Nashville

 August 10, 2021

 
 

Nashville

I was home in Key West less than a week before I was heading out again, this time flying to Nashville, Tennessee where I was going to attend the inaugural Music City Grand Prix Indy Car race. The track was unique in all of racing in that for the first time ever a major racing series was going to race a course that featured a bridge over a large river, in this case the Cumberland River.

The track was designed to cross the river into downtown from the main section of the track that was around Nissan Stadium which is the home of the Tennessee Titans. The large parking areas for the stadium provided plenty of space to set up a large paddock area for the various racing series that were competing on the track which included the Stadium Super Trucks, the Trans Am series and headlined by Indy Car.

I flew into Nashville, rented a car and drove to the downtown hotel Indigo, which would be my base for the weekend and was a fairly easy walk to both the main drag which is Broadway and to the pedestrian bridge over the river to the track, pits and paddock. I was happy to have my Indy Car hard card pass back after not having access to it for the first portion of the season due to covid and I had also purchased a pass to the starting line club which offered unlimited food and drinks for the weekend as well as a comfortable place to hang out.

With the first practice on Friday afternoon, then qualifying and practice two on Saturday, I had plenty of time to explore portions of Nashville, especially the crowded, touristy area along Broadway. I used to really like Nashville, but like many popular places it has become a victim of its own success. It is basically now just a countrified version of Las Vegas with huge crowds, many who are large groups of bachelorette parties.

It is a zoo-like atmosphere with packs of drunk people jamming the myriad of bars and restaurants that little resemble the historic Nashville that once prevailed here. The strangest thing is the plethora of groups riding around on any number of conveyances including flatbeds pulled by tractors, old army trucks, and just about any vehicle that you can pack people on, serve drinks, play loud music and drive up and down the main drag. How this is fun is beyond me and why one would pay for it is even more questionable but there you have it.

Thankfully there are still a few remaining reminders of the history and coolness that Nashville once was that I was able to explore. From the historic Ryman Auditorium, to Tootsies Lounge, to the Earnest Tubb Record Shop to the Johnny Cash museum; there are still a few cool places worth checking out downtown and even some pretty decent restaurants including two excellent BBQ joints that I went to, Martin’s BBQ and the Peg Leg Porker.

These days, the cool people know to head over to East Nashville to experience a small taste of the hipness that was once found downtown, just moments away but thankfully mostly free of the tourist masses across the river, East Nashville has the artsy, hip, a little rundown coolness that is all but impossible to find downtown. 

Of course, he main reason for my visit was the race and I really enjoyed being there for that. The sight lines for viewing weren’t the best and the track was very spread out, but the atmosphere was terrific and the place was absolutely packed. They had a nice display from vintage Indy that featured a number of historically significant cars from the past which was cool as well and they had live music (mostly country) throughout the day and after each session on a large main stage.

Drivers had varying levels of success on the new track. Some like, Colton Herta, took to it straight away. He snagged the pole fairly easily over Scott Dixon and Alex Palou. Others like Jimmie Johnson, who wrecked twice and Joseph Newgarden who crashed during qualifying did not adapt so well.