Audio By Carbonatix
Virginia Tech was forced to completely overhaul its entire college football field after Metallica’s performance of ‘Enter Sandman’ registered as an earthquake in Blacksburg. The grounds crew paid homage to a trio of NASCAR legends while laying the new sod.
It is a process that does not take nearly as long as I thought!
For those who do not know, the song ‘Enter Sandman’ is the most electric part of the college football experience at Lane Stadium. Players run out of the tunnel in pregame while the crowd jumps up and down to the iconic rock song as it plays over the loudspeakers. The tradition makes their opponents shake in their boots when the Hokies are good. The tradition will still send chills down your spine when the Hokies are bad.
Virginia Tech football is synonymous with Metallica so it made perfect sense for the band to play a show in Blacksburg. They finally made it happen earlier this month when they played in the round at the 50-yard-line. Watching 65,000 fans sing ‘Enter Sandman’ with Metallica was incredible. It was an environment so raucous that it actually registered as a seismic event, a.k.a. an earthquake.
The grounds crew got to work as soon as the concert came to an end. They used a fascinating mowing technique to prepare the field for a full sod replacement in the weeks leading up to the show. That preparation allowed them to install new grass in time for graduation weekend.
Step one was to get the sod inside the stadium.
Step two was to roll it out.
Step three was to reinstall the sprinklers.
This is where the NASCAR legends come into play. Both of the vehicles used to roll out the sod were branded with an iconic number and paint scheme. Dale Sr. lived on with his No. 3 car.
Richard Petty lived on through the No. 43 car.
The job was done once all of the sod was rolled.
I fully expected this process to take multiple days, if not weeks. Virginia Tech’s grounds crew got it done in one day! It is as if Metallica never caused an earthquake. You would never know!