Food City Names Grand Marshal And Honorary Starter

Food City Names Grand Marshal And Honorary Starter
Abingdon, VA. - Wednesday, Apr 11, 2018.

 

This year Food City is proud to be celebrating their 100th Anniversary.  The retail supermarket chain serves as the title sponsor for Sunday’s Food City 500.  Food City is Bristol Motor Speedway’s longest running sponsor and the second longest in NASCAR.

 

Food City announced earlier today that they will be honoring two companies who are also celebrating  100th Anniversaries by inviting them to participate in the start of Sunday’s race. 

 

“In today’s competitive market place, it’s very rare to see a company celebrating their 100th Anniversary.   Food City is extremely proud to have served our friends and neighbors for the past 100 years.  We realize this would not be possible without the loyalty and support of our customers, associates and our many great business partners.  We wanted to honor Chevrolet and Meade Tractor, who are also celebrating 100th Anniversaries by inviting them to join us for the start of the Food City 500 on Sunday,” says Steve Smith, president and chief executive officer for Food City.

 

Representing Chevrolet, Tim Morgan, Chevrolet Dealer in Coeburn, VA will serve as the event Grand Marshal and deliver the most famous words in motorsports to give the command for drivers to start their engines.  Morgan is certainly no stranger to Bristol Motor Speedway.  He and the McClure brothers started Morgan McClure Motorsports back in 1983.  Morgan-McClure Motorsports won 14 races in the highest level of NASCAR, including Bristol Motor Speedway once and the Daytona 500 three times. 

 

“I’m honored to be chosen to serve as the Food City 500 Grand Marshal. I’m pleased to be joining the thousands of race fans celebrating Food City’s 100th Anniversary and 100 years of Chevy trucks.  I was raised in a blue-collar family and have always thought of Chevrolet as the most successful manufacturer in providing affordable and dependable transportation for the working man.  Food City mirrors that same success by striving to offer their customers the best quality and value,” says Morgan.

 

On behalf of Meade Tractor, Chuck Meade of Johnson City, TN will serve as Honorary Starter and wave the green flag to signal the start of Sunday’s Food City 500.  Meade serves as president of Meade Tractor.  Based in Kingsport, TN, Meade Tractor is a John Deere dealer with 30 locations spanning Tennessee, Virginia, Kentucky and North Carolina.  This year, John Deere is proudly celebrating 100 years of the tractor.

 

“We are honored to celebrate Food City’s 100th Anniversary, along with the 100th Anniversary of the John Deere tractor.  Like Meade Tractor, Food City is a locally owned and operated company, dedicated to serving their customers and their community and we’re proud to partner with them for the upcoming Food City 500,” says Meade.

 

The Food City 500 gets under way at 2:00 p.m. on Sunday, April 15, 2018.  Qualifying for the event takes place on Friday at 4:45 p.m.  Tickets are still available and may be purchased at www.bristoltix.com or by calling the BMS ticket office at 423-BRISTOL (274-7865).

 

Headquartered in Abingdon, Virginia, K-VA-T Food Stores (Food City’s parent company) operates 132 retail outlets throughout southeast Kentucky, southwest Virginia, east Tennessee, Chattanooga and north Georgia.