The University of Tennessee Volunteers and Virginia Tech Hokies met up on the gridiron Saturday, Sept. 10, 2016 to make some history.
PHOTO GALLERY: Battle at Bristol 2016
The two teams are the first at the college level to play inside the Bristol Motor Speedway: The only other time a football matchup took place here was a 1961 NFL exhibition game featuring the Washington Redskins and the Philadelphia Eagles.
The scene is a little different in 2016: The crowd for Saturday’s Pilot Flying J Battle at Bristol was more than 156,000. Back then, it was around 10,000.
More than 1,000 workers were on site at Bristol to guide and shuttle guests around the facility, which is situated on hills. Nineteen law enforcement agencies came together to provide security.
The crowd stayed hydrated in record heat (91 degrees was the high temperature at the hottest point of the day) with 3 million ounces of water and 2.5 million ounces of Pepsi products.
The Volunteers beat the Hokies 45-24.
According to Bristol officials, it took more than 1,500 workers 19 days to transform the speedway into the football arena.
MORE FACTS
• Levy Restaurants ordered 16,250 pounds of hamburgers
• 4,500 pounds of pulled pork
• 3,500 pounds of chicken wings
• 2,000 pounds of nachos
• Fans are attending from all 50 states and four countries
• Sugarland's Jennifer Nettles sang the National Anthem
