Texas Motor Speedway (formerly known as Texas International Raceway from September to December 1996) is a 1.5 miles (2.4 km) quad-oval intermediate speedway in Fort Worth, Texas. The track has hosted both NASCAR and IndyCar events annually since its inaugural season of racing in 1997. The track is owned by the city of Fort Worth's sports authority and is leased out by Speedway Motorsports, Inc. (SMI) for racing, with Mark Faber currently serving as the track's general manager. The speedway is served by the nearby Interstate 35W and Texas State Highway 114.
As of 2013, the track had a capacity of 112,662, down from its peak of over 200,000 in the early 2000s. The track features numerous amenities, including the world's largest HD video screen, almost 200 suites, a Speedway Club overlooking the first turn, and 10-story building dedicated for office space and condominiums. The Texas Motor Speedway complex also features two adjacent tracks, including a 1⁄5 mile (0.32 km) paved short track and a 2⁄5 mile (0.64 km) dirt track.
Following the decline of the Texas World Speedway that began in the 1980s, the state of Texas found itself without a major racetrack and races for more than a decade. In the early 1990s, the newly incorporated Speedway Motorsports and its founder, Bruton Smith, saw itself with a major rise in profits that correlated with a rise of popularity in stock car racing. Using the new profits he had made, he set out to build a major racetrack west of the Mississippi River, deciding on the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex in 1994 with eventual longtime track general manager Eddie Gossage. Construction began in 1995 and completed in 1996, with the track holding its first NASCAR and IndyCar races in 1997.
The track has drawn praise for its facilities and amenities. However, since the mid-2010s, the track has faced mounting criticism for a poor racing product that have at points resulted controversial races, along with a repave and redesign that was directed by SMI's current CEO, Marcus Smith, that was widely scorned by the motorsports industry in the following years of the repave. It has also gained criticism on accusations of being a key part of NASCAR's decline, having been part of NASCAR's expansion in the 1990s that has been accused of leaving NASCAR's core fanbase behind for a wider, causal fanbase. The track was also the main track involved in the Ferko lawsuit, a lawsuit that has affected NASCAR's popularity to this day.
Description
Configurations
The speedway in its current form is measured at 1.5 miles (2.4 km), with 20 degrees of banking in the speedway's first two turns, 24 degrees of banking in the speedway's last two turns, five degrees of banking on the track's frontstretch and backstretch, and a racing surface width of 80 feet.[1] From 1998 to 2017, the turns were all banked at 24 degrees and the racing surface width was 58 feet.[2] When the track was initially constructed, it had a dual-banking system, with a high bank of 24 degrees and a low bank of eight degrees in the turns.[3] Other series have also measured the track at different lengths; the IndyCar Series have at times utilized two lengths: one at 1.455 miles (2.342 km) and one at 1.44 miles (2.32 km). However, these measurements have been disputed as an "error" by former longtime track general manager Eddie Gossage.[4]
In 1999, the speedway announced that they were going ahead with plans to build an infield road course that would utilize both the oval and the infield road course.[5] The infield road course was completed in August 2000,[6] and has four variations that are mainly used for sports car racing.[7]
Amenities
The track itself is served by numerous major roads. It is located at the intersection of Interstate 35W and Texas State Highway 114 to the track's southeast, and Farm to Market Road 156 to the track's west.[8] The intersection has seen criticism since the track's construction; in 2010, Denton County officials announced the widening of Highway 114 in response to traffic within the area.[9]
At the time of the track's opening, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported in March 1997 that the track featured a capacity of 155,061 with a frontstretch grandstand capacity of 120,000, an infield capacity of 53,000, the world record for the amount of toilets at a facility with 2,450 toilets, 67,000 parking spaces for cars and RVs, 194 suites, and a 23-acre lake, with the entire complex of approximately 1,000 acres itself having more than 60 buildings.[10] Since then, capacity has decreased numerous times; in 2013, backstretch seats were removed to reduce the capacity to 112,662.[11] In 2021, the outgoing track president indicated renovations would occur to reduce capacity to around 75,000.[12] Also, as of 2023, the complex of the track has now expanded to cover 1,500 acres.[13]
The Speedway Club at the speedway. The members-only club was inspired by the one at the Charlotte Motor Speedway, and opened in 1999.
