Music City 500

The Music City 500 is an annual stock car event held during the Tennessee State Fair, currently held at the Tennessee Superspeedway just outside of Nashville. Prior to the construction of the 3.0 mile facility, the 500 was held at the Nashville Fairgrounds from 1958 until 1976. The Music City 500 is currently one of the 4 Crown Jewel events of the IARC, despite being a SOAR sanctioned event in the past, where it served as the SOAR's answer to the Illinois Classic in being a 500-lap short track event that the schedule and series was centered around from the series' inception in 1958 until its first demise after the 1974 seaon.
=== History ===
The Southern Organization for Automobile Racing was formed in 1956 by car owners, track owners, and drivers from the south becoming disgruntled with the northern influence and control over the sport after the wars of the 1940s. It is claimed that the specific event leading to the formation of the SOAR was Carl Jones' victory at the 1955 Illinois Classic. The SOAR's schedule featured many more dirt and oval events, however the league promoters knew that as speeds increased this staple of southern motorsport might not be viable as the focus of a major car racing league.
The plans to pave racetracks across the south was announced, starting with the popular Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway in Tennessee. The track had held a race on the American Stock Car Association schedule since that league's inception in 1950, and the SOAR was hoping the newly paved speedway could hold the league's most prestigious event. With Darlington Raceway being the only other oval facility that would be capable of holding a 500 lap/mile event available to the league at the time, the larger market of the Nashville location was chosen to host the South's [soon to be named] 500. Once construction was completed for the expansion and repaving of the track in early 1958, the finalized SOAR schedule was released and the league formally began competition in March of that year in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
The Music City 500 was wildly successful and brought a large amount of credibility to the new league. By 1960, despite an ASCRA fine being a known punishment for entering, 20 of the 56 entrants were 'carpetbagging' as Hank Eaton put it. Specific numbers aren't known, but somewhere about 25% of the league's annual revenue came from the 500 until the opening of the Atlanta and Charlotte Motor Speedways in 1960, and the Daytona International Speedway in 1964. It remained the premier of the four 500 mile races as the league lost traction after the ASCRA constructed its first superspeedway outside of Pittsburgh in 1968. Without a unique product and such a strong tie to 'southern values' in the wake of the Civil Rights movement, the first SOAR shut down after the 1974 racing season.
The Music City 500 was one of the 6 events the ASCRA absorbed (Atlanta, Charlotte, Darlington, Rockingham, and Texas World) by ASCRA into the newly named CRANA schedule, and officials knew an event of this magnitude needed a larger venue. With the track's location in the restrictive area of a fairground in a city, plans to build a new racetrack outside the city were announced not longer after the acquisition of the sanctioning and naming rights. The 3.0 mile Tennessee Superspeedway was constructed just northwest of the city, and the final 500 at the fairgrounds was won by Riley Anderson in 1976.
=== Special Paint Schemes ===
Since the first event held at the Tennessee Superspeedway, league officials encouraged drivers to adorn the cars with the branding of music artists, releases, or references. Drivers such as Allen Thomas and Hank Eaton were known to show up in support of the same artist every year, and the race is also commonly used to display a racer's personality or superstition. The 1977 event, the first to feature this new practice along with the opening of the Superspeedway, also resulted in the first European race winner as longtime Formula and Indy driver Michael Foster won in his #36 Beatles Ford with British racing green.
the 2001 Music City 500 was the first race held following the September 11th attacks, and virtually all competitors showed up in cars dawned with american flag inspired schemes or other patriotic or supportive intents. A very emotional Scott Bonnett Jr. won the instant classic race, his first of 3 straight victories that eventually lead to his comeback to win the championship for that season.
=== List of ASCRA/CRANA Race Winners ===
1975: Hank Eaton (#30 Mercury, Ted Nugent)
1976: Riley Anderson (#11 Chrysler, Black Sabbath)
1977: Michael Foster (#36 Ford, The Beatles)
1978: Hank Eaton (#30 Ford, Ted Nugent)
1979: Hank Eaton (#30 Ford, Ted Nugent)
1980: Hank Eaton (#30 Ford, Ted Nugent)
1981: Riley Anderson (#9 Dodge, Ozzy Osbourne)
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