The nationally-acclaimed North Carolina A&T marching band will perform in prerace prior to Sunday’s TUMS Fast Relief 500 at Martinsville Speedway and perform a traditional version of the National Anthem.
The Blue & Gold Marching Machine, with more than 350 members, consistently receives national recognition and are among those to garner a coveted spot in the 2012 Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade.
“We are excited to have the Blue & Gold Marching Machine here for the TUMS Fast Relief 500. I have seen them perform and they put on a great show,” said Martinsville Speedway president Clay Campbell. “Their half-mile march around Martinsville Speedway is certainly going to be exciting. I think everyone will enjoy their traditional version of the National Anthem.”
Fans at Martinsville Speedway will witness the unique “chair step” high-step marching style the Blue & Gold Marching Machine utilizes when the band performs at noon, entering the track through the fourth-turn cross-over gate and marching clockwise around the track to the start-finish line.
North Carolina A&T is a land-grant university located in Greensboro, NC and is the largest publicly funded historically black college in the state of North Carolina.
ROCKIN’ IN PRE-RACE: FATZ, a band that has rocked Southside Virginia for two decades, will be rockin’ on the start-finish line prior to the TUMS Fast Relief 500 Sunday.
The band, which plays a blend of classic and southern rock with a dash of country thrown in, will perform on the pre-race stage from 9 a.m. until 12 p.m. Sunday.
Although a local group, they have played on plenty of big stages, opening for acts like Delbert McClinton, Aaron Tippin and Montgomery Gentry.
THE SCHEDULE: The first on-track action at Martinsville Speedway will be a practice session for the Kroger 200 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series at 11 a.m. Friday, kicking off a day full of excitement. It will be followed by practice for the TUMS Fast Relief 500 and another Kroger 200 practice.
Time trials for the Kroger 200 begin at 10:40 a.m. on Saturday with qualifying for the TUMS Fast Relief 500 scheduled for 12:10 p.m.
There will be back-to-back Sprint Cup practice sessions beginning at 10 a.m. Saturday, with the Kroger 200 taking the green flag at 2 p.m.
The TUMS Fast Relief 500 is set to begin at 1:30 p.m. Sunday.
Fan gates open at 9 a.m. Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
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