Beamer to serve as grand marshal at Bristol race

Tech head coach Frank Beamer will be the grand marshal of the Food City 500 to be held Sunday afternoon at Bristol Motor Speedway.

Beamer also is scheduled to hop behind the wheel of a race car for the first time as part of the celebrity heat races for the Scotts Saturday Night Special on Saturday night. Other celebrities include Terry Bowden, David Akers (Philadelphia Eagles kicker), Mike Compton (former New England Patriots player) and others. Former car owners and two of the top crew chiefs of all time, Andy Petree and Ray Evernham, now ESPN race analysts, as well as Brad Daugherty, a former No. 1 pick in the NBA draft and retired all-star player with the Cleveland Cavaliers, will be part of the festivities.

The celebrities will run 15-lap or 10-minute heats to help determine the starting spots of their pro driver teammates, who then will run 35 laps. That field includes Junior Johnson, Harry Gant, Cale Yarborough and Jack Ingram.

The winning “team†is guaranteed $25,000 for their charities and a total of $10,000 will go to the charity or charities of the second-place duo. Every other team will get $5,000 for their charities. Team pairings will be announced at a later time.

For more information, please check out the Bristol Motor Speedway's Web site.