Thursday, July 13, 2000

Checkered Flag
Crowd support is reason TMS has every form of racing
By Ted Dunnam

Texas Motor Speedway now has everything it could possibly want — except a second NASCAR Winston Cup date.

With the announcement earlier this week that it will host a Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART) event in 2001, TMS is now the only speedway in the country to feature every major form of American automobile racing.

The event, which will be called the Texas 600K, will be on a yearly TMS schedule that includes Winston Cup, NASCAR Busch, NASCAR Craftsman truck, Indy Racing Northern Lights, American LeMans, BF Goodrich Trans-Am Series, Pennzoil World of Outlaws sprint cars, Hav-A-Tampa dirt late models and the Wrenchhead.com National Dirt Series motorcycle series.

“There is one reason why all of the series want to race at Texas Motor Speedway, and that is because of the tremendous fan support we enjoy,’’ said Eddie Gossage, speedway general manager. “We have been blessed with huge crowds for everything we run here. As a result, all of these series want to be on our schedule.’’

That’s an indisputable fact.

TMS hosts the second-largest crowd for Winston Cup, the largest for Busch, the second- and third-largest for the truck series and the second- and third-largest for the Indy Racing League.

Tracks are being built seemingly every year to host new Winston Cup races, which is a major reason why TMS has been unable to lure a second event.

The Texas 600K will be held May 6 and will be televised by ABC. CART is expected to announce its complete 2001 schedule later this week.

Sprint cars return

IMCA sprint cars will be featured this week at Abilene Speedway in addition to the regular schedule of IMCA-sanctioned modifieds, super stocks, street stocks, mini modifieds and pure stocks.

Also on tap is the kids bicycle race sponsored by Max’s Cycle. Kids will be divided by age groups and race down the front straightaway or around the track. Winners will receive trophies and all participants will earn medals.

Helmets are required for all bike racers.

Gates open at 6 p.m. and racing starts at 8 p.m. General admission is $8 for adults and $3 for kids 6-12 while those ages 5 and under are admitted free.

More information is available at (915) 692-8800 or (915) 698-4029.

More racing

Mesquite Hills Motocross Park will have go-cart and lawn mower races beginning at 2 p.m. Sunday.

Admission is $2 for adults 16 and over. More information is available at (915) 691-9036.

Contact assistant sports editor Ted Dunnam at dunnamt@abinews.com or at 676-6771. We are on the Web at sports.texnews.com.