Categories: Local

A Night at the Dirt Track Races

The night started off with getting ready and getting up to watch the race. If you have never been to a dirt track race then the one in Tazewell, TN is definitely the place to be. First if you are coming from Knoxville, TN or the surrounding counties you might want to take the easiest route to Claiborne county for you. If you are new to Tennessee you want to get off I40 in knoxville, Tn and go to I640 then take the Broadway exit north. Keep following that and will you drive through some of the most gorgouse views that you’ll ever see from the mountains. This place is set about a mile back from the main highway that travels from Halls, Tn just past Knoxville, TN all the way through to Middlesboro, Ky which is the main pathway through for many people every day who travel to work in Knoxville, TN.

The races start around 6:30 with qualifying. So you get to see the sun set in a really pretty place on top of a mountain side. I never realize how pretty something is when you look at it every time you travel the same road day in and day out. Every day you travel you never think about it until you can stop and see the beauty it beholds. The track actually opens out around 4 o’clock so you can get there early to get the full experience but the beauty of it is that it is still the same price when the race starts. The price doesn’t go up and you can get stamped so you can go back out to your car if you need to. This time of year the weather is a bit chilled when it rains. We are getting really hot in the day time and cold at night or when the sun goes down. So, you will need to bring a sweater or long sleeve shirt and probably a thick jacket and something to sit on, plus you will probably want to bring a throw blanket or throw rug to have something over you to keep all the dirt off or most of it anyways.

Qualifying goes through 1-2 laos for each section of races that they are having. The night I went which was May 8th, 2010 they had pretty much all the races there from classic to modern to some smaller cars that we don’t normally see out at a nascar track. The dirt track is a more informal style of racing and you race the cars to go with the track instead of the other way around. There are rules but they are not as strict as the Nascar section of racing. Nascar racing is fun and a track at the Nascar level is awesome but sometimes you need to sit back and see where it all came from and the Dirt track racing allows many to do that who may not have seen the process that Nascar went through to get to where they are now.

The night goes on with a couple small races in the beginning then the a big 20-30 lap race in the middle and then some more smaller races and then another big 20-30 lap race. Sometimes there are a couple of smaller races after the last big lapped race but usually that is the end of racing for most of the families that come there. Most of the ones who are there are there to watch a member of there family race or they know someone who races or is associated with the race track.

They are a very well lit track, and they have bathroom facilities along with snack facilities. They also have ambulance and firetrucks in case of an emergancy and they have wel lit areas for the entrances and exits. They take pride in there track and experience a well good turn over most events. It’s usually 10 dollars a person and higher for pit passes. They change it sometimes depending on the amount of races that they are offering for the night. They will be doing a memorial day show for that Saturday night of Memorial day weekend and they have a kid night that night. The kids are always free but they will have things in between the races for the kids and will have fireworks after the races are done. If you want to find out more information on the website (www.tazewellspeedway.net/)