BRISTOL, Tenn. (March 29, 2016) — Two iconic Tennessee brands, Bristol Motor Speedway and Hatch Show Print®, are partnering up to help showcase 2016 as Bristol Motor Speedway’s biggest year ever.
The two companies have teamed up to create an official Bristol Motor Speedway line of Hatch Show Print limited edition posters. Event themes for the different posters include Bristol’s Biggest Year Ever, the Food City 500 and Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races, Pilot Flying J Battle at Bristol and NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals among others.
“The Last Great Colosseum is one of the most recognizable venues in the nation, and for 2016 we wanted to partner with another great Tennessee icon,” said Jerry Caldwell, executive vice president and general manager of Bristol Motor Speedway. “When you see the hand-crafted art of a Hatch Show Print, you instantly think of all the legends they’ve created for — greats like Patsy Cline, Elvis and Willie Nelson, among many others. This is our biggest year ever and we’re so excited that Hatch Show is helping us commemorate amazing milestones.”
Established in 1879, Hatch Show Print reflects the history of American advertising and entertainment as one of the oldest letterpress print shops in America. Each Hatch Show Print poster is a unique creation, individually handcrafted and inked onto paper in a technique that dates back several centuries. The process, known as letterpress, involves selecting images carved in wood or linoleum, setting up wood and/or metal type, then inking and pressing these elements onto paper to form a poster or print. Hatch Show Print is located in Nashville, Tennessee and is a historic property of the Country Music Hall of Fame® and Museum.
“From the Grand Ole Opry to carnivals, circuses, auto racing and more, Hatch Show Print has a vibrant history of producing posters for live entertainment and sporting events across the south,” said Celene Aubry, shop manager at Hatch Show Print. “We’re glad to put our experience to work, and carry on our mission of preservation through production by working with Bristol Motor Speedway to usher in their biggest season yet and kick off their second half-century here in Tennessee.”
The first two posters, “Bristol’s Biggest Year Ever Schedule” and “Food City 500” were unveiled earlier Tuesday during a luncheon at The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum.
About Bristol Motor Speedway
Nestled in the mountains of northeast Tennessee near the Virginia state line, Bristol Motor Speedway is a 0.533-mile concrete oval race track with 28-degree corner banking, 650-feet straightaways and a 40-foot wide racing surface. Renowned as The World’s Fastest Half-Mile, the short track features two races each year from the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and NASCAR XFINITY Series, one Monster Truck event and one NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour and NASCAR K&N Pro Series-East race.
With a crowd capacity in excess of 150,000, the facility is expected to set a new NCAA college football attendance record on Sept. 10, 2016, when the racetrack transforms into a football stadium for the Pilot Flying J Battle at Bristol, playing host to border rivals, the University of Tennessee and Virginia Tech. The speedway property is also home to Bristol Dragway.
The historic drag strip celebrates its 51st anniversary this year, headlines with the NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals and operates more than 70 event days each season. In 2015, the Bristol Chapter of Speedway Children’s Charities, a 501©(3) nonprofit organization, awarded a record-breaking $805,900 to regional children’s charities bringing their 18-year total to nearly $10 million in grants.
In existence since 1961, Bristol Motor Speedway was purchased in 1996 by Speedway Motorsports, Inc. a publicly traded company that is a leading marketer and promoter of motorsports entertainment in the United States. For more information, visit the company’s website at bristolmotorspeedway.com.
About Hatch Show Print
Founded by brothers Charles and Herbert Hatch in 1879, historic Hatch Show Print® is a letterpress poster print shop located in Nashville, Tennessee. It became a property of the Country Music Hall of Fame® and Museum in 1992. For much of the twentieth century, the shop’s vibrant posters served as a leading advertising medium for Southern entertainment, and included work for Grand Ole Opry members such as Bill Monroe, Minnie Pearl, and Ernest Tubb, and for rock & roll stars such as Elvis Presley and Chuck Berry. Hatch Show Print is a thriving shop today, creating 500 to 600 poster jobs annually, with clients ranging from Willie Nelson to the Black Keys, and including work for corporate entities such as CNN, Fossil, and Taschen.
