Trevor Bayne appears at Fountain City Fall Fest

By Ken Lay

Trevor Bayne never misses an opportunity to be in the Fountain City Community. When time allows, he always likes to be where he calls home.

“I love being in the community. This is home,” said Bayne, who burst onto the NASCAR scene when he became the youngest driver to win the Daytona 500 in 2011. “Any time I get a chance to be in the community, I love it.”

Bayne had an opportunity to be in the Fountain City recently as he signed autographs and posed for pictures at the Fountain City Fall Fest at SouthEast Bank’s location on Broadway.

“I do some work with SouthEast Bank,” Bayne said. “It’s a community bank and they do a lot in the community.”

He is now semi-retired as a race car driver, although he is scheduled to run in the NASCAR Xfinity Series in the Focused Health 302 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Oct. 11.

“I work as an analyst for Fox and I’ll be racing in the Xfinity Series in Las Vegas in a couple of weeks,” Bayne said. He also serves as a coach and mentor for several drivers in NASCAR and ARCA.

Among the drivers that Bayne mentors are Corey Heim, who is the front runner in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. Bayne also works with seven-time NASCAR Cup Series Champion Jimmie Johnson, Tanner Gray, Gio Ruggiero, John Hunter Nemechek and Erik Jones.

Johnson, also semi-retired is an owner of the TRICON Garage Team and Bayne serves as the driver optimization leader for the organization. He also works as a mentor for Flatrock Motorclub in Tennessee, where he is the head pro and ambassador.

The Fountain City Fall Festival was held outside. It went off without a hitch despite heavy rains throughout Knoxville on the morning of Sept. 27.

Attendees were treated to free barbecue and ice cream during a day that featured all the family fun as the community ushered in the fall season.