Music City Grand Prix advisory board makes two more additions
The Music City Grand Prix keeps adding members to its already star-studded advisory board.
On Tuesday, Grand Prix officials confirmed two new members: Former Dollar General Chairman and CEO Rick Dreiling (who is now chairman of the board of Lowe’s Corp.) and Metro Finance Director Kevin Crumbo.
Under Dreiling’s leadership, Dollar General sponsored several auto racing teams and drivers in the late 2000s and early 2010s before ending its involvement in 2016. Drivers the retail chain sponsored included NASCAR stars Matt Kenseth and Joey Logano (then with Joe Gibbs Racing), Xfinity Series drivers Brian Vickers (also with JGR) and Denny Hamlin (Braun Racing) as well as IndyCar’s Sarah Fisher when she was a driver and team owner as well as driver Jacques Villeneuve when he was with Schmidt Peterson Motorsports.
“We are so pleased that Rick and Kevin are joining our advisory board, bringing additional and impressive business and finance acumen to the group,” Music City Grand Prix President Christian Parker said in a release.
“Kevin’s finance work in the private and public sectors as well as Rick’s passion for racing, business leadership, and community engagement as a former Chairman for Vanderbilt’s Children’s Hospital Board will help drive positive social and economic impact.”
The inaugural Grand Prix advisory board comprises experts in sports, music, tourism and marketing who will help facilitate and promote the three-day festival set for early August that will also feature live music and food from chefs around Nashville. The race will take place on a 2.17-mile, 11-turn temporary track that will run next to and near Nissan Stadium, which will serve as a paddock for the event. The track will include the Cumberland River-spanning Korean Veterans Memorial Bridge, making it one of a small group of tracks to cross over a major body of water.
The event is projected to generate $20 million to $40 million in visitor spending and will be IndyCar’s first trip to Middle Tennessee since the series stopped racing at the Nashville Superspeedway in 2008.
In addition to Dreiling and Crumbo, the advisory board features the following leaders:
· Kix Brooks, Hall of Fame singer/songwriter and entertainer
· Heather Brown, Professor at MTSU’s School of Concrete and Construction Management
· Toby Compton, Deputy Commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Commerce & Insurance and chair of the Nashville Sports Council
· Chaz Corzine, partner at The MWS Group
· Yuri Cunza, president & CEO of the Nashville Area Hispanic Chamber of Commerce
· Rod Essig, co-Head of CAA Nashville
· Jenneen Kaufman, SVP and CFO of the Tennessee Titans and Nissan Stadium
· Monica Fawknotson, executive director of the Nashville Sports Authority
· Shan Foster, VP of External Affairs at the YWCA and executive director of Amend Together
· Harrison Frist, president of market operations at NaviHealth
· Rose Grindstaff, president of G&M Consulting
· Don Hardin, president and CEO of Hardin Group Construction
· David Kells, EVP of entertainment and venues with the Nashville Predators and Bridgestone Arena
· Ken Levitan, co-President of Vector Management
· John Oates, Hall of Fame singer/songwriter