Numerous buildings on the site's property serve for business purposes. A 10-story building named the Lone Star Tower overlooks the second turn and is used for condominiums and office space. The Lone Star Tower broke ground in 1996[14] and completed in early 1998,[15] with the building costing Texas Motor Speedway around $25 million in taxes.[16] The first four floors are dedicated for office space, with the rest of the floors being dedicated for condos.[17] Initially, 58 condos were planned to be sold;[14] the number later increased to 76.[17] By the next year, the speedway made efforts to fill up the tower's office space of a combined 100,000 square feet.[18] The speedway also announced in 1997 that they were building a members-only Speedway Club overlooking the first turn that was inspired by the club at the Charlotte Motor Speedway.[19] The nine-story club was completed in March 1999 at a cost of $35 million,[20] and features 26,000 square feet of space.[21]
Eddie Gossage and the Texas Motor Speedway being awarded the Guinness World Record for having the largest HD screen.
In 2013, the track's Gossage announced the construction of Big Hoss TV, which was set to become the biggest HD screen in the world.[22] As a result of its construction, backstretch grandstands that numbered to around 10,000 seats were demolished.[11] The video screen was completed in March 2014,[23] and officially certified by Guinness World Records as the largest HD television LED screen in the world.[24] In 2023, the speedway announced that the screen was to be expanded by 10%.[25]
Adjacent tracks
The Texas Motor Speedway complex has two adjacent tracks built near the Texas Motor Speedway. In May 1998, the speedway opened Lil' Texas Motor Speedway, a 1⁄5 mile (0.32 km) paved short track that hosts various divisions of local short track racing, primarily legends cars and bandoleros.[26][27] In August 1999, Gossage announced plans of a new 2⁄5 mile (0.64 km) dirt track to the main track's east that could seat 13,007.[28] The $8 million track is made out of black gumbo soil,[29] and held its first races in March 2000.[30]
The first track to hold major series such as NASCAR and United States Auto Club (USAC)-sanctioned races in the state of Texas was the Texas International Speedway (later named Texas World Speedway), which opened in 1969,[31] holding its first NASCAR race in December. The track was built like the Michigan International Speedway, but with higher banking for faster speeds.[32] However, in the coming years, the track faced a slew of issues; the 1973 oil crisis halted any major racing for nearly three years.[33][34] Although NASCAR eventually returned in 1979,[35] heading into the 1980s, the track faced a lack of stable and modern infrastructure along with attendance issues. NASCAR left in 1981, with its president Bill France Jr. citing a poor track surface and amenities. USAC also left the track in the 1980s, although this was due to, according to track president R. C. Connole, USAC splitting with Championship Auto Racing Teams in 1979, leading to major turmoil within USAC.[36][37] Although the track was swapped around numerous owners, the track never held a major series again, leaving Texas without a track that held a major series for over a decade.[32]
Eddie Gossage (left) and Bruton Smith (right) were instrumental to the construction of the Texas Motor Speedway.
