NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — With over 150,000 fans expected to attend Saturday’s Battle at Bristol, it’s going to take quite a bit to serve everyone in attendance.
Bristol Motor Speedway is stocked with 16,000 pounds of hamburger, more than 25,000 pounds of hot dogs and 5,000 turkey legs.
Unlike college football games in Knoxville and Blacksburg, alcohol will be served at the speedway, including more than 500,000 ice cold beers.
On Wednesday, News 2 sister station WJHL walked around with Executive Chef for Levy Restaurants racing division, James Pierson, who said it was the calm before the storm.
“It’s kind of mind boggling, it took us eight hours just to get the beer off the trucks, and another day and a half just to get it in the concession stands,” Pierson said.
There are also concession stands filled with fan favorites and around 150,000 soft drinks.
“All the hot dogs have been panned, for the most part all the pork has been smoked and pulled,” Pierson said.
Getting to this point has been around a year in the making and Pierson said it is a calculated effort.
“We talked to the University of Tennessee and Virginia Tech about how much food do they consume. This is the biggest college football event, really probably the biggest event Levy Restaurants has done,” Pierson said.
As it gets closer to game time, Pierson and his team know they are in for long days, and nights.
“We are pretty sure Friday night were not going to go home, so I told everybody to bring a change of clothes, with the Kenny Chesney concert and then having to flip the infield and coming back first thing Saturday morning.”
Pierson said they are ready and excited to take on college football’s biggest game.
“I can’t wait to see the fans full, and see the actual kickoff,” Pierson said.
The Battle at Bristol will broadcast Saturday, Sept. 10 on News 2 at 7 p.m.