The start and finish line of a racetrack could be the most appropriate place to start a marriage.

The sport is a lot like a being wed — hours of monotony in which participants try and keep everything together until crossing the finish line, punctuated by wrecks, drama and occasional public spectacles of embarrassment.

Becky Stein/Special to AJC (ENLARGE)

Five couples get married on the start/finish line at Atlanta Motor Speedway on Sunday, among them were April Waggle and Jamey Herringdine. Track rules prohibited dresses and open-toe shoes on the speedway, so she wore a veil over her Jeff Gordon T-shirt, carried a bouquet and strapped a white garter around her jeans.

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On Sunday, five couples vowed to find out if the metaphor applies to them when they said "I do" on the black-and-white checkered line at the Atlanta Motor Speedway in Hampton— two hours before 43 drivers thundered across it for 325 laps at the Kobalt Tools 500.

The air was crisp at noon when the five couples lined up before the track chaplain — an official ordinarily more focused on praying for the safety of stock-car drivers — in a place that soon would experience hours of ear-splitting engine noise.

There were signs of potential marital trouble ahead as brides — and grooms — advertised their loyalty to another man, donning numbers like "88," code for Dale Earnhardt Jr., or the name "Jeff Gordon" brazenly spread across a blouse.

But the newlyweds said men like Gordon and Earnhardt or even Kyle Busch would never come between them. In fact, at least four of the lovebirds credited NASCAR and the speedway for getting them officially hitched.

Mark Wampole and Nicole Sarge said the Sunday event jump-started their own wedding plans.

Engaged for five years, the Rome couple spotted the speedway's promotional stunt when Wampole, 33, checked the track's Web site for traffic information.

"It required no planning, because we already had tickets," said Sarge, 28. "He's a Junior fan and I'm a Gordon fan and they're starting first and second, so that is pretty good."

Sarge wore a blouse patterned after the black-and-white checkered flag. She said she had hoped to wear a wedding gown in the same pattern, but track rules prohibited dresses and open-toe shoes on the speedway.

Instead, brides and grooms came decked out in their NASCAR wear. Some even toted coolers.

April Waggle, 34, didn't let the track rules ruin any semblance of matrimonial tradition to Jamey Herringdine, 33. She wore a veil, carried a bouquet and strapped a white garter around her black jeans. She didn't throw it into the sparsely filled grandstand.

The audience couldn't hear the wedding vows anyway because they were drowned out by loudspeakers playing "Message in a Bottle" by The Police:

"Love can mend your life,

"We've been together for 14 years," said Bartow County woman to explain the choice of wedding sites. "It was just time to do it."

The newlyweds focused on the words of the track chaplain, the Rev. Bill Brannon. He talked of racing flags — yellow for caution, green for "Go!" and red for stopping because of something bad.

"Avoid the red flag," Brannon said.

And he warned against nonchalance even after the white flag signaled the last lap. "Stay focused. Never take each other for granted."

Donna Barber, 41, and John Peairs, 45, said the racetrack was a perfect setting for vows.

The Dacula couple met on a road trip to Florida seven years ago. They were driving separate vehicles. Apparently, his aqua-green pickup truck caught her eye. They kept ending up next to each other at traffic lights, where conversation led to a date.

"We met in a weird way," Peairs said. "She was kind of stalking me."

Barber remembered it differently. "When I noticed his pickup truck following me to my parents' house, I pulled over," she said.

Brannon, a Baptist minister, said he has performed about 20 weddings of NASCAR diehards at the speedway over the years, but Sunday's was his first public ceremony, and the first on the track itself.

Brannon allowed that the track offered a setting for ministry, but for nuptials, he preferred a more traditional sanctuary.

"It's always better," he said. Then he smiled. "I get paid a lot more."