Motorsports stars turn out for The Sound of Speed

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Several of the stars of motorsports, past and present, will be on hand for ‘The Sound of Speed,’ the first-of-its-kind collaboration between the worlds of auto racing and the symphony. Current NASCAR drivers Chad Boat and Ben Kennedy are scheduled to appear, along with retired IndyCar drivers Billy Boat and Johnny Rutherford. NASCAR Hall of Famer Rusty Wallace will serve as the guest conductor for the concert, as well.

The Sound of Speed will take place on Thursday, Nov. 6 at Symphony Hall in downtown Phoenix. Prior to the concert, Barrett-Jackson will present the Pit Road Experience, which will feature a spectacular display of classic race cars and collector vehicles. Tickets for the Pit Road Experience, which opens at 5 p.m., are just $10. The green flag for the concert will drop at 7:30 p.m., and concert tickets start at $30. Concert tickets also include admission to the Pit Road Experience.

Wallace, the 1989 NASCAR Winston Cup Series champion, won 55 races in his career, including the 1998 Dura Lube/K-Mart 500 at Phoenix International Raceway. He was inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame and the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in 2013 and was a Motorsports Hall of Fame of America inductee in 2014. Currently, Wallace analyzes the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series every Sunday on ESPN’s Quicken Loans Pre-Race Show.

Rutherford is a three-time Indianapolis 500 winner and a four-time winner at Phoenix International Raceway from 1975-81. He also competed in the inaugural Winston Cup Series race at PIR in 1988, finishing 39th in his final Winston Cup Series start. Affectionately known as “Lone Star J.R.,” he is a 1993 inductee into the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America and a 1996 inductee into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame.

Chad Boat, the driver of the No. 84 Billy Boat Motorsports Chevrolet, is a rookie in the NASCAR Nationwide Series. He has started 13 races this season, and his best finish to date has been a 22nd-place result at Iowa Speedway on August 2. The 22-year-old Phoenix native has followed in his father’s footsteps as a professional race car driver and will make his debut at Phoenix International Raceway in Saturday’s DAV 200 – Honoring America’s Veterans NASCAR Nationwide Series race.

Billy Boat is a Phoenix native who made his name in open-wheel racing. Billy competed in the Verizon IndyCar Series from 1996-2003 and made 63 starts with one win and nine poles – including winning the pole at the 1998 Indianapolis 500. Billy was also a fixture in the Copper World Classic at PIR and won the USAC Midget race in the 1996 Classic. Today, he owns Billy Boat Performance Exhaust, a Phoenix-based company which specializes in developing high performance exhaust systems for sports cars, trucks and SUVs.

Kennedy is a rookie in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series and the driver of the No. 31 Heater.com Chevrolet.  He has seven top-10 finishes and one top-five through 20 starts this year. He will be making his debut at PIR on Friday night in the Lucas Oil 150.

PIR PR

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