Texas World Speedway

Texas World Speedway was built in 1969 and is one of only seven superspeedways of two miles (3 km) or greater in the United States, the others being Indianapolis, Daytona, Pocono, Talladega, Auto Club, and Michigan. TWS is located on approximately 600 acres (2.4 km²) on State Highway 6 in College Station, Texas. There is a 2-mile (3 km) oval, and several road course configurations. The last major race occurred at the track in 1981. The track is still used by amateur racing clubs such as the SCCA, NASA, driving schools and car clubs, as well as hosting music concerts and the like.

During the 1980s the track fell into a state of disrepair, and both NASCAR and the IndyCar Series chose to drop it from the schedule. It continued to operate in a limited role for amateur racing. In 1993, the track reopened after a repaving and moderate refurbishment. It hosted a race for the ARCA series but due to the lack of modern facilities and amenities, it has since served as a circuit for amateur and club racing, along with private testing, and also hosts NASCAR teams' testing for Michigan International Speedway and California Speedway because of NASCAR conducting new 2006 restrictions prohibiting both tracks from being used for tests. With the 2009 NASCAR testing ban, the track expects more testing in the three national series because the track is not on any of the three circuits, and therefore is legal.

During a January 2009 test, Greg Biffle managed to reach 218 miles per hour (351 km/h) in a test for Roush Fenway Racing as part of evading NASCAR's testing ban. This became the fastest time ever achieved on this track by any competitor (amateur or professional).^[1]

Race history

USAC winners

Season	Winning Driver	Chassis	Engine	Team
1973	Al Unser	Parnelli	Offy	Vels Parnelli Jones
1974	Gary Bettenhausen	McLaren	Offy	Penske Racing
1976	A.J. Foyt	Coyote	Foyt	A.J. Foyt Enterprises
1976	Johnny Rutherford	McLaren	Offy	Bruce McLaren Motor Racing
1977	Tom Sneva	McLaren	Cosworth	Penske Racing
1977	Johnny Rutherford	McLaren	Cosworth	Bruce McLaren Motor Racing
1978	Danny Ongais	Parnelli	Cosworth	Interscope Racing
1978	A.J. Foyt	Coyote	Foyt	A.J. Foyt Enterprises
1979	A.J. Foyt	Coyote	Foyt	A.J. Foyt Enterprises
1979	A.J. Foyt	Parnelli	Cosworth	A.J. Foyt Enterprises

NASCAR race winners

Season	Winning Driver	Manufacturer
1969	Bobby Isaac	Dodge
1971 Texas 500	Richard Petty	Plymouth
1972 Texas 500	Richard Petty	Dodge
1972 Lone Star 500	Buddy Baker	Dodge
1973 Alamo 500	Richard Petty	Dodge
1979	Darrell Waltrip	Chevrolet
1980 Budweiser 400	Cale Yarborough	Chevrolet
1981 Budweiser 400	Benny Parsons	Ford

• Bobby Isaac's 1969 win was his first in a long-distance superspeedway race.
• Richard Petty's 1972 win was his first in a Dodge.
• The 1979 400 was NASCAR's first race at Texas after it shut down for the 1974-5 seasons; USAC stock cars and Indycars returned to Texas in 1976.

USAC Stock Cars

• 1973 (April 7) Gordon Johncock
• 1973 (October 6) Roger McCluskey
• 1976 (June 6) A.J. Foyt
• 1976 (August 1) A.J. Foyt
• 1976 (October 31) Bobby Allison
• 1977 (June 5) TX Bay Darnell
• 1978 (March 12) A.J. Foyt
• 1978 (June 4) Gary Bowsher
• 1978 (November 12) A.J. Foyt
• 1979 (March 11) A.J. Foyt
• 1979 (November 11) Bobby Allison
• 1980 (March 9) Terry Ryan

SCCA CanAm winners

Season	Winning Driver	Chassis	Engine
1969	Bruce McLaren	McLaren M8B	Chevrolet

IMSA World SportsCar Championship winners

Season	Winning Driver	Chassis	Engine
1995	Wayne Taylor	Ferrari 333SP	Ferrari
1996	Wayne Taylor , Jim Pace	Riley & Scott Mk III	Oldsmobile Aurora V8

References

1. ^ "Notebook: Biffle hits 218 mph in test at Texas World". Nascar.com. January 22, 2009. http://www.nascar.com/2009/news/headlines/cup/01/22/notebook.gbiffle.dearnhardtjr.tstewart.mkenseth/index.html. Retrieved 3 December 2010. 

External links

• Trackpedia guide to driving the Texas World Speedway
• Texas World Speedway – Homepage
• City of College Station – Homepage

Coordinates: 30°32′15″N 96°13′14″W / 30.53762°N 96.22058°W / 30.53762; -96.22058