Originally published by me here:

http://bench-racing.blogspot.com/2011/08/before-bristol-trophy.html

Since 1983, the Bristol Cup winner has been awarded an awesome, big-honkin trophy. 4-1/2 feet tall, pewter, winged angels, ornamented. Before Bristol winners started hoisting it, however, the trophy was presented elsewhere.

Before the Bristol dominator of the 1980s, Mr. Boogity x3...

Before Rowdy, the current conqueror of Bristol...

Before Jeff Burton whose 2008 win lead a top 3 sweep by RCR cars when the efforts of three Joe Gibbs Racing cars came off the rails with just a few laps remaining...

Even before Ricky Bobby in Talladega Nights (the movie that should have received an Academy Award in the category of Greatest Movie Ever Made)...

Before the rise of the Wonder Boy...

Before Cuzzin...

Before a driver who is genuinely Happy...

And before one who fakes his happiness...

Before Texas Terry following his legendary win in the '95 Bristol night race...

And before the Intimidator who rattled Terry's cage a couple of years later...

Yep, before any of these superstars earned the coveted trophy for grinding it out on the Bristol bull-ring, Ol' TMC was part of an effort to bank one.

The McGavock High School Marching Raiders band was awarded the same trophy in October 1979 as the grand champion of the Music City Invitational competition in Nashville, Tennessee. We earned it a second time in October 1982.


So I was involved in the collective efforts to win this great trophy before any NASCAR driver. As you'll notice in the photo, we also earned another trophy - the Governor's Cup - for being the top band in the state of Tennessee those years. These trophies came with a trade-off though. While I got to hold the Governor's Cup, NASCAR winners got to squeeze up to Miss Winston Cup, Miss Nextel Cup, and Miss Sprint Cup. Oh well...

TMC