With the rising success of Speedway Motorsports, owned by businessman Bruton Smith, intended to build a major racetrack west of the Mississippi River with the rise of popularity in stock car racing. Smith employed the help of then Vice President of Public Relations at the Charlotte Motor Speedway, Eddie Gossage, to find a suitable location for the track. Three primary markets were decided on by Bruton: Las Vegas, the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, and St. Louis. In Las Vegas, the duo found out that local businessman Ralph Engelstad was scouting the same land as the duo; under the orders of Smith, the two stopped scouting Las Vegas to let Engelstad scout the land that later became the Las Vegas Motor Speedway.[38] By November 18, 1994, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported that Smith and Gossage had made their final choices in either of the two remaining places.[39] In St. Louis, the duo saw numerous pieces of land that were flooded, and scratched off St. Louis. In Dallas–Fort Worth, the duo met businessman Ross Perot Jr. and flew in Perot's helicopter to scout a piece of land that was owned by Perot. The land impressed the duo,[38] and by November 30, the Star-Telegram reported that the two were planning to build a 150,000-capacity speedway at a cost of around $75,000,000 (adjusted for inflation, $148,080,377).[40] Originally, the speedway was set to have a capacity of 70,000 seats. However, the capacity quickly grew in the initial planning stages; when Bruton requested that 5,000 seats be added, Gossage obliged. According to Gossage, "the next day he’d put in a change order for 5,000 more seats. And then a few days or a week later, he’d say, ‘Do you think you could sell 80 (thousand)?’ I’d say, ‘Oh, piece of cake.' And then one day I looked and we were at 155,000 seats and I told Bruton we’ve got to stop doing this."[41]
Gossage posing for a picture during framework construction of the track in 1995.
Groundbreaking on the track took place on April 11, 1995.[42] Gossage was later asked to run the track in late May, which he accepted.[43] According to the duo, the track was inspired by previous tracks Smith owned, with Smith wanting to incorporate the best ideas from those tracks and combine them into the construction of Texas Motor Speedway.[44] The speedway initially implemented a dual-banked surface to accompany both NASCAR and open-wheel racing; a higher bank of 24 degrees meant to accommodate stock cars, and a lower bank of 8 degrees to accommodate open-wheel cars. In addition, for open-wheel races, a temporary wall was planned to be implemented each time an open-wheel series raced in order to reduce speeds.[45] The plan met skepticism from open-wheel personalities such as Cary Agajanian[46] and Jimmy Vasser over the feasibility of such a system.[47] By June 1996, Agajanian reported that the speedway had ditched plans to make a temporary wall, instead deciding to paint a line where the change in banking was.[48] On August 3, the track officially opened to the public for the first time, holding a charity "open-house" event.[49] Eventual NASCAR races were announced in July 1996,[50] and IndyCar races were announced the next month on August 7, with the IndyCar race to be run at night, the first IndyCar race to be run at night.[50][51]
In August 1996, a quarter-mile dirt track based in Alvin, Texas, sued Smith's speedway over naming rights for the name "Texas Motor Speedway". Gossage and Bruton countersued on September 9, claiming that majority owner Jack Holland was trying to "squeeze and extort money" from them.[52] As a result, the speedway changed its name to "Texas International Raceway" on September 11.[53] Although litigation was expected to take years, on December 2, the dispute was settled out of court. With the settlement, the dirt track agreed to change its name, with the speedway able to retain the "Texas Motor Speedway" name.[54]
Turbulent early years
The track oversaw a turbulent period in its early years; particularly 1997, the track's first year of racing. In its first major race, the 1997 Interstate Batteries 500, heavy rain plagued the race's weekend, causing qualifying to be cancelled and the grass parking lots of the speedway to be heavily soaked. While the parking issue was resolved by using busses,[55] further issues were raised when drivers started to complain about the surface of the race track, leading to a major first lap pileup.[56] Two months later, the speedway held its first IndyCar Series race; a scoring dispute between Billy Boat and Arie Luyendyk occurred when Luyendyk disputed the victory that was initially given to Boat. As Boat and his team owner, A. J. Foyt were celebrating, Luyendyk went to victory lane to dispute the victory, demanding officials explain why he was scored as one lap short and demanding that he be given the victory. Foyt proceeded to slap Luyendyk on the back of the head and pushed him to the ground before being separated by security.[57] Luyendyk was given the victory the next day after a scoring recheck.[58]
Bruton Smith (left) and Bill France Jr. (right) discussing the dual-banking system. Initially, the speedway implemented a dual-banked system, which was scrapped in 1998 due to lack of usage and surface issues.
