Nashville has many sacred places: The Ryman, The Grand Ole Opry, The County Music Hall of Fame, but on Aug. 8, 2021, the most hallowed ground in Nashville will be a narrow strip of South Second Street in the shadow of Nissan Stadium. Whoever crosses the finish line first that summer day will claim victory and go down in history as the first winner of the Music City Grand Prix, the newest and most exciting race on the IndyCar calendar.
For the uninitiated, IndyCars are some of the fastest and most advanced racing cars on the planet. These open wheel racecars pack 700 horsepower into a vehicle that weighs about as much as a Tennessee Walking Horse.
Now picture this: 35 fearless drivers rocketing across the Korean Veterans bridge at more than 200 mph, just inches apart from one another, all with Nashville skyline and Nissan Stadium as the backdrop. Sounds incredible, right? On Aug. 8, this is exactly what’s going to happen.
The Music City Grand Prix will be a three-day, international festival featuring Motorsports, music, food, culture and family entertainment. The race itself will take place on a 2.17 mile road course up and down the Korean Veterans Bridge and around the parking section of Nissan Stadium altogether featuring 11 turns of action-packed racing.
What sets this event apart from anything else in the racing world is the proximity and ease of access to the heart of a major city center.
Spectators will be encouraged to move freely between the festival, downtown and back, to enjoy the thrill of the speedway. Most sporting events lock in spectators once they pass through the gate--not the Music City Grand Prix. Rather than simply hosting the event, Nashville is very much a part of the race day attraction.
This spectacle of speed is happening thanks to the hard work and careful planning of three, key individuals who live in Nashville: Matt Crews, Chris Parker, and Jason Rittenberry.
Matt Crews, the CEO, worked on building the team and putting the investors together. In Matt's words, he “put good people in place and got out of their way.”
Chris Parker, event president, is overseeing all business operations, marketing, PR and budgeting. Chris's job is to ensure the vision they all have for this event and this race is implemented.
Jason Rittenberry is chief of operations, and brings decades of experience working with racetracks, Indycar, NASCAR, drag racing and racing teams.
Supplementing the key players are a host of consultants and experts, all focused on building a safe and entertaining racing experience.
Incredibly, everything about this event rested on the approval of one man: former racing driver and owner of Indycar Roger Penske. Roger says he was very impressed with the growth of Nashville since his last visit and following a thoroughly prepared presentation and tour of the proposed race circuit, he
had only three words, “'Let's go racing.'"
Given the green flag, the local team shifted into high gear applying their decades of experience and knowledge to ensure the newest attraction on the Indycar calendar is the high point of the season.
They say the pieces fell into place smoothly and quickly; city permits were applied for, hotel room blocks were reserved, 700 to 800 race day staff members, on track safety teams and more than 100 firefighters were assembled. Under ideal conditions, an event of this size and scope requires 18 months of preparation, but greenlight to race day, the team had only 11 months.
Like the sleek racecar that will cross hallowed ground and enter the winners' circle in August, the team has worked with pace and precision to make this dream happen.
The impact of this event will be impossible to quantify with just numbers. The helicopter shot of race cars crossing the bridge as the summer sun sets low behind Nashville will be iconic. That image likely will be included in every single racing highlight reel of 2021, and every race to follow as well as any promotional material about Nashville. No other major racing event crosses a bridge as long and as high as the Korean Veterans bridge so that shot alone will redefine Nashville as a motorsports town. A racing town.
To witness history and be a part of the biggest event of the year, get tickets before the green flag flies.