Texas World Speedway
TWS
LocationCollege Station, Texas, United States
Coordinates30°32′13″N 96°13′16″W / 30.537°N 96.221°W / 30.537; -96.221
Broke ground1967
OpenedNovember 1969
Closed18 September 2017 (2017-09-18)
Major eventsFormer:
IMSA GT Championship (1972, 1995–1996)
NASCAR Cup Series
Texas 500 (1969, 1971–1972)
Budweiser NASCAR 400 (1972–1973, 1979–1981)
AMA Superbike Championship (1991–1992)
SCCA Escort World Challenge (1991)
Can-Am (1969)
Oval
SurfaceAsphalt
Length2 miles (3.2 km)
Turns4
Race lap record39.581 (181.910 mph (292.756 km/h))[1] (United States Gary Bettenhausen, McLaren M16B, 1973, USAC IndyCar)
Long Road Course
Length2.9 miles (4.67 km)
Turns15
Race lap record1:33.900[2] (New Zealand Denny Hulme, McLaren M8B, 1969, Can-Am)

Texas World Speedway (TWS) was a motorsport venue located in College Station, Texas. The track was one of only eight superspeedways of two miles (3.2 km) or greater in the United States used for racing, the others being Indianapolis, Daytona, Pocono, Talladega, Ontario (California), Auto Club, and Michigan (there are several tracks of similar size used for vehicle testing). The track was located on approximately 600 acres (2.4 km²) on State Highway 6 in College Station, Texas. There was a 2-mile (3 km) oval, and several road course configurations. The full oval configuration was closely related to that of Michigan and was often considered the latter's sister track, featuring steeper banking, at 22 degrees in the turns, 12 degrees at the start/finish line, and only 2 degrees along the backstretch,[3] compared to Michigan's respective 18, 12, and 5 degrees. The last major race occurred at the track in 1981. The track was used by amateur racing clubs such as the SCCA, NASA, Porsche Club of America, World Racing League, Corinthian Vintage Auto Racing, CMRA, various performance driving schools (HPDE) and car clubs, as well as hosting music concerts and other events. The speedway was also a race track location for the video game, Need for Speed: Pro Street.

History

Originally opened as Texas International Speedway, TWS was an almost exact copy of Michigan International Speedway[4] and was part of Larry LoPatin's American Raceways Inc. and operated a part of Riverside International Raceway, Trenton Speedway, and Atlanta International Raceway and in 1971 ARI went bankrupt.[5]

Texas World Speedway was the site of the 1974 Willie Nelson's Fourth of July Picnic with Willie Nelson and his guests Jimmy Buffett, Townes Van Zandt, and Kinky Friedman performing as well. It was also known for a fire that destroyed several cars including one owned by Robert Earl Keen. The cover of Keen' album, Picnic, shows a picture of his car on fire at the picnic.

During the 1980s the track fell into a state of disrepair, and both NASCAR and the Indy cars chose to drop it from their respective schedules. It continued to operate in a limited role for amateur racing. In 1991 Ishin Speed Sport, Inc. purchased the facility and repaved and modestly refurbished it. It hosted races for ARCA, but after 1993 the company withdrew. The facility did serve as a venue for amateur and club racing, along with private testing. NASCAR teams have used the oval for testing (as it mimics Michigan and Fontana), as a way of skirting the tight restrictions prohibiting testing on active tracks on the schedule.

On February 23, 1993, Jeff Andretti set the (then) unofficial closed-course speed record for IndyCars of 234.5 mph (377.4 km/h), the fastest speed ever recorded at Texas World Speedway, while testing for the 1993 Indianapolis 500.[6] This marked his first time back in an IndyCar since the 1992 Indianapolis 500 when he lost a wheel and crashed head-on into the wall, smashing both his legs. Andretti's fast run came at the conclusion of two days of testing where he consistently posted laps in the 230 mph range. Andretti's Buick-powered Lola was prepared by Pagan Racing of Corpus Christi, Texas.

