Tennessee
This Luxury Residential Community in Tennessee Is Opening Its Own Private Race Track
In the hills of eastern Tennessee, on an 800-acre plot of land, a small army of construction workers is hustling to finish a $250 million gated community. On the day of our recent visit, the place was little more than a 3.5-mile loop of pavement—albeit one that jinks across the land like a back road in the Great Smoky Mountains, with 127 feet of elevation change from beginning to end.
The vision of Knoxville developer Rusty Bittle, Flatrock Motorclub is a private racetrack and luxury residence community rising about 45 minutes west of the city. Collaborating on the project is Tilke Engineers and Architects, the German firm behind numerous Formula 1 tracks around the world, including Circuit of the Americas, home of the U.S. Grand Prix.
“When Tilke started,” Bittle recalls, “I said, ‘Listen, guys, I need a track that’s ever-challenging, one I can’t conquer, one that scares me every time I get on it.’ ”
Bittle raced karts as a younger man but hadn’t run a car in a closed-course race until four years ago. Hooked, he soon noticed that most American circuits were, as he put it, “under-serving.” One thing led to another, and now Bittle aims to have Flatrock open for member laps sometime this year. When completed, the facility will be one of just 13 permanent stateside circuits to meet FIA Grade 2 standards, its design and safety features suitable for most forms of road racing short of Formula 1. That’s largely down to cost: Grade 2 standards are expensive, Bittle notes.
The track-as-country-club model isn’t new; some European circuits have been run as members-only organizations for decades. In America, though, the format basically dates to the 2004 launch of the Autobahn Country Club in Illinois, but it really gained ground with the 2008 opening of New York’s Monticello Motor Club. A 90-minute drive from Manhattan, Monticello was one of the first U.S. motorsport operations to combine five-figure membership fees with luxury benefits.
Monticello boasted celebrity charter members including Jerry Seinfeld and NASCAR superstar Jeff Gordon, and its success spawned a host of competitors. These days, Bittle says, club-track demand remains strong, helped along by the success of Netflix’s reality show Formula 1: Drive to Survive and the related boost in that race series’s popularity.
As for Flatrock, Bittle envisions a place where families can spend the weekend—and to that end those 3.5 miles, and that $250 million, are merely the first phase of his project. A separate 2.67-mile “Grand Prix” track is also planned, along with a boutique hotel, an amphitheater, a kart track, and at least two helipads. Premier membership requires $25,000 in annual dues plus a $250,000 initiation fee. A founder’s membership, with lifetime access for your immediate family, lifts those commitments to $50,000 and $500,000, respectively.
If all this sounds like big ambition for a relatively quiet corner of the world, you’re not wrong. An initial visit to the site in June 2023 revealed mostly dirt, making the end product difficult to imagine. That picture comes into better focus now, though still not completely. But at first blush, Flatrock already appears more fun and challenging than many big-league tracks in America or even Europe, including more than a few highly regarded Tilke circuits.
The market seems to have noticed. According to Tim Chandler, Flatrock’s vice president of marketing, more than 100 Flatrock memberships have been sold to date. That figure includes 23 of the 25 available founder’s packages, with customers from as far away as Alaska.
Race cars are neither beautiful nor ugly, as Enzo Ferrari supposedly said—they only become beautiful when they win. Launching a track is difficult in the best of times, which makes every circuit a winner, in a sense, from the day it opens. Eastern Tennessee is pretty to begin with; Flatrock, we hope, will only add to the beauty.
Tennessee
Why Tennessee football playoff rankings don’t matter to Josh Heupel but should to you
Coach Josh Heupel understands why Tennessee football fans will watch the first College Football Playoff rankings show on Tuesday night, but it won’t be must-see TV for him.
“Do you remember what the first rankings were last year? I don’t either,” Heupel said. “So it doesn’t matter. What they remember is where you finish as November wraps up.”
For what it’s worth, Tennessee was No. 17 in the first CFP poll last season. And it never factored into the playoff race.
In 2022, the Vols were ranked No. 1 in the first CFP poll. They dropped out of the four-team bracket after losing to Georgia and never got back in.
So Heupel makes a fair point. A team’s finish matters instead of its start when it comes to the playoff rankings.
But in this new 12-team playoff format, there’s more room to maneuver from week to week and still stay in the mix.
The first College Football Playoff rankings will be released on Tuesday (7 p.m. ET, ESPN). A new top 25 will then be released by the CFP selection committee every Tuesday through Dec. 3.
The 12-team playoff field will be announced on Dec. 8.
Focus on Mississippi State before worrying about Georgia
Tennessee is ranked No. 6 in the US LBM Coaches Poll and No. 7 in the AP Top 25. Where the Vols are placed in the CFP rankings will indicate what the selection committee thinks of their resume thus far.
But Heupel is right that Tennessee (7-1, 4-1 SEC) will make or break its playoff chances by what it does in the next four games, beginning with Saturday’s contest (7 p.m., ESPN) against Mississippi State (2-7, 0-5).
