A funny thing happened on Daniel Ricciardo's way to COTA, y'all (check out VIDEO)
Once again, the budding motorsports hub of Nashville, Tenn., saw fans flock to lower Broadway Street last weekend to show support of racing.
The Red Bull Showrun had its first visit to the land of bachelorette parties and honky tonks and drew a crowd estimated at 30,000 to watch eight-time Formula One Grand Prix winner Daniel Ricciardo race up and down the strip.
One of the largest personalities in auto racing, Ricciardo found himself behind the wheel of the Red Bull RB7 Showcar to bring burnouts to the honky tonk strip. This year alone, Nashville has hosted an IndyCar street race, a NASCAR Cup Series race, and the Monster Jam World Finals, which also featured a parade down Broadway.
F1 driver Daniel Ricciardo tears up the street in downtown Nashville. (Photo Credit: Photog / Red Bull Content Pool)
Notably, INDYCAR will be moving their Nashville date to the series finale in 2024.
“Driving here in Nashville on Broadway was pretty wild," Ricciardo said. "Broadway is normally wild in itself but especially today! There was a lot of y’all out here and it was cool to put on a show for everyone."
Riccardo, is currently racing for Red Bull ‘sister-team’ AlphaTauri, but has been out of the car since breaking a bone in his hand during a practice crash ahead of the Dutch Grand Prix back in August.
While not yet officially announced, this showrun helped fuel the rumors that Ricciardo will be back in the car at this weekend's F1 USGP at The Circuit of Americas in Austin, Texas. COTA is a favorite of the Australian driver as he has taken to American culture in a big way.
The cultural ties between Texas and Tennessee made this showrun a huge chance for the driver to release his latest collection of Enchante merchandise titled Records.
“It’s pretty much everything I love – honky tonks and live music,” he said. “We had our own little Honky Tonk last night (Friday) and there’s an abundance of things to do here seven days a week – I like that you can always find some fun here.”
A performance of “Seven Nation Army" at Jack White’s Third Man Records opened up the weekend’s festivities.
On Friday night, Dierks Bentley’s Whiskey Row was transformed into Danny Ric’s Honkey Tonk to help with the overall permotion of F1 in the US.
In a show of camaraderie fellow Red Bull athletes Rallycross Champion Scoot Speed Freestyle Motorcyclist Aaron Colton also performed on the closed down entertainment hub with Colton pulling two wheel acrobatic tricks and Speed showing off some intense rally car corners.