During a January 2009 test, Greg Biffle managed to reach a top speed of 218 mph (351 km/h) in a test for Roush Fenway Racing as part of evading NASCAR's testing ban. This became the fastest speed ever achieved on this track by a stock car (amateur or professional). The average speed for the full lap was 195 mph (314 km/h).[7]

From 2012 to its closure in 2017 Texas World Speedway experienced a resurgence in use spurred by the growing popularity of road racing and the Speedway's 15-turn, 2.9-mile road course which was very popular with drivers worldwide, who recognized the fast, wide and rythmic road course as a "racer's track". During this period the track was completely booked with racing events, HPDE programs including the Speedway's popular Performance Driving School, professional team tests, motorcycle schools, "street drags" and non-racing events. During this time the track hosted its first 24-hour racing event by entry-level racing series ChumpCar World Series and later by the semi-professional racing series World Racing League.

On September 18, 2017 a Jalopnik article confirmed the closure of Texas World Speedway, which was being used as a dumping ground for vehicles flooded out by Hurricane Harvey.[8]

The entire 600-acre facility was being leased to Copart as a catastrophe storage facility for vehicles damaged by Hurricane Harvey. The vehicles were to be stored while the numerous contracted insurance providers processed the vehicles for disposition via auction, where the mass majority would be sold with a certificate of destruction title, i.e. parts only from dismantling companies.

As of July 19, 2018, developers broke ground to begin construction of the Southern Pointe master-planned community.[9] Southern Pointe is going to be 550 acres with 73 acres of green space and water retention systems. They expect 1400 single-family home lots. The old TWS frontage road billboard was covered with a Southern Pointe banner at the beginning of December 2018.

Video footage of the speedway site taken by drone in February 2019 shows much of the asphalt banking in turns 1 and 2 has been removed, as well as a portion of turn 4.[10] Over the course of February 27 and 28, 2020 the press box above the grandstands was demolished.[11]

Lap records

The all-time unofficial track record set during a race weekend on the 2-mile Oval is 33.620 seconds, set by Mario Andretti in a Parnelli VPJ2, during qualifying for the 1973 Texas 200.[12][13] The unofficial fastest lap for stock cars around the 2-mile Oval is 38.904 seconds, set by Page Jones in a Ford Thunderbird, during qualifying for the 1993 Western Auto Texas World Shootout II.[14][15] The fastest official race lap records at Texas World Speedway are listed as:

CategoryTimeDriverVehicleDate
Oval: 3.219 km (1968–2017)
USAC IndyCar39.581Gary BettenhausenMcLaren M16B1973 Texas 200
Stock car racing45.270[16]Cale YarboroughChevrolet Monte Carlo1980 NASCAR 400
Long Road Course: 4.67 km (1968–2017)
Can-Am1:33.900Denny HulmeMcLaren M8B1969 Texas International Grand Prix
CMRA1:41.415[17]Ty HowardKTM RC82010 Texas CMRA round
Short Road Course: 3.090 km (1968–2017)[18]
WSC55.948[19]Max PapisFerrari 333 SP1996 Exxon Superflo 500 at Texas
GTS-159.638[20]Irv HoerrOldsmobile Cutlass Supreme1995 Seitel Texas World Grand Prix
GTS-21:03.964[20]Joe VardePorsche 964 Carrera RSR1995 Seitel Texas World Grand Prix
Infield Road Course: 3.219 km (1968–2017)[21]
GTU1:20.450[22]Peter GreggPorsche 911 S1972 Alamo 200

Race history

USAC winners

Season Race Name Winning Driver Chassis Engine Tires Team
1973 Texas 200 Al Unser Parnelli Offenhauser Firestone Vel's Parnelli Jones Racing
1976 Texas 150 A. J. Foyt Coyote Foyt Goodyear Gilmore Racing
Benihana World Series of Auto Racing Johnny Rutherford McLaren Offenhauser Goodyear Team McLaren
1977 Texas Grand Prix Tom Sneva McLaren Cosworth Goodyear Team Penske
American Parts 200 Johnny Rutherford McLaren Cosworth Goodyear Team McLaren
1978 Coors 200 Danny Ongais Parnelli Cosworth Goodyear Interscope Racing
Texas Grand Prix A. J. Foyt Coyote Foyt Goodyear Gilmore Racing
1979 Coors 200 A. J. Foyt Coyote Foyt Goodyear Gilmore Racing
Lubrilon Grand Prix A. J. Foyt Parnelli Cosworth Goodyear Gilmore Racing
1980 Texas 200 Race cancelled

