The Bus
House Gang (BHG) was born at the 1986 Knoxville Nationals. Most of us
were in high school and some of us were younger than that. We camped in
a small pup tent just east of the ticket office. We borrowed a small
patch of grass/mud for 4 days in front of the camper of "Hoot"
(Clarence) and Judy DeHoedt's campsite. The deal was, we cleaned the
dishes every day, and we all had to check in at midnight with Hoot. In
return we had a place to pitch our tent. That was all we needed. Unfortunately
it rained quite a bit that year and our first camping experience was a rough
one. But we were all grateful that our parents were crazy enough to let
us camp and have a good time with the Godparents of the BHG, Hoot and Judy.
Judy passed away in January 2005. R.I.P. Mother.
The next year
a good friend of ours "Big Cat" Hodges had a white school bus and he
was looking to have a good time at the races. So we moved to outside of
turn 3 in 1987 and had a great time. Most of us had to sleep on the
floor, but it was better than the year before when we had 2" of water on
the floor of our tent.
In 1988 we
brought the Brown Bus to the Nationals for the first time. Paul Long of
Newton, IA, who happens to be the Grandpa of a couple of BHG members,
originally owned the brown bus. The Bus originally was transformed from
a 1978 Blue Bird School Bus into a bus designed for fishing trips to Canada.
A gas stove was installed, cabinets, bunk beds, and tables for eating
and card playing. This was the perfect fit for us to make it through
four days at the Nationals. So from 1988 through 1996 during the
Nationals we camped outside of turns 3 and 4 and gained quite the reputation
for late night parties, shopping cart races, and set the standard for
decorating a camper inside and out with Christmas lights.
In 1997 the
fairgrounds decided to turn away the fans for camping and only allowed car
owners and drivers on the grounds. This was a very unpopular decision at
the time with the BHG, but it didn't spoil our fun. So we moved 2 blocks
southeast of the track and set up camp there. It was all concrete and
gravel, which came in handy during the rain. And we were able to set up
our friends to camp with us. So we had the same racing, the same party,
but a new location. And it turns out Dingus Lounge happened to be
between the track and the camp site so it had it's advantages, but we were
still disappointed to have to leave the fairgrounds.
The bus was up
for sale in 2001. We couldn't let her go, so we all pitched in to buy
the bus for ourselves. Since we had nowhere to store the bus, we decided
to make the bus a permanent resident for the whole season at the north
campground, which is operated by Knoxville Raceway. Our first season was
a blast. But we were put on probation after some of our neighbors didn't
seem to agree with loud music at 4 am. In 2002 we were allowed to stay
at the north campground but we moved to the extreme north end by ourselves so
we wouldn't upset any neighbors. This location has worked out well for
us. We have been able to continue our Nationals traditions, and expand
the fun on a weekly basis if we want to.
The mIn Motorsports crew visited the Brown Bus in April of 2003, and somehow
the BHG evolved into the BHG/4am Spirit Club with our new found friends.
The BHG is an
elite group of race fans. Our mission is to enjoy life at the races and
encourage others to do the same. Hopefully you can join us sometime.
See you at the races. And for future reference, the official beer
of the BHG is Busch Light. BEEEP!!!!!!!!