by Mike Fuori on Tuesday, August 16, 2011 at 2:42pm ·
#19: Dean Hall Band at AMS infield
Part of the fun of camping out during race weekend at Atlanta Motor Speedway is the partying. Now if you know me, you know I am not much of a partier… but party animal or not, the sights and sounds of the campgrounds at a NASCAR track are high quality entertainment. For most, what happens in the infield stays in the infield. OK, sometimes you’ll see stuff you don’t really want to see, but even in those cases, you can usually laugh about it later.
Back in the ‘90s when Winston (RJR Tobacco Company) was the title sponsor of the Cup Series, they set up a huge enclosed area with a stage in the infield, not far from what is now the driver motor home lot. During the day, provided you were old enough to purchase cigarettes, if you gave them your name, address and signature, they actually handed out packs of cigarettes to fans (oh how the times have changed). At night though, this was party central in the infield. We actually still joke about how this was probably just a brilliant way to get all the drunk, rowdy race fans together in one spot so security and police could easily see and take care of anybody who got out of control.
Up on the stage was the Dean Hall Band. Probably only the most diehard music fans would know the name (though after a google search I found out he was on the road with Gretchen Wilson as a guitarist for a year or two, and even found a youtube video of him singing in a jam session with her), but this guy was awesome, looked a lot like Mr. Clean, and put on a great show. It was a mix of southern rock and blues… PERFECT for a race crowd, and everybody loved it. Our racin’ buddy Stan even got his autograph one year, and he’s quite proud of it. Since then, Winston has left the sport and with increased attendance I guess there is no longer room in the infield for such a huge set-up… so it’s up to the residents themselves to put on the party… and a guy named Billy Bad Ass (who all weekend wears only a pair of boxers, boots and a black cowboy hat) and his band have since taken over. We always make a stop by their spot each year, and track president Ed Clark and his staff have put together some GREAT pre-race concerts on the front stretch recently (the one and only Lynard Skynard is performing before the race this year!), but we all still talk about the days when Dean Hall rocked the infield at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
Part of the fun of camping out during race weekend at Atlanta Motor Speedway is the partying. Now if you know me, you know I am not much of a partier… but party animal or not, the sights and sounds of the campgrounds at a NASCAR track are high quality entertainment. For most, what happens in the infield stays in the infield. OK, sometimes you’ll see stuff you don’t really want to see, but even in those cases, you can usually laugh about it later.
Back in the ‘90s when Winston (RJR Tobacco Company) was the title sponsor of the Cup Series, they set up a huge enclosed area with a stage in the infield, not far from what is now the driver motor home lot. During the day, provided you were old enough to purchase cigarettes, if you gave them your name, address and signature, they actually handed out packs of cigarettes to fans (oh how the times have changed). At night though, this was party central in the infield. We actually still joke about how this was probably just a brilliant way to get all the drunk, rowdy race fans together in one spot so security and police could easily see and take care of anybody who got out of control.
Up on the stage was the Dean Hall Band. Probably only the most diehard music fans would know the name (though after a google search I found out he was on the road with Gretchen Wilson as a guitarist for a year or two, and even found a youtube video of him singing in a jam session with her), but this guy was awesome, looked a lot like Mr. Clean, and put on a great show. It was a mix of southern rock and blues… PERFECT for a race crowd, and everybody loved it. Our racin’ buddy Stan even got his autograph one year, and he’s quite proud of it. Since then, Winston has left the sport and with increased attendance I guess there is no longer room in the infield for such a huge set-up… so it’s up to the residents themselves to put on the party… and a guy named Billy Bad Ass (who all weekend wears only a pair of boxers, boots and a black cowboy hat) and his band have since taken over. We always make a stop by their spot each year, and track president Ed Clark and his staff have put together some GREAT pre-race concerts on the front stretch recently (the one and only Lynard Skynard is performing before the race this year!), but we all still talk about the days when Dean Hall rocked the infield at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
www.DeanHall.com
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