NASCAR race winners

Season Winning Driver Manufacturer
1969 Texas 500 Bobby Isaac Dodge
1971 Texas 500 Richard Petty Plymouth
1972 Lone Star 500 Richard Petty Dodge
1972 Texas 500 Buddy Baker Dodge
1973 Alamo 500 Richard Petty Dodge
1979 Texas 400 Darrell Waltrip Chevrolet
1980 NASCAR 400 Cale Yarborough Chevrolet
1981 Budweiser NASCAR 400 Benny Parsons Ford
  • Bobby Isaac's 1969 win was his first in a long-distance superspeedway race.
  • Richard Petty's 1972 win was his first in a Dodge. His 1971 win was the only time he won the season finale in his illustrious career which saw 200 wins (most of all-time) and 7 Championships (tied for most all-time with Dale Earnhardt and Jimmie Johnson).
  • The 1979 400 was NASCAR's first race at Texas after it shut down for the 1974-5 seasons; USAC stock cars and Indycars returned to Texas in 1976.

USAC Stock Cars

SCCA Can-Am winners

Season Winning Driver Chassis Engine
1969 New Zealand Bruce McLaren McLaren M8B Chevrolet

IMSA winners

Season Winning Driver Car
1972 Mexico Juan Izquierdo
Mexico Daniel Muñiz		 Ford Mustang
1995 South Africa Wayne Taylor Ferrari 333SP
1996 South Africa Wayne Taylor
United States Jim Pace		 Riley & Scott Mk III-Oldsmobile

References

  1. ↑ "1973 TEXAS 200". Retrieved 29 May 2022.
  2. ↑ "Can-Am Texas 1969". Retrieved 29 May 2022.
  3. ↑ "1978 USAC Texas Grand Prix telecast". YouTube. Archived from the original on 2021-12-13.
  4. ↑ "Texas World Speedway: Lonely Star". Lost Speedways. Season 2. Episode 5. 1 July 2021. Peacock.
  5. ↑ "Racing in the Rain: The Undoing of LoPatin's Raceway Dreams". 3 June 2015.
  6. ↑ "Jeff Andretti sets unofficial mark". Lodi News-Sentinel. February 24, 1993. p. 17.
  7. ↑ Rodman, Dave (January 22, 2009). "Notebook: Biffle hits 218 mph in test at Texas World". NASCAR. Archived from the original on 2009-03-13. Retrieved 3 December 2010.
  8. ↑ King, Alanis (September 18, 2017). "Thousands Of Flooded Hurricane Cars Finally Killed Texas World Speedway". Jalopnik. Archived from the original on 2017-09-18.
  9. ↑ Falls, Clay (July 19, 2018). "New Southern Pointe Community taking shape near College Station". KBTX. Retrieved 2019-01-08.
  10. ↑ Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine: "TWS, Texas World Speedway 2019 Drone Video 1 of 2". YouTube.
  11. ↑ Falls, Clay (February 28, 2020). "Texas World Speedway press box demolished as Southern Pointe grows". KBTX.
  12. ↑ "1973 Texas Indycars". Retrieved 29 May 2022.
  13. ↑ "Texas World Speedway 2016". 7 May 2022. Retrieved 29 May 2022.
  14. ↑ "1993 WESTERN AUTO TEXAS SHOOTOUT II". Retrieved 30 May 2022.
  15. ↑ "1993 WESTERN AUTO TEXAS WORLD SHOOTOUT II". Retrieved 30 May 2022.
  16. ↑ "1980 NASCAR 400". Retrieved 29 May 2022.
  17. ↑ "Ty Howard Sets New CMRA Lap Record At Texas World Speedway". 13 April 2010. Retrieved 29 May 2022.
  18. ↑ "Texas World Speedway". Retrieved 29 May 2022.
  19. ↑ "Texas 500 Miles 1996". Retrieved 29 May 2022.
  20. 1 2 "3 h Texas World 1995". Retrieved 29 May 2022.
  21. ↑ "Texas World Speedway". Retrieved 29 May 2022.
  22. ↑ "200 mile Texas 1972". Retrieved 29 May 2022.
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