Ryan Blaney celebrates after winning the 2022 NASCAR All Star race at Texas Motor Speedway in May. NASCAR announced its 2023 schedule this week and will race at TMS once next season.
Bob Booth
The loss of racing baron Bruton Smith had a dramatic impact on Texas Motor Speedway and Fort Worth.
Smith, who died in June of this year at age 95, brought NASCAR to Fort Worth and built TMS, which opened in 1996.
Had Smith been alive and active, it is doubtful that NASCAR would have announced its 2023 schedule that includes only one race at Texas Motor Speedway.
If Eddie Gossage had still been the CEO of TMS, it’s equally doubtful that NASCAR would have.
It’s the first time NASCAR will come to TMS once a year since 2004.
The The 2023 NASCAR date at TMS will be a September 24th Cup playoff race.
TMS officials said they are confident NASCAR will return to Texas Motor Speedway for two races in 2024.
The loss of a NASCAR date is a small hit to Fort Worth’s tourism economy, but it’s consistent with the path TMS is desperately trying to reverse.
In this age of sports, we can be a one-run market.
Why Texas Motor Speedway lost a second NASCAR race
The announcement of NASCAR’s schedule could be indicative of the now fluid nature of NASCAR, which is trying all different tracks, bouncing houses to concerts to attract fans and spectators.
The announcement could be indicative of changes at TMS, both in management, the track itself, and attendance trends.
Or, the announcement could be indicative of NASCAR’s upcoming 75th anniversary and the organization’s desire to hold a race in North Carolina.
The NASCAR Cup Series All Star race was at TMS in 2021 and 2022.
The act will be executed 2023 at North Wilksboro Speedway in North Carolina.
The last NASCAR race at this track was in 1996; the facility had been idle for years after NASCAR moved away from smaller tracks to super speedways such as Las Vegas, Texas, etc.
North Wilksboro Speedway is owned by Speedway Motorsports, Inc., which also owns TMS.
NASCAR drivers, notably the retired Dale Earnhardt Jr., and a host of influential NASCAR enthusiasts have longed for the sport to return to tracks like North Wilksboro.
These are the tracks that NASCAR wanted out of, to make more money at the bigger speedways that were being built across the country.
Now, most of these tracks are too big.
The first NASCAR races at TMS, which began in 1997, drew more than 150,000 people. The infield was packed and the party scene before nightfall was legendary.
As a result of the interest and sales, Gossage repeatedly lobbied NASCAR for a second race.
NASCAR fan Francis Ferko famously sued both NASCAR and International Speedway Corp., which owned TMS, so the second race would be held in Fort Worth.
The parties settled the lawsuit in 2004, and starting in 2005, NASCAR came to Texas twice a season.
Over the past 10 years, however, attendance at NASCAR events has slowly declined at TMS and across the United States.
TMS officials have removed large sections of the grandstands, a trend at larger speedways around the country.
New TMS vice president and general manager Mark Faber said this week that the stands currently hold about 46,000, with more available in the infield.
To keep fans interested, TMS installed “Big Hoss TV” in 2013, along the back.
It has also invested in other fan amenities, including a giant “Belly up Bar” and three new outdoor bars.
Sources said one of the reasons NASCAR is moving its All-Star race out of TMS was poor attendance at the last two events and the poor image it created for television broadcasts.
A crowd of roughly 60,000 seems sparse at TMS.
When the All-Star Race takes place in North Wilksboro, which has a capacity of 40,000, it will be packed and it will look packed.
Another potential reason to move the race is the unofficial results of the TMS track reconfiguration done in 2017.
The results led to more runs in a single groove. The initial response and results to NASCAR’s “Next Gen” cars running at TMS earlier this season during the All-Star Race were less than stellar.
TMS officials are hopeful that the NASCAR Cup Series playoff race scheduled for Sept. 25 will produce the kind of racing, and specifically passing, that fans want to see.
If the race is another follow-the-leader parade race, don’t be surprised if TMS re-sets the track.
Effect of TMS change on leadership
The other change at TMS that had an inevitable effect was the change in leadership.
In the last years before he died, Bruton Smith was understandably no longer involved in the operations of his company.
Now it is more operated by Speedway Motorsports Inc. CEO Marcus Smith.
The departure of Gossage, who retired after the 2021 season, was going to affect TMS. Gossage was an old-school NASCAR promoter and salesman.
Gossage was initially replaced as track general manager by Rob Ramage, who had been with the company since 2013. His background was primarily in finance and general counsel rather than promotion.
Two weeks ago, TMS introduced Faber as executive vice president and general manager. Faber has a long resume working in sports brands and sports promotions.
It is clear that his task is to try to return TMS to its position with NASCAR and at least Indy Car.
“The whole world of sports and entertainment is going through ‘Descouching’ – how do we get you out of your family room or media room and into the venue?” Faber said this week. “I don’t think interest in NASCAR is waning, but what we’ve found is that in markets like this, there’s a lot of competition for people’s time.”
Crowds for Indy Car races at TMS have slowly declined over the years, which is consistent for this series other than the Indianapolis 500. The crowd for the Indy Car race at TMS in 2021 looked to be no more than 20,000 people.
There had been talk for years that Indy Car no longer wanted to race at TMS.
He simply speaks. TMS officials said it has reached a multi-year deal with Indy Car to stay on the schedule, starting in 2023.
The job now is to entice NASCAR to run TMS twice again, or accept the reality that we are now only a one-race market.
Mac Engel is an award-winning columnist with extensive experience in sports in the Fort Worth-Dallas area for 20 years. He has also covered high schools, universities, all four major sports teams, as well as the Olympics and the world of entertainment. It combines dry wit with first-person reporting to complement a hair that is almost unfair.
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