A keen eye spied a Chevrolet Pace Car taking a spin through the central city during the lunch hour on Tuesday.
It’s Race Week at Texas Motor Speedway, but the sighting was symbolic of some positive change that has occurred at the track, which for several years seemingly tried to boycott Fort Worth, Texas.
There is, after all, no such town or city called “No Limits, Texas,” though that was where TMS management once tried to locate the raceway, which has sat within the city limits of what became of Ripley Arnold’s Army camp since opening its garage doors in 1997.
All 1,500 acres of it, which includes a grand racing complex that can accommodate more than 150,000 patrons.
However, the relationship between the track, this “Great American Speedway,” and the city was strained.
“I think ‘strained’ is probably a good word,” said Mark Faber, the track’s executive vice president and general manager. “He who is without sin may cast the first stone. I'm not casting any stones, John. So, I don't want you to think that I am, but we weren't probably as positive a community partner as we wanted to be for a variety of reasons and we've worked really hard in the past year to improve those relations.”
One of those “pain points,” as Faber called them, was the fictional city of “No Limits, Texas.”
That grew out of an advertising campaign and morphed into a city through a backhand from one of Faber’s predecessors, Eddie Gossage, the track’s original executive figure who was never shy about anything but particularly in criticizing the city for what he believed was its lack of support in promoting the track and slow in providing the infrastructure around the facility.
It wasn’t only the city. He wasn’t happy with the state of the yearslong construction saga of Interstate 35. Gossage also often let the media and even the sport’s sanctioning bodies know of his displeasure of falling short of his expectations.
Speculation centered on NASCAR’s decision, made in concert with Speedway Motorsports, to move TMS’s spring NASCAR date to Austin as the trigger for Gossage’s decision to walk away from his position as president and general manager of TMS in 2021.
There was never any doubting Gossage’s ability as a promoter. He always had something wacky up his sleeve, like, for example, monkeys selling souvenir programs one year. (That’s funny, by the way.) He was never hesitant to make known that one could fit four — I think is the number — AT&T Stadiums inside TMS. Moreover, the big, big screen at TMS — "Big Hoss?" It's bigger than Jerry Jones' TV at AT&T Stadium. He also could be brusque. When drivers complained of the condition of the track in those early days in the 1990s, Gossage had shirts made with the inscription, "Shut Up and Race."
That's the way the NASCARians are known to handle things: confrontationally. These are, after all, the descendants of moonshine runners, who protected their place in the underground economic system the old fashioned way of, ahem, self-reliance.
And as it concerned the city, Gossage leveled a protest, having “Fort Worth, Texas” taken off the turns, for all the world to see, and substituting with “No Limits, Texas.”
It goes without saying that there likely would be no TMS in Fort Worth without Fort Worth, which agreed to forgo millions of dollars in property and sales tax revenues to entice motorsports promoter Bruton Smith to build a facility that cost hundreds of millions.
The city agreed to create the nonprofit Fort Worth Sports Authority that would issue the bonds needed to buy the land and build the speedway. The authority owns the track and has leased it to TMS.
Smith said Fort Worth's willingness to work out a deal was a major reason he decided to build the track on the city's northern edge.
“We are in Fort Worth, Texas,” said Faber, who was selected to replace Rob Ramage last year. Ramage was promoted within Speedway Motorsports. “We've worked really hard with the mayor's office, City Council, the Fort Worth Chamber, Visit Fort Worth, and community leaders to go back out and make sure, again, as a part of that rising-tide-raises-all-ships philosophy that we're all working together to improve our community.”
Mayor Mattie Parker will be at Sunday’s NASCAR Autotrader Echopark Automotive 400, “actively involved in pre-race ceremonies,” Faber said. The race, which is scheduled to start at 2:30 p.m., is part of the NASCAR Cup Series’ playoff format. On Saturday, Andy’s Frozen Custard 300 will be conducted at 2:30 p.m. That race is part of the NASCAR Xfinity Series playoffs.
The mayor will have some competition out there for top billing. Jelly Roll, a five-time CMA nominee, will be the grand marshal for Sunday's race. Texas Rangers Chief Jason Taylor will serve as honorary starter and wave the green flag for the opening Round of 12 race.
“We just want be good neighbors and we want to be good community partners and I take it upon myself and our team here have all worked to go out and get out in the community and be good partners and good neighbors. And I think that we're starting to see the fruits of that labor.”
Business is good at TMS, Faber said. The year 2023 has been “a positive year for us.”
The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series and IndyCar weekend in the spring saw a double-digit increase in attendance from the year before, Faber said.
The racing was good, too. Josef Newgarden outlasted side-by-side racing down the stretch to win. That victory was all the more significant when the very next week Newgarden won the Indianapolis 500, the crown jewel of the IndyCar series.
And there’s a buzz about this weekend. Tickets are up from race weekend a year ago, including several premium areas sold out. Luxury suites are also almost full, Faber said.
“That hasn’t happened since … it’s been some time,” Faber said. “So, we have great metrics that are positive right now leading into this race, and we’re really excited about what’s going to happen here this week.”
Start your engines.
