Texas Motor Speedway
The Texas Motor Speedway is an enormous car-racing track located in Denton County. With the capacity to seat nearly 160,000 people, one can see that on race days it is consistently filled to capacity. It is on TX-377, which is in northern Fort Worth on the outskirts of the busy city areas. The track itself is quite similar to the Atlanta Motor Speedway and Lowe’s Motor Speedway. This is because the Texas Motor Speedway is owned by Speedway Motorsports, Inc., which is the same company that owns the previously mentioned tracks. The Texas Motor Speedway is home to two NASCAR Nextel Cup races: the Samsung 500 and the Dickies 500, as well as two Busch Series Races, the O'Reilly 300 and the O'Reilly Challenge and the Indy Racing League IndyCar series race, the Bombardier Learjet 550.
The Texas Motor Speedway has been managed since its inception by legendary racing promoter Eddie Gossage. His son was in some of my classes during high school, and I had the opportunity to learn more about the track in a presentation his son presented to us in class. Eddies creative, colorful, fan-friendly approach to managing the track has become the standard by which all other tracks have been measured. He was the first to introduce Personal Seat Licenses to the sport, as well as Season Tickets. His stance on allowing fans to bring their own coolers, even in the face of restrictive Texas laws that at one time prohibited the speedway from selling alcohol as a result, has made him a favorite of the fans.
The track itself measures 1.5 miles around and is banked 24 degrees in the turns, and is of the quad-oval design, where the front straightaway bows slightly outward. The original configuration called for an unusual dual banking system that had 24 degrees of banking for stock cars and 8 degrees for open-wheel cars. After a 1998 race, however, dual banking was scrapped in favor of its current setup. Based on qualifying speeds in 2004, 2005, and 2006, the Texas Motor Speedway was once considered the fastest non-restrictor plate track on the NASCAR circuit, with qualifying speeds in excess of 192 mph and corner entry speeds over 200 mph. However, as the tracks' respective racing surfaces continue to wear, qualifying speeds at Atlanta have become consistently faster than at Texas in recent years. Brian Vickers holds the qualifying record at TMS. In 2006, he posted a 196.235 mph speed. Elliott Sadler beat the record before Brian, qualifying in the 49/50th spot. Being the last person out on the track, Brian nipped Elliott Sadler's qualifying time.
During construction in September 1996, the track's name was temporarily changed to Texas International Raceway. SMI's customary track naming convention had originally planned to have the "Motor Speedway" as part of the name. However, in August 1996, a small quarter-mile dirt raceway in Alvin, Texas (now known as Texas Thunder Speedway) had filed suit to use the name. On December of the same year, a settlement between the two tracks saw the "Texas Motor Speedway" name reinstated to the 1.5 mile oval, and the small number of Texas International Raceway merchandise instantly became collectible. If you can get your hands on that memorabilia, you will surely make some good money on ebay.
In a bit of legal history, TMS was supposed to host the Firestone Firehawk 600 in April of 2001. The Firestone Firehawk 600 is a CART race, and It was supposed to be the first CART race on a high-banked track specifically designed for NASCAR racing. CART had never scheduled a race on a track with banking greater than 18 degrees. However, 21 of the 25 drivers who qualified for the race complained of dizziness and disorientation during two days of practice. They had expected speeds well above 220 mph, and in fact the lowest qualifying speed was 219 mph. By Nascar standards, those times are much faster than normal. During Saturday practice, several drivers complained of lightheadedness and dizziness. To give one an idea of what the drivers faced, they experienced G forces as high as 5.5; a G-load in the 3's is considered the maximum that a driver can endure in a typical race. With the possibility of drivers blacking out on the track, CART postponed the race two hours before the scheduled start. TMS sued, claiming that CART should have known about the risks posed by the speeds. The two parties settled later in the year. CART, now known as Champ Car, has never returned to the track.
