Troy Dog
My first and only year covering Loretta Lynn’s was in 2010. How was that 11 years ago? This was one of the craziest weeks I ever had at a race and it was jam packed with so much to do! I have several million stories that I could talk about in this column, but I’ll stick to the video I chose. This is your Loretta’s pump up!
I drove down to Loretta’s by myself, which was like a five hour drive and not a big deal. I had my Droid phone that had a great maps app, so I knew where I was going… that is until I got within 20 minutes of the track. It stopped working. I took wrong turns and ended up on backroads with no gas stations or businesses in sight. My gas gauge was very close to E and my phone had zero service. Needless to say a young Troy Dog panicked. I freaked out. I thought I was going to end up like those people on Wrong Turn. I don’t remember how I saved face and regrouped, but I did. I found a gas station, fueled up, and asked for directions. As luck would have it I must have taken a shortcut because I was only five minutes from the place!
When I got to the track I parked next to the famous Mighty Whitey motorhome and met up with Chili, Bird, Boogie, and a host of others who were helping out that week. Chili was already on a mission. He gave me a piece of KFC chicken and had his camera in hand. He was ready to go! He asked me if I would come help him find footage for this intro video he wanted to do. I was excited to go explore “The Ranch” and see all of the famous spots. We went through the pits and then the creek and then came back to the RV. That’s where we filmed the opening lyric scene. He put the camera in my truck bed and then Tyler Bereman (Collegeboy champion that week) and I showed off our music video skills.
From there Chili went off to the pits to finish the video. I didn’t really help with anything else. I just kind of tagged along. I helped save his life in the creek too at one point… and his Canon 7D.
This video has a lot of familiar faces. Who can you spot? The goal was to get as many people vibing out as much as possible. Chili wanted the viewer to see the people who make Loretta’s so great and I think he succeeded.
Also, the Wonder Years theme in the beginning was absolutely genius. I wish we could bring that back this year. Enjoy your Loretta Lynn’s pump up! Vintage Vibes will be taking a break next week because we are going to have so much content from the Ranch that your head might explode!
