to change the racing surface at his high-banked short track When your speedway has sold-out 50 consecutive races and has constantly been voted most popular track you are reluctant to mess with success But a change to the 15-year-old concrete surface was necces-sary With time the track had become bumpy with big crowns in the turns As the engines are being tuned for Sharpie 500 practice it is truly a new improved Bristol Motor Speedway Gone are those humps and bumps replaced by a surface that has gotten rave reviews from drivers in testing Most impressive was the racing action in three weekends of late model stock car racing No longer was there only single-file racing where the only way to make a pass was to bump the car in front of you out of the way Instead cars ran two-wide and even three-wide on occa- Price includes up to 5 qts Formula Shell Plus $100 disposal fee Jeff Birchfield sions If these races are any kind of barometer the NASCAR races at Bristol should be among the best in track history The two biggest changes were to the famous high-banked turns Now with progressive-variable banking they go from 24 to 30 degrees There is also the widening of the race track from 40 to 43 feet think our development guys did a tremendous job with the said Byrd drivers I spoke with were very pleased with the surface and wait to get here for the August events We wanted a smoother surface with better transitions in the comers and I believe exactly what we got And because of that we should have tonnounj All SEASON RADIALS P17570R13 '3450 P18565R14 P19570R14 P20570315 P23575R15 '4950 P22560R15 wlHjl rasas: foe ummn CLEANING SERUlSE Eg0CARE IN FILLING YOUR PRESCRIPTIONS 0RJ3E TO EXPLADf YOUR MEDICINES TO YOU EIFIFOIRT TO TAKE THE BEST CARE OF YOU AND YOUR FAMILY nthii Hot SH0P AT THE pharmacy W'y WITH ALL THE EXTRAS? 4729 Roan St at Boones Creek Phone 283-0911 Pat Rowan Pharmacist Hours: M-F 9-6 Sat 9-3 wwwboonescreekpharmacycom GOOD-YEAR CBRStivwij) BFGoodrfcH nznsrisOi TOYOTSRES' ll.