The Xtream Rock Island Grand Prix is perhaps just as well known for its accompanying entertainment as it is for wheel-to-wheel racing through downtown city streets. Over the years it has produced some memorable and entertaining evenings and this year should be no different.

For those who arrive early, the weekend’s entertainment starts Thursday night with an appearance in Schwiebert Riverfront Park featuring Phyllis and The Sharks – one of the Quad-Cities’ most popular and best-known acts. Phyllis and the Sharks formed in 1998, played all over the Midwest and have opened for such greats as Johnny Winters, Slaughter and Firehouse, The Fabulous Thunderbirds. The group retired in 2006 but is now back on stage and ready to go again adding Rodney Smith on Drums, Scottie Whitehall on guitar, Nate Nicholson, guitar and Gary Wethington on bass, and Phyllis’s daughter, Whitni, on vocals.

https://www.reverbnation.com/phyllisthesharks/song/2754104-round–round

“This is not your father’s Country Music. This is Ranch Rock!”

Saturday night, Grand Prix weekend entertainment will move inside as the race partners with Billy Bob’s Redneck Party Bar, located less than a block from the Holiday Inn Hotel at 1722 Second Ave., to throw an end of summer blowout featuring Scott DuBose and the 101 Ranch, from Chicago. Yes, it’s country music but for those aren’t fans, you will be by the end of the night. This is a high energy party band so don’t be surprised to see them dancing and playing on tables or the bar. As Scott DuBose explained it, “This is not your father’s Country Music. This is Ranch Rock!”

Billy Bob’s is rated to hold 700 people and Grand Prix officials would love to fill it with a mix of racers, race fans and locals. You must be 21 to enter and there will be as $5 cover charge. The bar also features drink specials, Jenga, pool tables, dart boards, bags sets, video games, slot machines, jumbo Connect Four, 12 big screens for sports games and a mechanical bull named Dozer.

DJ Shane Brown, who has been voted the Best DJ in the Quad-Cities 5 times, will keep the party going during breaks.

As a child Scott DuBose spent a lot of time between Chicago and Southern Mississippi. Scott’s Father was from just south of Hattiesburg, Mississippi, and his mother was from the south side of Chicago. “It was great having parents from such diverse backgrounds. It really gave me an appreciation for city and country life.”  His parents always had music playing in the house! His father was “more than a little bit country” and his mother was most certainly Rock and Roll.

“I grew up with a pretty wild mix of music! Merle Haggard to AC/DC and everything in between!” he said of growing up on the south side of Chicago.

Scott began his professional stage career as an actor after he attended the Second City Training Center. While performing theater in Chicago, Scott started his band “The 101 Ranch”. He was doing shows and then running across town to do shows with his band.  “It really came down to what I truly loved. I left theater because country music is what was in my heart.” Scott persevered and found success. He has shared the bill with some of the biggest names in country music like Montgomery Gentry, Charlie Daniels, Gretchen Wilson, Keith Anderson, and Blackhawk just to name a few.

“The fans have made what I do a reality. Without them I’d be nothing. I can’t thank them enough! They are the reason I do what I do!” Fans at Billy Bob’s will find that with this party band, the more you party, the more they will party – and there’s plenty to keep the race teams busy at Billy Bob’s.

https://www.facebook.com/highlandvisual/videos/625538115518248/

https://www.reverbnation.com/scottdubose/song/3188567-better-end-of-the-deal

https://www.reverbnation.com/scottdubose/song/3188549-grab-the-bull

Rock Island is located in an area known as the Quad-Cities, west of Chicago and equally divided between Illinois and Iowa, with a metropolitan population of 400,000. It is home to the Rock Island Arsenal military base and corporate headquarters for John Deere in Moline, Ill. It is served by the Quad-City International Airport and is at the intersection of Interstate highways 80, 74, 88 and 280.

Sponsors for the event include: Mediacom, Briggs & Stratton Racing, Jumer’s Casino & Hotel, Hoosier Tires, O’Reilly Auto Parts, Modern Woodmen Financial/ Joe Schurr agent, Miller beer and Euclid Beverage, RLV Tuned Exhaust, CBS TV4 / Fox 18 and CW, the local iHeart Radio stations: Q106, Fox Sports QC, WOC and WLLR, McDonalds restaurants, Schurr Power Racing Engines, Sunbelt Rentals, Johannes Bus Service, The Law Centre, Holiday Inn Rock Island, eKartingNews.com, Courtesy Car City, Gas & Electric Credit Union, Rogan Scale, Triple E Sales, Brenny’s Motorcycle Center, Hakuna Matata Charters, Transmission Plus, Downtown Rock Island, Hiland Toyota, Quad City Camaro Club and Harden Motorsports.

For more information on the race, please visit racerockisland.info

Share on Facebook

Tweet