While he may not have won in his bid to become an East Ridge city councilman, Bill Breneman is still working hard to make the city of 20,000-plus a winner and put it on the map. In doing so, it was announced this morning that the city and the Comfort Inn and Convention Center, for whom Mr. Breneman works as sales director, will host a stop on the 2011 Bandit Run.
The stopover in East Ridge is set for the evening of April 14.
This is the first-time ever for the road rally to pass through the Chattanooga area.
For those who remember the Bandit movies, this will be a great chance to see several of the restored cars.
The arrival time will be from 4 to 6 p.m. that Thursday evening. The entourage will exit I-24 at Germantown Road and proceed to Ringgold Road where they will turn left and parade down Ringgold Road to the hotel on Mack Smith Road. The road trip will begin in Lincoln, Neb. On April 9 and end in Braselton, Ga., on April 16.
The run, which commemorates the Smokey and the Bandit movies which starred Burt Reynolds, Sally Field and Jerry Reed, will celebrate its 30th anniversary in 2011. The first Bandit movie appeared in 1977 and featured a muscle car collector’s dream, the Pontiac Trans Am.
Mr. Breneman said he had been working hard to bring the tour through the Chattanooga area and that organizers were first interested in another of Neil Patel’s hotel properties at the foot of Lookout Mountain. When it became apparent that parking at that location would be an issue, Mr. Breneman quickly shifted gears and got the producers interested in their East Ridge hotel property, which has one of the largest parking lots available to any hotel in the Chattanooga area.
According to the Bandit Run website there are normally over 50 vehicles in the run, including several of the Bandit look-alike Trans Ams, as well as the 18-wheeler driven by Reed in the movie and other vehicles seen in the motion picture. The plot of the original movie was Reed delivering a load of Coors beer from west of the Mississippi River to the East. At that time Coors was only available west of the river. Jackie Gleason was re-introduced to a whole new genre of fans as the hapless sheriff, who along with his rather slow son, pursues Reynolds and Field across several states trying to effect an arrest.
That evening there will be food and entertainment at the hotel, as well as the Bandit vehicles being on display. Plans are also in the works for a possible muscle car show for area owners. For those who would enjoy rubbing elbows with the drivers at dinner and breakfast the next day, the hotel will be offering a special package. More details will be announced on this about 10 days prior to the event.
Mr. Breneman could not put a figure on the economic impact from such an event as this, saying, “This is the first time we’ve done anything like this in the East Ridge area, but several restaurants will be issuing coupons for special meal prices and just the increased sales from groceries and other items should be a nice increase.”
(Email Dennis Norwood at chattanoogan1@att.net; Follow him on Twitter at DennisENorwood)