Hurricane season is much like a game of craps…you never know when a storm will arise, where it will land, or what kind of damage it will cause.
Just 10 days after forming in the western Gulf of Mexico, Hurricane Helene made landfall in the eastern panhandle of Florida; packing winds of 140mph. She quickly made her way north to Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Tennessee; leaving record floods, storm surge levels, and damage in her wake.
Dale Earnhardt Jr coined the phrase, “it Bristol, Baby!” That slogan was posted on a sing outside Bristol Motor Speedway – a half mile track that sits in a valley surrounded by mountains. When the cars crank the engines to run a race the entire valley reverberates like thunder – thus the name “Thunder Valley”.
The sign saying “It’s Bristol, Baby” has been damaged by the winds from Helene. Wind tore out some of the letters and the sign has been knocked down.
The speedway also has some flood damage.
The damage comes just one week after NASCAR held a triple header weekend where the Craftsman Truck, Xfinity, and Cup Series all ran races before over 100,000 people.
The town of Bristol straddles the borders of Tennessee and Virginia – the state line runs down the middle of town.