If you are visiting Texas Motor Speedway, be sure to leave for the Speedway several hours in advance. As a former resident of Flower Mound, I cannot stress enough how badly the traffic congests on race day heading west to the speedway. With the capacity to seat 160,000 people, one can only imagine the sheer number of vehicles on the road. Also, be sure to bring some ear plugs, sun-screen, and plenty of water. While Eddie Gossage helped make alcohol sales legal, the alcohol will completely drain you in the searing Texas heat. It is common to see people suffering from dehydration and needing medical assistance at nearly every outdoor venue in Texas. Be smart, safe, and enjoy the races!
Ft. Worth, Texas
The Texas Motor Speedway has been managed since its inception by legendary racing promoter Eddie Gossage. His son was in some of my classes during high school, and I had the opportunity to learn more about the track in a presentation his son presented to us in class. Eddies creative, colorful, fan-friendly approach to managing the track has become the standard by which all other tracks have been measured. He was the first to introduce Personal Seat Licenses to the sport, as well as Season Tickets. His stance on allowing fans to bring their own coolers, even in the face of restrictive Texas laws that at one time prohibited the speedway from selling alcohol as a result, has made him a favorite of the fans.
The track itself measures 1.5 miles around and is banked 24 degrees in the turns, and is of the quad-oval design, where the front straightaway bows slightly outward. The original configuration called for an unusual dual banking system that had 24 degrees of banking for stock cars and 8 degrees for open-wheel cars. After a 1998 race, however, dual banking was scrapped in favor of its current setup. Based on qualifying speeds in 2004, 2005, and 2006, the Texas Motor Speedway was once considered the fastest non-restrictor plate track on the NASCAR circuit, with qualifying speeds in excess of 192 mph and corner entry speeds over 200 mph. However, as the tracks' respective racing surfaces continue to wear, qualifying speeds at Atlanta have become consistently faster than at Texas in recent years. Brian Vickers holds the qualifying record at TMS. In 2006, he posted a 196.235 mph speed. Elliott Sadler beat the record before Brian, qualifying in the 49/50th spot. Being the last person out on the track, Brian nipped Elliott Sadler's qualifying time.
During construction in September 1996, the track's name was temporarily changed to Texas International Raceway. SMI's customary track naming convention had originally planned to have the "Motor Speedway" as part of the name. However, in August 1996, a small quarter-mile dirt raceway in Alvin, Texas (now known as Texas Thunder Speedway) had filed suit to use the name. On December of the same year, a settlement between the two tracks saw the "Texas Motor Speedway" name reinstated to the 1.5 mile oval, and the small number of Texas International Raceway merchandise instantly became collectible. If you can get your hands on that memorabilia, you will surely make some good money on ebay.
In a bit of legal history, TMS was supposed to host the Firestone Firehawk 600 in April of 2001. The Firestone Firehawk 600 is a CART race, and It was supposed to be the first CART race on a high-banked track specifically designed for NASCAR racing. CART had never scheduled a race on a track with banking greater than 18 degrees. However, 21 of the 25 drivers who qualified for the race complained of dizziness and disorientation during two days of practice. They had expected speeds well above 220 mph, and in fact the lowest qualifying speed was 219 mph. By Nascar standards, those times are much faster than normal. During Saturday practice, several drivers complained of lightheadedness and dizziness. To give one an idea of what the drivers faced, they experienced G forces as high as 5.5; a G-load in the 3's is considered the maximum that a driver can endure in a typical race. With the possibility of drivers blacking out on the track, CART postponed the race two hours before the scheduled start. TMS sued, claiming that CART should have known about the risks posed by the speeds. The two parties settled later in the year. CART, now known as Champ Car, has never returned to the track.
If you are visiting Texas Motor Speedway, be sure to leave for the Speedway several hours in advance. As a former resident of Flower Mound, I cannot stress enough how badly the traffic congests on race day heading west to the speedway. With the capacity to seat 160,000 people, one can only imagine the sheer number of vehicles on the road. Also, be sure to bring some ear plugs, sun-screen, and plenty of water. While Eddie Gossage helped make alcohol sales legal, the alcohol will completely drain you in the searing Texas heat. It is common to see people suffering from dehydration and needing medical assistance at nearly every outdoor venue in Texas. Be smart, safe, and enjoy the races!
Ft. Worth, Texas
