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Show e W Sso IB, Tuesday May 22, 2001 flircca ByRICHARDSHAW Sports writer .As for back as I can remember, everything around here centered around that race track," he I stood there in awe. I had Btood , said as we backed up under fire in many famous places in my life, grandstands and leaned against but I was never Impressed like I the company car he has so nonwas with this. chalantly pulled up right to the I have stood on Michigan Avhuxway "My family made a lot of enue in downtown Chicago on a; money parking can in their yard busy day and in the middle of the at $20 a pop so people could walk Delta Center floor when there, the half mile to the raceway There were lass than aluuidful of peqde was never enough parking, no matter what they did." in the building The parking around the place Ive spent time dwelling on the grass in Coors Fiek and walking was humongous, but Watkins told theoutfield in theold Candlestick me that on Ugraoe days the place .v fills upearfy. in the morning By Dark, "077 10 am people are parking in the But noneof these were as impressive as what I saw this past freeway median, along the sides weekend. Nonestruck me with awe of the freeway and in private null upfanHnr UVa flifa place, the drives and lawns for foree miles Bristol Motor Speedway in Bristol around. Many of the nearby ByRICHARDSHAW Sports writer For tlie second year the College Eastern Utah boded aSDarchery tournament on May 12 In the hilin above Castle Heights. A 3D archery shoot involves lifting . targets that are three . dimentional, or in other words the targets which represent actual wild:, hie, are life size and representative fa tl)HW Hlnwnrinnii . The coureewM set up on theccJ-leg- e property located at the north east corner of the dty. lUa year ' there were 50 competitors, oompeK ingforcash and prizes. Men and women came from as farasSilt,(kld.airiKemmer,Wyiv to compete in the competition. Ihe course to set up with 20 different life size animal targets ranging from elk to wart hog. Each Bhooter shoots from each station at an urdmowhyardage.. The -scoring is base4 upon the area in whtehtfae.anowhitk Rangtngfrom ' . five points to 12 or even a zero if .one hitsarodL-- ' 3D archery is one bf the fasted growing competitive sports in the country In the United States there , are approximately. 10 million ar- chers.Mostofwhidiareh)eatedJh the Eastempart of the U& 3D ar-7-7 chery can also be done for fun and not for competition. . Manyrftheparticfoants spent the dayandnightinPrireCity THe allege hopes this will become an d event that will attract people . : . v Tfenn. ! dr-cult- ," ' an-nu- tothearea.'lhediQotfornextyear : . d fa already inthe planning stages and liiD be hdd on the second Saturday! in May once again. :! Next year organizers hope td have the shoot be sanctioned by the International Bowmans Assodar tion which will bring people to the competition from as far away as California. If that happens ft will afapincreasetlmnnmberofpartid-- . pants, perhaps into the hundreds, v. Thecampetttfonafaoindudeda . long distant shoot and first prize' was aBowTjxfabow There was also had a balloon abbot where every-- ; : one who came won something 3D archery is the very best way ; of getting practice for the August archeryhunt. ; . . ; . . ; , . area. Ihe college itself teaches an ifueherydass each year in the armory near the camjais. Archery is an up and coming sport, and 3D shootingwill continue to be abig part of that growth. to their houw that fa just used for parking during events; its one of and examined the new speedway theirmqjor sources of income. "When I really became a fan, but tbB size and more imaround my high school years, my portant the history ofthis speed- buddies andlwouldfoDow the said Watkins. Six of us way fa what impressed me. It was funny because inside me would take my car and we could I knew the Bristol Speedway was gooyer to trades in the Carolinas somewhere In the area as I drove and get in for an eight dollar ticket around on other business last and a 20 motel room where some Thursday, but somehow I just Of us would deep oh the Hoot! didnt connect until the guy I was ; could go with $4Q bucks in my. riding around with, Ray Watkins,' pocket and come home with much pointed it out to me in the distance. of it intact" .."