NASCAR Fans Shoot AR-15s And Glock 17s At The Bass Pro Shops NRA Bristol Night Race—And No One Gets Hurt

While NASCAR’s contact sport of hurtling metal and smoking rubber circles America’s racetracks, another experience of music, food, drink and commerce swirls outside the arenas. Every weekend, tens of thousands of race fans arrive early (and stay up late), swarming the surrounding Fan Zone while eating, drinking and buying every conceivable consumer product with a driver on it.

We know what you’re thinking: “Why hasn’t anyone put a tactical shooting range right in the middle of that?” 

You’ll be happy to know that the National Rifle Association heard your cry. Last week’s Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race in Bristol, Tenn., featured the NRA Mobile Tactical Range Experience, NASCAR’s first-ever Fan Zone shooting range. Fans lined up at this 11,000-square-foot, five-lane temporary range to shoot AR-15s and Glock 17s under the supervision of NRA-trained instructors. All firearms had been altered to fire revolutionary low-velocity training ammunition from Ultimate Training Munitions (UTM), a pioneer in alternative training ammo for the military and law enforcement markets. UTM replaces bolts, barrels and magazines with custom blue components that only accept, and fire, UTM training rounds.