After both races in 1997, Gossage announced that the speedway would reprofile the fourth turn.[59] Complaints about the turn lasted into 1998, with drivers complaining about a new bump, along with water leakage issues.[60] Further criticism was placed against the speedway and Gossage after a t-shirt was printed that stated "Shut Up and Race"; Gossage claims that NASCAR came up with the idea.[61] Gossage announced a complete repave of the track, this time completely removing the dual-banking system.[2]
In 1999, during the final practice session of the 1999 Mall.com 500, 11 people were injured in a crash on the track's pit road when Niclas Jönsson lost control of his car while trying to exit pit road, crashing into the parked car of Tyce Carlson while Carlson's crew was working with his car.[62] The next year, during a NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race, the track oversaw its first fatality when driver Tony Roper crashed on the track's frontstretch,[63] suffering a fatal basilar skull fracture that caused renewed controversy within NASCAR over driver safety.[64] In 2001, the track sought to hold its first CART race; however, after a culmination of events that occurred over the course of several months, the race was cancelled after it was found that drivers could suffer extreme vertical g-loads in the track's turns that could have led to death.[65] The track was later repaved that same year to remove any bumps from the racing surface, with Gossage stating in an interview that to maintain the track, they needed to repave it every couple of years.[66]
Speedway's stabilization and expansion
By the early 2000s, problems with the track declined. The track oversaw some of the biggest attended NASCAR races in history; races in 1999 and 2000 saw major success, with attendances of 221,861 and 223,000 people, respectively.[67][68] In May 2004, as a result of the Ferko lawsuit, the track gained a second NASCAR race weekend, taking the race weekend of Rockingham Speedway.[69] The settlement was enforced in 2005.[70]
The track became known for its promotions and stunts directed by Gossage. Gossage, who self-remarked himself as the last "old-school" promoters,[71] conducted numerous promotions that were inspired by promoters such as Humpy Wheeler, who Gossage had formerly worked under at the Charlotte Motor Speedway.[61] Under Gossage's tenure, the speedway conducted numerous campaigns to promote the track, including training monkeys to sell souvenir programs,[72] starting a victory lane tradition of each victor firing blank six-shooters in post-race celebrations,[73] hiring an all-female pit crew to service a car,[74] and allowing British motoring television show Top Gear and one of its hosts, Richard Hammond, to film a segment for the show.[75] In 2010, Gossage directed the "No Limits" campaign, which was self-described as a "hot cars and hot chicks" that intended to target a younger and edgy audience.[76]
Repave, mounting criticism and decline, retirement of Eddie Gossage
Texas Motor Speedway pictured in 2017.
By mid-2016, numerous complaints against the track's surface taking too long to dry were made.[77] By November, during a rain delay at the 2016 AAA Texas 500 which took seven hours to restart, complaints rose again.[78] Despite this, Gossage stated that he had no plans to repave the track in the short-term, sharing the opinions of drivers Jimmie Johnson and Carl Edwards.[79] However, under the direction of SMI CEO Marcus Smith, the track announced the commencement of a repave in response to the drying issues.[80] With the repave, the banking in the first two turns were decreased from 24 to 20 degrees, and the racing surface was expanded from 60 to 80 feet.[1] In a 2017 Dallas Morning News article, the repave was viewed neutrally by IndyCar drivers, and NASCAR drivers were recorded to be more optimistic about the repave.[81]
Throughout the late 2010s, the track oversaw continuous decline. In November 2019, Gossage made calls to "modernize" the speedway, including decreasing capacity from 135,000 to a range from 80,000 to 90,000, along with better internet services, a wider concession variety, and more suites.[82] In 2020, as an attempt by Marcus to increase attendance at the speedway, he moved the NASCAR All-Star Race from its traditional home at the Charlotte Motor Speedway to Texas,[83] a move that saw criticism in the coming years.[84][85]
By 2020, Gossage was in talks with Marcus on retiring from his position, stating that he had grown upset at the IndyCar racing product on the newly-reconfigured track and consequences from the COVID-19 pandemic.[86][87] By December, he confirmed his decision to retire to Marcus,[86] officially announcing his retirement in a press conference on May 13, 2021, with his retirement effective after the 2021 NASCAR All-Star Race that was set to take place on June 13.[88]
Rob Ramage and Mark Faber eras
After Gossage's retirement, the speedway announced that they would reduce capacity down to 75,000 and renovate the suites at the track.[12] On August 4, 2021, Marcus Smith announced that Rob Ramage, a Texas Motor Speedway executive and counselor, had been promoted to replace Eddie Gossage as general manager.[89] In an interview with D Magazine, Ramage pledged that the speedway would place a bigger emphasis on technology, including releasing NFTs and experimenting with augmented reality.[90] He also expressed a desire to increase fan diversity, specifically with Hispanics.[91] In September, NASCAR announced that the NASCAR All-Star Race was set to return to the speedway in 2022.[92]
The Texas Motor Speedway in October 2023.
