Thursday, March 27, 1997

Tidbits on the opening of the Texas Motor Speedway

By Ted Dunnam

Those in need of some food for thought, try these tidbits from Texas Motor Speedway for its week of racing coming up next week.

-- Enough pretzels (25,000) will be served that, if stacked on top of each other, will rise 500 feet above the Sears Tower.

-- Enough hamburgers (96,000) will be served to cover 12,000 weekend charcoal grills.

-- A ton of onions, 600 gallons of salsa and 70,000 slices of pizze (equaling 6,778 large pizzas) will be served.

-- The 112,000 hot dogs expected to be sold would stretch more than 14 miles, enough to complete the oval more than nine times.

And that's just the concession stands.

In the Village of Champions, here's what's available:

-- 350 pounds of shrimp

-- 15,000 roasted quarter-chickens

-- The world's largest barbecue cooker - 900,000 square inches of cooking space for five tons of beef.

-- More chicken and beef fajitas than the combined weight of five NASCAR Winston Cup cars - driver weight not included.

And for those fortunate enough to afford the luxury suites, this is what awaits:

-- More prime rib will be served than the average steak restaurant plates in four months.

-- More than 2.5 tons of barbecue beef will be served.

-- One-half ton of shrimp will be peeled and dipped in cocktail sauce while 1.5 tons of chicken wings will be served.

Show car tour

Winn-Dixie Texas is hosting a Road To Fort Worth show car tour April 2-8 that will feature the race cars of several prominent NASCAR Winston Cup Drivers.

Prizes include complimentary tickets to the April 5th Busch race and coupons for Winn-Dixie products. The Grand Prize winner will received a 1997 Ford Thunderbird, a replica of the No. 60 Winn-Dixie car Mark Martin drives in the Busch series.

Schedule to appear on the show car tour are cars driven by Martin, Sterling Marlin, Ricky Rudd, Ted Musgrave and Terry Labonte.

The cars will be exhibited at The Colony, Burleson, Arlington, Addison, Mansfield, Grand Prairie, Arlington, Fort Worth, Watauga, Allen, Azle, North Richland Hills and Granbury.

For exact addresses and times of display, call (817) 921-1340.

Kids race scheduled

Abilene Speedway's third weekend of racing is this Saturday night and the special event planned for this particular night will be a kids bicycle race.

Racing begins at 7:30 p.m. every Saturday at the newly renovated track.

Are there any more?

Jason Jarrett, son of Dale Jarrett and grandson of Ned Jarrett attempts to make his first Busch Grand National start this weekend.

Jarrett will compete in the Galaxy Foods 300 race at Hickory, N.C. He'll be one of two third-generation drivers in the event, joining Dale Earnhardt Jr., son of Dale Earnhardt and grandson of the late Ralph Earnhardt.

Earnhardt Jr. will be making just his second BGN start.