Gossage displeased with NASCAR
FORT WORTH -- To say the least, Eddie Gossage is underwhelmed with NASCAR at the moment.
The general manager of Texas Motor Speedway thought he'd done everything to deserve a second NASCAR Winston Cup date in 1998. However, what seemed like a sure thing didn't become a reality.
Three weeks ago, NASCAR turned down a bid by TMS for what probably would have been a fall date for the good ol' boys to race again in Texas.
"It was very disappointing," Gossage said, "and we're very frustrated. As far as I know, we met every criteria and exceeded most of what NASCAR wants.
"We had the largest crowd ever to see a race this year, next only to Indy, and we sold out extremely quickly. We also had the largest crowd ever to see a Busch series race.
"We've got a great race facility, great race fans, and the drivers absolutely love it here. Plus, we're in a state that's an absolute hotbed for auto racing, especially NASCAR."
So why didn't TMS get the second date? What were the reasons?
"I don't know. We were never given a reason," Gossage said. "Your guess is as good as mine -- and I really don't have a good guess."
Was there a conflict in scheduling?
"Not at all. We're very flexible. We'll run anytime, whenever NASCAR wants us to. Ideally, we'd like a spring and fall date. But we'll run whenever. To this day, I don't understand it."
While Gossage remains miffed about that snub, he'll be able to smile after the first year of full-scale operation of the speedway.
From the racing standpoint, TMS has hosted Busch Grand National cars, NASCAR Winston Cup, Super Trucks and IRL Indy Car series events. Throw in Country Fest and Rock Fest -- which attracted nearly 400,000 fans alone -- and it's been a highly successful rookie campaign.
The speedway ends its inaugural year of hosting events when The Rolling Stones headline a concert there Nov. 1.
"I've been part of the racing scene for 25 years, and in that time I've been part of four concerts," Gossage said. "This year alone, we're hosting three. And what better way to end the season than having the greatest rock and roll band in the world to play here?
"That's what is great about Bruton Smith. He allows each of us to run his tracks the way we want to. The Rolling Stones want to play a variety of venues, and I have a friend who works for the Stones. After looking us over, he said this would be ideal."
A major point of concern and criticism about TMS is traffic entering and exiting the speedway. It's an issue that can make Gossage a bit testy.
"When we had that first race, we still had a lot of unpaved parking and it rained for three full days before the race," Gossage said. "Obviously, that put us in a big parking bind. I thought we improvised as well as we could.
"Now, we have 20,000 paved parking spaces which is more than Walt Disney World or Texas Stadium. Plus, we have 400 acres of unpaved parking. If you have 400,000 people coming to a concert, it's going to take a while to get them in and out, I don't care how many parking spaces you have.
"The media acts like the world's coming to an end. We have better access than most racing facilities. We really got hurt by the weather on our first race, and now we've got to overcome a stigma that's been with us since then. But we will overcome it."
Gossage said the track doesn't do much testing because it's too far away from where most of the racing teams are located. Outside of the racing events and concerts, TMS staged a Thursday Night Stampede this summer featuring auto racing legends.
"It drew about 3,500 to 4,000 fans," Gossage said. "It was a way of saying thank you to a lot of people that helped make racing work here in Texas. Plus, we didn't want to disappear from the radar screen here in Texas.
"We don't want to get lost in the shuffle because of the few events we host each year."
The speedway has also been the center of attention this year as the result of actions by three drivers. A.J. Foyt and Arie Luyendyk made TMS their own personal boxing ring while Rusty Wallace, after exiting in the Exide Batteries 500, said the entire track needed to be redone.
"I just talked to Rusty last week, and that's just Rusty," Gossage said. "He apologized to me the day after that race. He's one of our biggest fans. Rusty's a good guy. Sometimes Rusty just speaks before he thinks."
So how long is it before the track pays for itself?
"I guess that all depends on how many events we host," Gossage said. "This is the largest single arena in the U.S. next to Indianapolis and the third largest in the world. We know we can't just rely on racing.
"We'd like to do a variety of events. The Rock Fest and Country Fest just fell into our laps. We've been working with the Stones for about a year. We've had incredible success this year.
"We started out looking for people to come here. Now, they come to us."
Except -- for a second time -- NASCAR.
Gossage's eyes rolled skyward.