Texas Motor Speedway
Texas Motor Speedway is a quad-oval intermediate speedway in Fort Worth, Texas. It has hosted various major races since its inaugural season of racing in 1997, including NASCAR and IndyCar races. The track is owned by the city of Fort Worth's sports authority and is leased out by Speedway Motorsports, LLC for racing, with Mark Faber serving as the track's general manager.
As of 2021, the track has a capacity of 75,000. Alongside the main track, Texas Motor Speedway features an infield road course with four layouts alongside two adjacent tracks, including a paved short track and a dirt track. TMS features numerous amenities, including the world's largest HD video screen, a Speedway Club overlooking the first turn, and a 10-story building dedicated for office space and condominiums.
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 and rising Speedway Motorsports and its founder, Bruton Smith, sought 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 was completed in 1996, with TMS holding its first races in 1997. Upon the track's christening, TMS became one of the biggest sports facilities in the United States. In recent years, TMS has come under criticism for a poor racing product, particularly for its NASCAR races.
Description
Configurations
Texas Motor Speedway in its current form is measured at, 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. From 1998 to 2017, the turns were all banked at 24 degrees and the racing surface width was 58 feet. 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. Disputes over the track's length exist; the IndyCar Series have at times utilized two lengths: one at and one at. However, these measurements have been disputed as an "error" by former longtime track general manager Eddie Gossage.In 1999, track developers announced plans to build an infield road course that would utilize both the oval and the infield road course. The infield road course was completed in August 2000, and has four variations that are mainly used for sports car racing.
Amenities
TMS 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. 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.As of 2021, TMS has a reported capacity of 75,000 according to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. TMS's track complex covers 1,500 acres according to the Star-Telegram. At the time of TMS'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.
Track complex buildings, Big Hoss TV
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 and completed in early 1998, with the building costing Texas Motor Speedway around $25 million in taxes. The first four floors are dedicated for office space, with the rest of the floors being dedicated for condos. Initially, 58 condos were planned to be sold; the number later increased to 76. By the next year, the speedway made efforts to fill up the tower's office space of a combined 100,000 square feet. TMS 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. The nine-story club was completed in March 1999 at a cost of $35 million, featuring 26,000 square feet of space.In 2013, Gossage announced the construction of Big Hoss TV, which when constructed, was set to become the biggest HD screen in the world. As a result of its construction, backstretch grandstands that numbered to around 10,000 seats were demolished. The video screen was completed in March 2014 and was officially certified by Guinness World Records as the largest HD television LED screen in the world. In 2023, TMS announced that the screen was to be expanded by 10%.
Adjacent tracks
TMS's complex has two adjacent tracks. In May 1998, the speedway opened Lil' Texas Motor Speedway, a paved short track that hosts various divisions of local short track racing, primarily legends cars and bandoleros. In August 1999, Gossage announced plans of a new dirt track to the main track's east that could seat 13,007. The $8 million track is made out of black gumbo soil, and held its first races in March 2000.History
Previous major tracks in Texas area
The first track to hold major series such as NASCAR and United States Auto Club -sanctioned races in the state of Texas was the Texas International Speedway, which opened in 1969, holding its first NASCAR race in December. The track was built like the Michigan International Speedway, but with higher banking for faster speeds. However, in the coming years, the track faced a slew of issues; the 1973 oil crisis halted any major racing for nearly three years. Although NASCAR eventually returned in 1979, 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. 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.Planning, construction, naming dispute
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. 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. 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, 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. 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 ?’ 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."Groundbreaking on TMS took place on April 11, 1995. Gossage was later asked to run the facility in late May, which he accepted. 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 TMS. 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. The plan met skepticism from open-wheel personalities such as Cary Agajanian and Jimmy Vasser over the feasibility of such a system. 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. On August 3, the track officially opened to the public for the first time, holding a charity "open-house" event. Eventual NASCAR races were announced in July 1996, and IndyCar races were announced the next month on August 7, with the IndyCar race to be run at night; an IndyCar first.
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. As a result, the speedway changed its name to "Texas International Raceway" on September 11. 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.