'Nobody could imagine'

To celebrate Bristol Motor Speedway's 100th Cup Series race, NASCAR.COM is taking a look back at significant moments and drivers that have made events at BMS the most sought-after ticket in NASCAR.

It's a big leap from spares to spare tires, but 50 years ago, two partners in the bowling alley business decided to dream big. And the result was Bristol Motor Speedway.

Carl Moore moved to Bristol in 1955 after graduating in business administration from Alabama. He worked as a personnel director and developed Holiday Inns in the area before meeting Larry Carrier at a social event. The two became friends, and then business associates by the time Charlotte Motor Speedway opened its doors in 1960.

Carl Moore (left) and Glenn Roberts

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Inside the Numbers

Most Cup Series races

Rank	Track	No.
1	Daytona	127 *
2	Martinsville	123
3	Richmond	108
4	Darlington	107
5	Charlotte	103
6	Atlanta	102
7	Bristol	99
8	Michigan	83
9	Talladega	82
10	Dover	81
11	Pocono	66
12	Loudon	31
13	Phoenix	28
	Watkins Glen	28
15	Sonoma	22
16	Fontana	20
17	Texas	19
18	Indianapolis	17
19	Las Vegas	13
20	Homestead	11
21	Chicago	10
22	Kansas	9

* -- Includes 23 Daytona 500 qualifying races that were points events.
Race totals as of Aug. 15, 2010.

"Larry and I had been in business before, in bowling alleys," Moore said Monday from his Tennessee home. "I was in Knoxville, at a Tennessee-Alabama football game and he was in Charlotte. He called me to come over there because all these cars were going around in a circle and people were paying $10, $20 a seat at the time.

"So I went over there and saw the race, and we came back and started thinking about it. I said, 'Maybe we should build one of those in Bristol, a smaller version of that.' "

The idea wasn't so far-fetched as it might have seemed, as there were several smaller dirt tracks in the area, and racing was beginning to interest a lot of fans. But Moore said their first choice for the track site hit a snag.

"The location did change," Moore said. "We had our eyes on a farm in Piney Flats, Tenn., between Bristol and Johnson City. But some of the ministers in the community didn't want us there because they felt it would bring a lot of bad elements, they thought. So we said, 'If you don't want us, we won't come.' "

The two envisoned a track similar to Charlotte, but they were limited by two things: acreage and cashflow.

"Larry's dad was a real estate agent specializing in farms, and he found us a dairy farm where we located," Moore said. "We bought that farm and built it there. We wanted a little bit bigger track than we ended up with, but with the confines of a road on one side and a creek on the back side, we couldn't."

Before they even put the first shovel in the ground, Moore and Carrier traveled to Daytona Beach, Fla., to talk with NASCAR officials about whether the sanctioning body even had any interest in racing at their track.

"Well, the first thing we had to do was go down and meet with Bill France," Moore said. "NASCAR had [an executive manager] there by the name of Pat Purcell. We went out to dinner with Pat, and he wound up smoking those old green cigars. The next day, Pat said, 'I kinda like you guys. If you're crazy enough to build a track, what dates do you want?' It was just that simple.

"No money changed hands, nothing. We picked up two dates and we came back."

Moore and Carrier now had a viable site and viable race dates, but when they knocked on the doors of the banks around Bristol, Moore said they "wouldn't even sit down and talk to us."

So they went back to France, who suggested a vending company out of New Jersey which loaned them the money at double interest, along with a deal to operate the concession stands.

"We borrowed $600,000," Moore said. "That bought the land and built the track. Of course, all those banks that wouldn't even let us sit down and talk about it, they all have suites now down at the speedway and I give 'em hell every time I see them. I remind them of what they turned down."

Moore said paving contractor R.G. Pope was brought in as a partner, because he had experience at handling the construction end of the project.

"The grading wasn't too bad but to lay the asphalt, they had to tie the paving machine to the track so it wouldn't slide down," Moore said. "It was difficult but they got it done."

According to Moore's recollections, there were no major hitches, and half-mile Bristol International Speedway opened for business in the summer of 1961.

"We had a sellout the first race," Moore said. "I don't think people knew what to expect. They came dressed up nicely, in coats and ties and hats. Larry always took care of things down in the infield with NASCAR and my job was on top, dealing with the media and calling the police when the fights started. We had more fights then with 16,000 or 18,000 people than they do now with 150,000. A different class of people."

The wildness wasn't just limited to the grandstands in those days.

"There was one time when Fireball Roberts flipped end-over-end about six times and walked away with a cracked tailbone," Moore said. "Another time, there was one driver who went through the guard rail, down the bank, flipped back over on his wheels and drove back into the track.

"Wendell Scott would get out of his car and help the pit crew change tires, get back in the car and drive away. It was always exciting to watch that."

And sometimes there was just as much happening away from the track as on it, Moore admitted.

"In those days, there was no points fund so I'd have to go to all the tracks to get drivers to sign contracts," Moore said. "And of course, you'd have to pay them [appearance money]. The one I remember most vividly, we offered David Pearson $500 and whatever he wanted, just in appearance money.

"The year he was champion, I called him up and said, 'David, why don't you come back?' And he said, 'I've got to have more money.' I asked how much and he said, '$5,000 this year.' I told him we couldn't pay that and he said he wouldn't be there. And the newspaper in Bristol had a headline on the sports page: 'Pearson will not race at Bristol.' It didn't say Petty, Joe Weatherly and Curtis Turner would be here. So I remind them of that, too."

But by the mid-'70s, Moore and Carrier had grown tired of the financial pressures of running the speedway and were branching out. The two founded the International Rod Hot Association about that time, and Moore's interest in politics was growing. So they sold the track to Lanny Hester and Gary Baker.

"We had been putting money into it every year, from the very beginning," Moore said. "The banks were beginning to say, 'Hey, guys, what are you going to do about this debt out here?' It was time to get rid of the debt. I was getting involved in politics. I ran for representative in the state of Tennessee in the '60s and a had a bug to run for the Senate in 1976. So it was a good time to sell.

"I did get elected and served for 16 years."

Since the track opened, Moore figures he's only missed one race there. He was in Europe at the time. And when he drives by the track he built 50 years ago, he's astounded by what he sees.

"Nobody could imagine what's happened to it," Moore said. "It looks like a spaceship now. It's pretty amazing."

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