Texas Motor Speedway

From Encyclopedia Jr, free information reference for Kids

Texas Motor Speedway
The Great American Speedway
Facility statistics
Location	3545 Lone Star Circle, Justin, Texas 76247 (this is the mailing address, the track is located in Fort Worth)
Broke ground	April 11, 1995
Opened	February 29, 1996
Owner	Speedway Motorsports, Inc.
Operator	Speedway Motorsports, Inc.
Construction cost	$250 million USD
Architect
Former names
Texas International Raceway (1996)
Major events
NASCAR Nextel Cup Samsung/Radio Shack 500 Dickies 500 NASCAR Busch Series O'Reilly 300 O'Reilly Challenge Indy Racing League Bombardier Learjet 500
Seating capacity
204,861 (NASCAR & IndyCar)
Current dimensions
Track shape	Quad-oval
Track length	1.5 miles
Track banking	Turns - 24 degrees

Texas Motor Speedway is a superspeedway located in the northernmost portion of the U.S. city of Fort Worth, Texas -- the portion located in Denton County, Texas. (The mailing address lists nearby Justin, Texas, the nearest post office, but the track itself is in Fort Worth -- signage on the Turn 1 and 3 walls reads "Fort Worth -- Denton County".) 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 straghtaway 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.

Based on qualifying speeds in 2004 and 2005, 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 Brain, qualifying in the 49/50th spot. Being the last person out on the track, Brain nipped Elliott Sadler's qualifying time. [1]

Texas Motor Speedway is home to two NASCAR Nextel Cup races: the Samsung/Radio Shack 500 and the Dickies 500, as well as two Busch Series Races, the O'Reilly 300 and the O'Reilly Challenge and last but not least, the Indy Racing League race, the Bombardier Learjet 500.

[edit] Current Races Hosted

• Nextel Cup - Samsung/Radio Shack 500
• Nextel Cup - Dickies 500
• Busch Series - O'Reilly 300
• Busch Series - O'Reilly Challenge
• Indy Racing League - Bombardier Learjet 500

[edit] See also

• List of NASCAR race tracks

[edit] External links

• Trackpedia guide to driving Texas Motor Speedway
• Texas Motor Speedway Official Site
• Texas Motor Speedway Page on NASCAR.com
• GNEXTINC.com: Texas Motor Speedway Page - Local area information, track specs, mapping, news and more.
• Jayski's Texas Motor Speedway Page - Current and Past Texas Motor Speedway News
• Texas Motor Speedway Fan Page - Photographs and articles on past speedway events.

• High Resolution image from Google Maps
• Maps and aerial photos Coordinates: 33.03689° -97.28309°
  • WikiSatellite view at WikiMapia
  • Street map from MapQuest or Google Local
  • Topographic map from TopoZone
  • Aerial image or topographic map from TerraServer-USA
  • Satellite image from Google Maps or Microsoft Virtual Earth