Texas Motor Speedway

Motorsport venue
Name = Texas Motor Speedway
Nicknames = The Great American Speedway


Location = 3545 Lone Star Circle, Fort Worth, Texas 76177
Broke_ground = April 11, 1995
Opened = February 29, 1996
Owner = Speedway Motorsports, Inc.
Operator = Speedway Motorsports, Inc.
Construction_cost = $250 million USD
Former_names = Texas International Raceway (1996)
Events = NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
Samsung 500
Dickies 500

NASCAR Nationwide Series
O'Reilly 300
O'Reilly Challenge

NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series
Sam's Town 400
Silverado 350K

IRL IndyCar Series
Bombardier Learjet 550

CORR (temporary circuit)
Capacity = 212,585 (NASCAR & IndyCar)
Layout1 = Quad-oval
Surface = Asphalt
Miles_first = True
Length_mi = 1.5
Length_km = 2.4
Turns = 4
Banking = Turns: 24°
Record_time = 0:23.136
Record_driver = Kenny Bräck
Record_team = Rahal Letterman Racing
Record_year = 2001
Record_class = Cart FedEx Championship Series

Texas Motor Speedway is a speedway located in the northernmost portion of the U.S. city of Fort Worth, Texas -- the portion located in Denton County, Texas. The track layout is very similar to Atlanta Motor Speedway and Lowe's Motor Speedway (formerly Charlotte Motor Speedway). The track measures 1.5 miles around and is banked 24 degrees in the turns, and is of the quad-oval design, where the front straightaway juts outward slightly. The track is owned by Speedway Motorsports, Inc., the same company that owns Atlanta and Lowe's Motor Speedways, as well as the short-track Bristol Motor Speedway.

History

The speedway has been managed since its inception by legendary racing promoter Eddie Gossage. His 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.

Based on qualifying speeds in 2004, 2005, and 2006 (with Brian Vickers shattering the qualifying record at Texas with a speed of 196.235 mph in the 2006 Dickies 500 qualifying), 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 (2005 and 2006). 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. [http://www.nascar.com/races/cup/]

Two racetracks formerly on the Winston Cup (now Sprint Cup Series) schedule were closed to make room for Texas Motor Speedway's two race dates, with the North Wilkesboro Speedway being bought by TMS owner Bruton Smith and New Hampshire International Speedway owner Bob Bahre. The track was closed with one of the track's two dates going to both new owners. The North Carolina Speedway in Rockingham, North Carolina was also sold to Smith as a result of the Ferko lawsuit with the track's one remaining date also being handed over to Texas.

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.

For a short time during construction in September 1996, the track's name was changed to Texas International Raceway. SMI's customary track naming convention had 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 2, 1996, 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. The following is a map of Texas Motor Speedway:

Texas Motor Speedway made an unsuccessful overture to move the annual Oklahoma-Texas rivalry football game from the Cotton Bowl to the infield of the modern racing facility in 2004. [http://www.nascar.com/2005/news/headlines/cup/08/26/bruton.smith.26/index.html]

Firestone Firehawk 600

The Firestone Firehawk 600, a CART race, was to be held on April 29, 2001. During practice and qualifying, however, 21 of 25 drivers [http://www.usatoday.com/sports/motor/cart/2001-04-28-texas-qualifying.htm] complained of dizziness and disorientation during two days of practice. Drivers experienced sustained G forces over 5 Gs, more than the typical human tolerance.

With the possibility of drivers blacking out on the track, CART cancelled the race two hours before the scheduled start.

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Stats

NASCAR Records

As of 04/06/08
*Most Wins - (2) - Jeff Burton , Carl Edwards
*Most Top 5's - (5) - Mark Martin, Jeff Gordon, Matt Kenseth
*Most Top 10's - (7) - 6 Drivers
*Starts - (14) - 5 Drivers
*Poles - (2) - Bobby Labonte, Ryan Newman
*Laps Led - (453) - Tony Stewart
*Avg Start (Minimum 5 starts) - (8.0) - Steve Park
*Avg Finish (Minimum 5 starts) - (9.2) - Jimmie Johnson

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Race Winners

*Race Extended Due to Green-White-Checker Finish

Current Races Hosted

*Sprint Cup Series - Samsung 500
*Sprint Cup Series - Dickies 500
*Nationwide Series - O'Reilly 300
*Nationwide Series - O'Reilly Challenge
*Craftsman Truck Series - Sam's Town 400
*Craftsman Truck Series - Silverado 350K
*Indy Racing League - Bombardier Learjet 550

ee also

* List of NASCAR race tracks
* Sports in Texas

External links

* [http://map.mapnetwork.com/venue/anthem/fortworth/ Texas Motor Speedway Interactive Map]
* [http://www.trackpedia.com/wiki/Texas_Motor_Speedway Trackpedia guide to driving Texas Motor Speedway]
* [http://www.texasmotorspeedway.com/ Texas Motor Speedway Official Site]
* [http://www.nascar.com/races/tracks/tms/index.html Texas Motor Speedway Page] on [http://www.nascar.com NASCAR.com]
* [http://www.gnextinc.com/nascar/track/texas.html GNEXTINC.com: Texas Motor Speedway Page] - Local area information, track specs, mapping, news and more.
* [http://jayski.com/pages/tracks/texas.htm Jayski's Texas Motor Speedway Page] - Current and Past Texas Motor Speedway News
* [http://www.tmsfan.com Texas Motor Speedway Fan Page] - Photographs and articles on past speedway events.

*High Resolution image from [http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=33.036897,-97.283099&spn=0.013325,0.020084&t=k&hl=en Google Maps]