The cost of a first-class stamp was 20 cents. Martina Navratilova and Jimmy Connors were Wimbledon champs. Ronald Reagan was president. The world population was 4.6 billion. And Michael Jackson’s vaunted Thriller album (yes, it was an album back then) was the talk of the music world.
When did all those events occur? In 1982, the same time that Bristol Motor Speedway’s consecutive streak of Nextel Cup sellouts, which reaches 50 with the upcoming Food City 500 on March 25, began.
No other speedway in NASCAR’s stable can boast of such an impressive statistic. It began on Aug. 28, 1982 when Darrell Waltrip’s Buick edged Bobby Allison by. 70 second in front of a sold-out crowd of 30,000 to capture the Busch 500 title. Twenty-five years later, the world’s population is a couple billion more and the seating capacity at BMS has grown to nearly 160,000. Yet the fans continue to come and the track, home of the toughest tickets in the sport to come by, is always filled to capacity.
“It’s a pretty significant accomplishment, †said BMS President and General Manager Jeff Byrd. “I don’t know of any race track that can even come close to 50 straight sellouts. The amazing thing about the streak is that no matter what the seating capacity was throughout the years, the fans always bought tickets and always came to Bristol to fill those seats.
“It all goes back to the loyalty fans feel toward Bristol and the fact that they love the experience that is Bristol Motor Speedway. The short track action, the high banks, the ability to see everything that’s happening on the track… it’s very unique and they appreciate it. â€
Since the streak began there have been 17 different winners at Bristol. Leading the pack is Rusty Wallace with nine wins, followed by Dale Earnhardt and Darrell Waltrip, both with seven, Jeff Gordon and Kurt Busch with five apiece and Terry Labonte, Alan Kulwicki, Mark Martin and Matt Kenseth, all with two each. Tony Stewart, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Kevin Harvick, Dale Jarrett, Elliott Sadler, Bill Elliott, Ernie Irvan and Davey Allison each had one victory during the streak.
The spring race of 1996, the first under Bruton Smith’s ownership, and that sellout registered 71,000 fans in attendance. One year later an additional 47,000 seats had been built and sold. In August of 1998, 135,000 people were part of the sold out half-mile oval while the sellout of March 2003 boasted the first nearly crowd of nearly 160,000.
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