In 2022, the track oversaw controversies in both of its NASCAR races along with general criticism for a poor racing product, leading calls from drivers to completely renovate the track.[84][93] In August, Ramage was removed as general manager after only one year, having been claimed to have been promoted to becoming SMI's vice president of government relations and deputy counsel. SMI replaced Ramage with Mark Faber, who previously worked in Las Vegas as the T-Mobile Arena's senior vice president of global partnerships.[94] Under the leadership of Faber, Faber promised for better relations with the city of Fort Worth, with Faber claiming that a "pain point" was Gossage putting "No Limits, Texas" on the outside wall instead of the actual city's name.[95] Faber also announced the creation of the "No Limits Next" project, aimed at renovating the track and expanding Big Hoss TV.[96][25] The speedway also ended the tradition of victors firing six-shooters in victory lane under Faber's leadership.[97] By July 2023, Faber also confirmed that the speedway and Marcus Smith were looking at repaving the track by using iRacing simulations.[98]
Despite then-NASCAR vice president of competition Mike Helton stating that the NASCAR "Cup schedule can't grow much more" in January 1995,[99] many within the NASCAR media landscape predicted that with the booming rise of popularity in NASCAR that started in the early 1990s, NASCAR would have to both expand to new markets and leave traditional markets behind that had been staples of the schedule since NASCAR's inception.[100][101] Midway through 1996, Knoxville News Sentinel writer Bill Luther wrote that numerous short tracks, including North Wilkesboro Speedway and the Martinsville Speedway were "in peril" of losing Winston Cup dates.[102] NASCAR announced the 1997 schedule in September, with numerous changes on the schedule; among said changes were a new date for Texas in the spring and North Wilkesboro being gone from the schedule completely.[103] Until 2022, the spring race has ran annually in at least some form; in 2021, its points race was transferred to a new date at the Circuit of the Americas, with the track instead running the NASCAR All-Star Race as an attempt by SMI CEO Marcus Smith to increase declining attendance.[83] After two spring races that were met with relative scorn,[84] the spring date was removed for 2023,[104] with the All-Star Race moving to North Wilkesboro, the track the speedway removed back in 1997.[105] The spring date returned in 2024 as a result of the track's only Cup Series date, which was in the fall, shifting back to the spring.[106]
After the track got a race date within the NASCAR Cup Series schedule in 1997, Bruton Smith was reported to have an extreme desire to have a second NASCAR Cup Series date at Texas Motor Speedway, to the point where he was rumored that if NASCAR leadership did not agree with it, Bruton would split off to start his own racing series.[107] In 2002, Francis Ferko, a minority shareholder in SMI, filed a lawsuit against NASCAR and the International Speedway Corporation for violating antitrust laws, feeling as if SMI did not do enough to protect his investment. A settlement was eventually reached in 2004, which guaranteed a second NASCAR race weekend for Texas at the cost of one of Rockingham Speedway's weekends.[70][108] The date remained on the schedule annually until 2023, when it was moved to the spring.[106]
Since the track opened for racing in 1997, the speedway has held IndyCar Series races at the speedway annually until 2023.[109] With one exception in 2011 where the traditional 550 kilometres (340 mi) distance of the race was split into two separate 275 kilometres (171 mi) races,[110] the race was ran as one singular race.[109] In 2016, the race was delayed from its original race date on June 12 by over two months to August 27 due to scheduling conflicts and rain.[111] In 2023, the race's renewal was put into doubt due to scheduling conflicts with the 2024 Summer Olympics and the race's broadcaster, NBC.[112] On September 25, the series released its 2024 schedule, which did not include Texas Motor Speedway.[113] IndyCar has expressed a desire to return to the state of Texas in 2025, but did not guarantee that the series would return to the track.[114]
