'Darrell Waltrip's Racing Experience' to Roar into Pigeon Forge

Business Wire, June 23, 2004

PIGEON FORGE, Tenn. -- "I can't run you into a wall at 180 miles an hour, but I can run you right up to it. I can make you think you're going to hit it."

That's NASCAR racing legend Darrell Waltrip's description of the sensation he wants to deliver at Darrell Waltrip's Racing Experience, a $5 million attraction announced for the Belle Island Village development in Pigeon Forge.

The three-time NASCAR Winston Cup champion and current FOX Sports analyst is behind the wheel of the multi-sensory attraction targeted to open next spring. It will be the neighbor to another major attraction opening at the same time, the Debbie Reynolds Hollywood Motion Picture Museum.

The Darrell Waltrip Racing Experience will feature an interactive theatre, competition radio-controlled cars, pit crew area and an arcade--in addition to Waltrip's almost-crashing-into-a-wall racecar simulator. Numerous stock cars, including some of Waltrip's winning rides, will be displayed.

Also in the plan are a restaurant, retail space and a broadcast booth where fans can call a race. "You think that's easy?" Waltrip quipped about the challenge of broadcasting a race.

Waltrip, NASCAR's "Driver of the Decade" for the 1980s, said he wants his attraction to produce an "at-the-track experience."

In addition to permanent interactive attractions and rotating displays, Waltrip said he will invite various drivers and other racing figures to make appearances.

Waltrip, 57, entered his first stock car race on a dirt track at the age of 16 with a 1936 Chevrolet coupe that he and his father built. His first NASCAR Winston Cup start was in 1972 at Talladega, Ala. One of his popular tracks, Bristol International Speedway, is about 100 miles away.

Pigeon Forge attracts about 11 million visitors a year and is a gateway community to America's most visited national park, Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

Belle Island Village is a multi-use, family-oriented development on a 21-acre site outlined by branches of the Pigeon River. It represents approximately $60 million in capital investment. It was announced in November 2003 and is a project of Institutional Realty Resources, Inc., in conjunction with Southern Venue Development, LLC.

Information about Belle Island Village is at www.belleisland.com, and information about all aspects of Pigeon Forge is at www.mypigeonforge.com.

(For a photo of Waltrip with his first winning stock car, contact tadkinson@bohanideas.com.)