Location
Most of our events are located at the 129 Hub in Maryville, Tennessee, which is 10 miles from the start of the Tail of the Dragon. Maryville is at the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains and it’s twin city, Alcoa, is home to the Knoxville area airport. This makes Maryville a fantastic place to visit with no shortage of lodging and restaurants.
Some events will be hosted at the Knoxville Airport Hilton in Alcoa, TN, or the Fontana Village Resort in Fontana Dam, NC. Our Private Events and small group drives could be hosted at various locations in the Smoky Mountain region.
VENUE
The 129 Hub is the restaurant and retail store you want to stop by when visiting the Tail of the Dragon. Their food is fantastic and they have the nicest dragon apparel and swag in the area. They also have a huge Dragon sign in their parking lot, and a dragon sculpture that you can drive through! They both make for awesome photo opportunities. We are thrilled to be partnered with the 129 Hub and have them be the “home base” for most of our driving events.
registration check-in
We will have our registration check-in open an hour or 90 minutes before our scheduled Driver Meeting for most single-day events. The registration check-in will typically be the day before the event on most three-day events. This could vary, depending on the event, but your Registration Confirmation Email will have all of this important information. You will be emailed an Event Guide with the event details, times, maps, itinerary, and general event info. For the Dragon Rally events, you will receive your event decals, loaner walkie-talkies, printed maps and wrist-bands at the check-in. For all of our other events the registration and check-in info and times will be emailed prior to the event.
driver meetings
Before every drive we have a mandatory Driver Meeting to ensure everyone has a fun, yet safe experience. Here we will go over our driving route, safety rules and tips, how we communicate with our walkie-talkies, details on fuel stops and general drive information.
decals
Event decals are included in all of the Dragon Rally events. Other events like our Poker Runs, “Ride and Shine” Drives, Private Events, etc., may or may not include event decals and will be dependent upon that specific event. Only the top-quality 3M materials are used and these decals are made of the same pliable material as a 3M vinyl wrap for your car and are meant for high-end applications.
Killboy Photography
We have partnered with Killboy Photography, the original photographer of the Tail of the Dragon. Their team of photographers are stationed along the Tail of the Dragon to capture your bucket-list drive, and have been doing so since 2001. These guys are the best in the business and have been featured in dozens of magazines, books, and even on The Discovery Channel, History Channel, and Travel Channel, We have one of their photographers along with us for all of our events, so we are able to capture photos for you that no one else gets in the area, on roads no other photographers cover. Your photos are included in your registration for all of the Dragon Rally events. Other events like our Poker Runs, Private Events, etc., may or may not include photos and will be dependent upon that specific event.
food
After most of our drives, we conclude the day back at the 129 Hub. Our Dragon Rally events include a catered dinner, which will usually be a BBQ pulled pork meal. However, that meal could vary throughout the year depending on circumstances. We do not have planned lunch stops during our Dragon Rally events, as the driving is often too intense on these curvy mountain roads. We make several stops throughout the drive for fuel, and we suggest grabbing a small snack at each stop to hold you over until our dinner. The 129 Hub always has a great breakfast that is available for purchase during our registration check-in to help hold you over. Other events like our Poker Runs, Private Events, etc., may or may not include food and will be dependent upon that specific event.
The Drives
Eastern Tennessee and Western North Carolina are home to the greatest driving roads in America, including the legendary Tail of the Dragon. This whole mountainous region is covered in fantastic roads, and we hope to cover them all! Every driving event travels different roads and will have a totally different route. We have several repeat attendees, so we always plan a different route to be able to keep everyone entertained. On our Dragon Rally events, the drives can be anywhere from 220-300 miles, and last between five and seven hours. These drive lengths will vary based on the route taken and the time of year, but every drive includes the Tail of the Dragon at least once.
Dam Photoshoot
We do a photoshoot at every event, usually on an area dam. We have one in particular we prefer and both of the pictures above are from the same dam, just in two different locations.
Fuel stops
We make several fuel stops during our drives and never go over 100 miles between stops. This is not only an opportunity for a restroom break, snack and gas, but an awesome time to catch up and socialize. We have had attendees say our gas stops were some of their best memories from the trip. It is like a rolling Cars and Coffee when we bring our cars through some of these small towns and take over their gas stations. This is a great time to meet like-minded car enthusiasts, talk about the drive and insane roads you just completed, or how your car performed and how good your new friends’ car sounded.
For those with Electric Vehicles, charging stations in this region are very hard to find. There are two charging stations within 25 miles of our venue, but you will find very few places to charge after that. With our drives being over 200 miles of mountain twisties, we have still not had a fully electric car complete our whole daily route.
lodging
We have a discounted rate with the Fairfield Inn, and Knoxville Airport Hilton, both located in nearby Alcoa, Tennessee. This is less than 20 miles from the 129 Hub and is near the Knoxville area Airport, making it one of the closest hotels to our venue. Being close to the airport means there are tons of restaurants and shopping if you needed anything on your trip. This hotel is brand new and is a perfect fit for our guests.
These links will take you to our discounted rate for booking.
Knoxville Airport Hilton
Fairfield Inn:
Photos and video courtesy of Timothy Leach Photography, Killboy Photography, 129 Hub, Knoxville Airport Hilton and Fairfield Inn.