RaceBud

It’s the good fortune of the Turn 3 Race Team to have the Texas Motor Speedway as our home track. This is one of the great NASCAR venues in the country. A few others compete closely, maybe even win the Best Track in the Country competition, but here are nine reasons the Texas track claims its place among the best.

1. Plenty of campgrounds. Serious NASCAR fans don’t just show up for a race. It takes time – more than a day or two – to properly enjoy one these events. Certain food and drink must be enjoyed, along with the company of longtime friends who meet a few times each year—same time, same place, same reason. And it takes a fair amount of space to spend that time in. Texas has that.
2. Modern facility. The Texas Motor Speedway has no shortage of accommodations for its fans, vendors, sponsors and other guests. Food service and vending facilities, restrooms, large aisles and walkways – even the parking, are well-designed and plenty capable of serving its 200,000-plus Sunday crowds. Traffic in and out on race day sucks, but that’s just another strong argument for all that campground space – just stay the night and traffic problems no longer exist.
3. Eddie Gossage is president. Gossage is a carnie, and Texas race fans are the beneficiaries. He served his early NASCAR days under Humpy Wheeler, president of Lowe’s Motor Speedway, and the daddy of racing showmanship. Gossage spends his days making certain the fans have entertaining sights and sounds to keep their interest levels high. From daring billboards to the Doobie Brothers – even the little spark plug bastard that’s hopping around in the middle of everything that moves at the track – Gossage is always putting on a show, and the fans love it.
4. A very fast track. Only Atlanta is faster – not Daytona, not Talladega, and not any other track. Texas speeds exceeded 200 mph on the straight-aways from the very first. Indy cars are running near 220 and CART (the former open-wheel series) cancelled a race there because their drivers got scared of the speeds.
5. The location. There’s good access, provided by an interstate highway on one side and good state highways on the others. Located on the outskirts of Fort Worth, TMS is in close proximity to plenty of facilities – hotels, airports, shopping, restaurants and a host of service options for all those motor homes.
6. The midway. There just isn’t anything a race fan could hope to buy that’s not available at the TMS midway – and we do love our NASCRAP. T-shirts, caps, flags, die-casts – even used tires – all right there waiting to be hauled away by the 200,000 or so weekend visitors. There are exhibits by just about every sponsor, show cars everywhere, and all the corny dog, crowded atmosphere of the state fair.
7. It’s close to home. Something everyone should have – a track within 500 miles, or so. The 500 mile radius allows fans to enjoy a long weekend at the track without a major travel burden. Our 200-mile commute allows us to leave home on Thursday evening and return Monday, taking two days away from the job and spending three full days with friends at the track.
8. The view. There are so many vantage points around this track, it’s hard to point to the best. From the top of a motor home, the Speedway Club, the condos, suites or the stands – Texas race fans get a great view of the track. For those who care about such things, the view in the infield isn’t real bad once the sun sets.
9. The flyovers. There’s nothing quite like a powerful, ground-shaking flyover to put an exclamation point at the end of the Star Spangled Banner. And Eddie Gossage has a knack for finding these displays of anthem-ending oomph. The April 2008 flyover was special for a couple of reasons. One was the ground-pounding thunder of the flyover itself – faster, louder, and a little lower than what we’re used to seeing – it was just awesome. The thing that gave it some Louisiana lagniappe was that the flight crew stopped by to introduce themselves and do a little PR work. They did a great job of representing the Air National Guard unit out of New Orleans and were kind enough to line up behind the moho for a photo.

And, there you have it – nine fine reasons to put the Texas Motor Speedway on your bucket list, if not the next race weekend to be held there. If you decide to go, be sure to get your tickets early…it seems a few others have figured out what all the excitement is about just north of Fort Worth.

Trackback URI | Comments RSS