! Mare importantly though, Ray 7 Those days have passed. When offered to take me there to see it, events happen at speedways now; and even; more important than all lodging filfa up, sometimes up that, 1 would learn later! as we to 200 miles awayandtberoom stood in the bottom of the bowl in rates go out sigit cm those weekwhidi such legendary drivers as ends. A cheap , ticket to get in Richard Betty Junior Johnson, nowfo$80.,. Cale Yarbourough, Bobby Allison, 77. "Rare fans throw more money Darrell Wfcltrip, Terry Labonte, away than any other group of Rusty Wallace and of course Dale ; sports fans I have every seen," said Eanibart made .names for them--. Whtkins speaking out of personal selves, Ray was a real part of the fexperieorefromBelllngatabooth history of theraceway himself. His , at Bristol thdsupports local bpys hasebalL They wUl find three family home was across the highway from the edifice, and he has things in your booth that cods $20 spent many days at that track as a and buy all three and then do the kid and afterhlgh school had same at the booth next door. ; ; workedthere.. Bristolstarted out as a 10,000 V The speedway Itself opened in seat stadium with a small press 1961, after two yeart of construcannouncing box anda grassy intion, risinglrom the remnants of field. Now the complex includes an old dairy farm. Tb Watkins, Who . huge asphalt car show Ureas and fa fa his early 40s, Bristol had ai-- along with the Bristol International Drag Strip that Is located ways been there. In my mind, haring followed juri north of the bowl itself. The KASCAR over the years, but hat 7 drag racing nationals have been intense I felt the same way Its held there a few times, alangwtth name raised in the radngpart of many regional raoea But the bowl my mjnd just like Daytona, remains the centerpiece. Trememberwhen they used to Thlladega and Darlington. Bristol is one of those names you hear on struggle to fill the bowl, white they the television all the time when; . couldn't fit all the people in the they are discussing racing. 7 dragstrip stands that wuitedtobe ...Baseball has Yankee Stadium, there," Btates.Yfatkins. "Now its football has Lambeau Field, bas. Just the opposite. - On this short track Darrell ketball has Madison Square Gardens and tennis has Wlmbleton: Whttrip won seven Bristd races and many others. Rating has. in a row beginning with the places like Bristol Wdleydale 500 in 1981. White I Stood there graders and On this track Dale Earnhardt, earth movers were buzzing around had his fird Vrinston Cup victory the 2680 footraceway known ln at the Southeastern 50Q on April radng circles as the fastest hall, 1, 1979. mile on earth, putting down red. On this trads Richard Itetty'won Tennessee soil over the top of the forth Winston Cup events in 1975 concrete track for the upcoming 7 alter winning one of the events in Outlaw Racers that are coming 1967. next weekend. V The list goes on and on; legendThe fences around the track, ary drivers and famous perfor7 that adyertfae.for everything from mances. v com As todot we stood there a security cigarettes companies, were beinglmried in crimson dust guy on a four wheeler came up as the machines went by, 7 and asked us whal we were doing I looked up into the stands; seat"I Jud wanted to see this; Ive well thouover for a hundred ing always beard about it," I said sand people looked down at me,; sheepishly knowing that we had wtthapressbaxasiongastheeati 7 not gotten permission from any- side of the edifice oh the top. Sky one to be there, boxes with plush suites surround Thats great, " he said in that eastern Tennessee drawl. Ju8t thetopteveL This is a raceway born out of stay out of the way of the graders, the beginnings rf the NASCAR we don't want anyone getting hurt NASCAR fanatics abound fa Take all the pictures you want" the south, more so than in any. He could tell I was a Yankee, other part of the country and par- - but that great southern hospital-ticularIn Tennessee and the ity showed through.' Carolinas. Ray bad a lot of sto-- ' All I could still do was fanH : riestotelL ; , there in awe. . , The sheer size of one of these Bpeedway bowls is amazing I saw . ; ; ; : . At present there are 300-4- 00 active arcbers In the EnwyCarfcon !.. 7. ; i Mm! i mi wm c tiruce Bean, one of the contestants from Salt taka, iota CP with a shot on the Elk 3D target on the course. Partid- ii hi - inMaii i ami 7, pants were broken up info random groups of four for each target as they travelled ttiecourse..-;-- ; ; .. . r ! . . .; . : . . : - !. . . ! efr-cu- il iy . r j - .. r-- Bruce Bean and Kern Behling examine the hits the team has made on the 3D Bk target me group included Bean from Salt Lake, Behling fromFerron; Ted Tilley from Silt Colo, and McCade Mascara from Helper; 3D sport shooting is becoming ever more popular, especially with those that bow hunt in the late summer and fall it keeps them in practices. Contestents on this course first spot the 1 . r.-- . n1 ,r ,fT T target, then they examine it with binoculars for the exact target on the display ! Then they try to hit the target as dose to the center as possible. Organizers hope to make this a bigger event each year, and ultimately hope to get archers from as . : far away as tition. California and the mid-we- st This was the second year of the comoe-becau- se T Places and time are important - in spxts and stadiums can become legendary. |