It's Bristol Baby-March 1998

Most years in the nineties I couldn’t wait for mid-February and 1998 was no exception. Being a Nascar fan and a Dale Earnhardt Sr fan made this the biggest time of the year. It was finally time to start the season with the biggest race of the Nascar season, the Daytona 500. Earnhardt going into the 98 season had yet to win the Daytona 500. This time it would be different, yes in 1998 Dale Earnhardt Sr won the Daytona 500. With my mom passing away in Jan, Earnhardt’s victory was a wonderful way to help cheer me up.

A few weeks later an opportunity to spend a weekend at a friend’s house in Tennessee was offered to me. This friend was like another mom to me and this weekend activities included watching a Nascar race at Bristol Motor Speedway. Bristol has always been one of my favorites and to be able to watch in person had me excited. I accepted the offer and couldn’t wait for that March weekend.

March 29, 1998 arrived and so did we early at the track. We now had several hours to kill before the event and quickly found out that there are many things to do and see outside the racetrack before the race. One of the things we found was a simulator that allowed us to be strapped in like a race car driver and then a screen in front of us put us on the track. The unit was on hydraulics and moved around in accordance to what we saw on the screen. Could have done that several times.

In 98 Nascar Cup series was still being sponsored by Winston. They had set up a Huge tent and at different times Nascar drivers would come out and talk to the group in the tent. I had the pleasure of meeting and hearing Mike Skinner and Jimmy Spencer talk in the tent. At the time Mike Skinner was a teammate to Earnhardt and I was thrilled to be that close thinking Earnhardt would be next. No such luck so we moved on.

It was getting closer to race time so we went to find our seats. Drats, they are on the backstretch, oh well, I didn’t pay for them, WAIT! Earnhardt’s pit stall is in front of me. Oh this day just keeps getting better. At Bristol there is no bad seats, the track is only a half mile and you are right next to all of the action. Since you are so close, it’s also very loud. My adopted mom gave me some headphones to wear, but these weren’t ordinary headphones, they were able to pick up driver’s frequencies, up to ten of them. OH BOY, I promptly set up the headphones and now was able to hear Earnhardt, Rusty Wallace, Jeff Gordon, Darrell Waltrip just to name a few.

During the I heard Earnhardt telling his crew chief Larry McReynolds that he was coming in during a caution flag. Earnhardt using a few colorful words explained he had a flat tired and is coming in. Once that was taken care of, Earnhardt asked how Darrell was doing. Waltrip was filling in for Steve Parks who drove the 1 car. I thought it was really interesting to hear what they talked about and to hear some of the strategies that went into running a race.

As the race comes to a close, it’s obvious that Earnhardt won’t win this one, that wonder boy, Jeff Gordon took it. It would be his second win of a season with a total of thirteen victories. A year that Jeff Gordon became a cup champion for a third time.

Bristol has always been one of my favorites races to watch. I’ve been to several at Michigan International Speedway, but none of those were as much fun as I had in Tennessee. Thanks again to my adopted mom, yeah, I’m still talking about that weekend even after all those years. I had a blast!