“Playoff rankings at this point don’t matter. You don’t have control over it,” Heupel said. “All you have control over is your preparation and how you play. Ultimately, that determines where you’re at or where you’re not at.
“For this football team, we’ve got to continue to grow and get better and control those things that we’re in control of.”
If Tennessee beats Mississippi State, its trip to Georgia on Nov. 16 (7:30 p.m. ET, ABC) would have a massive impact on the SEC and playoff races.
Are Vols talking about College Football Playoff chances?
No. 2 Georgia (7-1, 5-1) plays at No. 12 Ole Miss (7-2, 3-2) on Saturday (3:30 p.m., ABC).
Ole Miss likely would drop out of the playoff race with a loss, and Georgia would be in the driver’s seat for a playoff bid and SEC championship game berth.
A Georgia loss to Ole Miss would put the Bulldogs in a potential playoff elimination game against Tennessee.
Tennessee would be a playoff shoo-in by winning its final four games for an 11-1 record. Losing to Georgia only and finishing 10-2 would set up a toss-up situation for the Vols, who would need help from other playoff contenders.
Alabama (6-2, 3-2) plays at LSU (6-2, 3-1) on Saturday (7:30 p.m., ABC) in a likely playoff elimination game. And there are games in other conferences that will impact next week’s CFP rankings. But none of that matters to the Vols unless they beat Mississippi State to stay in the race.
“It’s just a one-week season at this point. And we’ve talked about us being in control of our destiny,” tight end Holden Staes said. “But in terms of the big picture with the College Football Playoff, we know down the road that will come. But if we just take it one week at a time and do our job each week, then we’ll have the results in terms of that at the end.”
Adam Sparks is the Tennessee football beat reporter. Email adam.sparks@knoxnews.com. X, formerly known as Twitter@AdamSparks. Support strong local journalism by subscribing at knoxnews.com/subscribe.
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Tennessee
Watch: In-Depth Breakdown Of Tennessee Football’s Two Most Recent Commit
It’s no secret that Tennessee landed two recruits on Halloween day. The Vols had a great holiday as they had a day full of treats and no tricks. Tennessee added a commitment in the class of 2026 and a flip from one school to the Vols in the 2025 class to close out the night.
2026 WR Tyreek King committed to the Vols early on Thursday becoming the first wide receiver to commit to the Vols in the 2026 class. King attends Knoxville Catholic which is closer than most schools to Neyland Stadium. Kings high school is only around 15-20 minutes away from Neyland Stadium so one could argue that the Vols always had an advantage for the hometown prospect.
Tennessee would continue the trend of adding other recruiting classes with in-state prospects as Page High School linebacker Brenden Anes would flip his commitment from Wisconsin to the Tennessee Vols. Tennessee has been looking to add another linebacker in the 2025 class as Austin Howard and Brenden Anes have been the frequently mentioned names when talking about the position of need. The Vols finally convinced the Wisconsin linebacker commit to flip to the in-state program with just over a month before early signing day.
You can learn more about this recruiting success below by watching Talkin’ Tennessee with Caleb Sisk. This video not only talks about the two newest commits but also some prospects and targets to keep an eye on moving forward.
Make sure to follow our website Tennessee on SI.
Tennessee
No. 12 Tennessee Basketball vs. Gardner-Webb: How To Watch, Betting Odds, Prediction | Rocky Top Insider
Tennessee basketball opens up its 2024-25 campaign on Monday night as the Vols host Gardner-Webb at Thompson-Boling Arena at Food City Center.
The reigning SEC Champions are breaking in a number of new players on this year’s squad but expectations remain high for a program that’s been as consistent as any in the SEC in recent seasons.
Here’s everything to know about the Vols’ season-opener against Gardner Webb on Monday night.
“They’re gonna play really fast. They’re well coached, extremely well coached. They got a new coach there, but they’re gonna work hard. They’re gonna really try to score quick. I think (they were) one of the top teams in the country last year. They can almost play with a 17-second shot clock. They get down the floor, they’re gonna shoot it quick, they know what they’re doing. They know how they wanna play. They’ll spread you out. Really good cutting team. If you turn your head, you get caught looking, they’re gonna take advantage of it.”
Gardner-Webb:
Points: Jamaine Mann (Georgia State) — 6.1 PPG, 46 FG%, 20 3PT%
Rebounds: Isaiah Richards and Ademide Badmus — 4.5 RPG
Assists: Darryl Simmons II — 0.8 APG, 0.4 TOPG, 10.2 MPG
Prediction
For as much new as Tennessee basketball is breaking in this season, Gardner-Webb is breaking in even more new including a first-year head coach and very few of its top contributors from a season ago.
I have a very hard time seeing Gardner-Webb scoring a lot of points in this game so this feels much more about what Tennessee can do on the offensive end of the court, especially after its poor offensive performance in its exhibition against Indiana.
The Vols will shoot better from the perimeter in this game. They need to be able to establish an inside scoring game too. It would be a bad sign if they can’t.
Tennessee 84, Gardner-Webb 51
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