The track originally planned to host a Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART) race in April 2001, announcing it on August 3, 2000.[115] However, after a culmination of events that occurred over the events of several months, the race was postponed and eventually cancelled after it was found that drivers could suffer extreme vertical g-loads that could have led to death.[65] The speedway later sued CART for breach of contract. The speedway settled for around $5–7 million, and races that were scheduled in 2002 and 2003 were annulled.[116]
Other racing series
In 2000, the American Le Mans Series expanded their schedule to include Texas to run the Grand Prix of Texas, deciding to run a "roval" version of the track that utilized parts of the newly-constructed infield road course and the oval.[117] The series ran the event again in 2001.[118]
In 2015, the track held the seventh round of the 2015 Red Bull Air Race World Championship through the weekend of September 26–27.[119] The track once again hosted the series in 2018, this time as the season finale of that year.[120]
The speedway has held numerous festivals throughout its history, with some festivals having a recorded attendance of 250,000 people or more. In 1997, days after the track's IRL race, the speedway held a two-day country music festival titled Country Fest, attracting 260,000 people.[123] A week later, the speedway held RockFest '97, a rock music festival that attracted around 400,000 people.[124] The latter was described by then-general manager Eddie Gossage as "the worst day of my life". In a podcast episode with former NASCAR driver Mike Wallace, Gossage stated,
It's June 21st... it's 200 degrees, and you can't move... these kids, they climbed on top of concession stands and the garages and whatever gave them a better vantage point to see the stage. And, the truth is, they were in charge. They didn't know it, but there were so many more of them than there were of us...
This thing was still going on; [it was] supposed to end at 11 o'clock at Saturday night and it's four in the morning... Bush is about to wrap up, and I'm on front edge of the stage trying to end this thing, and I see in the back Gavin Rossdale's drum kit and gear and stuff and they're ready to go running and place stuff for yet another band. So, I go around the back side of the stage, and I grab the guy that's the promoter and I said, "What's this?" He said, "this is a local group called The Nixons, and they're gonna play walkout music." I said, "No, they're not." He said, "Well sure, they are!" I said, "No, as long as there's somebody on this stage playing music, ain't nobody going nowhere; and we're done!" He said, "Well, you tell them that!" and pointed to the crowd. I said, "No, this band isn't going on!" He goes, "Sure, they are!" So, I sit down and call the control tower and said, "Send some cops back here to arrest me for something. Come up with a reason to arrest me, because they're trying to put another band on and I'm trying to end this thing!" Our guy in the tower asks, "Do you know what you're doing?" I said, "Roughly."... five minutes later, there's two dozen Fort Worth cops and they're ticked... [one] guy says, "Mr. Gossage, you're under arrest, [for] breaking ordinance..." I said, "Well, it's not my show, it's his!", and I pointed at the promoter... The cops didn't know what to do, so they said, "We'll just take both of you."... [In the end,] The Nixons did not go on, the festival was over, and everybody got to go home.[125]
After 1997, the speedway has held various festivals. In 2010, the track hosted FortyFest, a Christian rock music festival.[126] In 2023, the track hosted a second location of the HWY30 Music Fest, a country music festival that originated from Filer, Idaho.[127] The track is scheduled to host the event again in 2024.[128]
Other events
Competitors and their cars at the 2009 Solar Car Challenge.
Since 1998, the speedway has held the Solar Car Challenge, a solar-powered car race for high school students. In odd-numbered years, the track is used as a starting point for a cross-country route. In even-numbered years, the track is used as a showcase location.[129]
Tony Stewart, Dallara IR-7, 1998, IRL)
Allan McNish, Audi R8, 2000, LMP900)
