As they say, everything is bigger in Texas and the same is true with NASCAR track Texas Motor Speedway. When the idea for the track came about, it came with a fair share of controversy.

Bruton Smith announced his plans to build a facility in Texas back in 1994, the site, located between Fort Worth and Denton, Tx., was announced the following year.

During the construction, Smith’s Speedway Motorsports, Inc. decided on Texas Motor Speedway for the track’s name, the customary name of the company’s facilities which includes Lowe’s Motor Speedway, Bristol Motor Speedway and more.

Unfortunately, a tiny quarter-mile dirt track in Alvin, Tx. had already filed for that name. A settlement later that year, between the two facilities, granted the name to the 1.5-mile track which had been temporarily named Texas International Raceway. The smaller dirt track took the name Texas Thunder Speedway.

It was the first of multiple concessions made for the new facility. 

In order to get a date on the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series schedule, a date had to be taken away from another track. North Wilkesboro Speedway in North Carolina was closed in the fall of 1996 and one of its Cup dates was given to the new Texas track.

Kenny Irwin, Mark Martin and Jeff Burton won the inaugural NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, Nationwide Series and Sprint Cup Series events, respectively, at Texas Motor Speedway in 1997.

Over the years, several improvements were made at the track and new racing series were added to the schedule including IndyCar, CART, IROC plus the track became an official dealer of Legends cars and Bandoleros.

In early 2002, Francis Ferko, a shareholder in the track, filed suit against NASCAR and International Speedway Corporation (ISC) citing that they violated antitrust laws which prevented Texas Motor Speedway from getting a second date on the NASCAR schedule.

The case was settled in 2004 when ISC sold North Carolina Speedway (now Rockingham Speedway) to Speedway Motorsports, Inc. which in turn took that track’s NASCAR date and gave it to Texas, which became the Dickies 500.

Despite the controversies, Texas Motor Speedway has proven to be a great facility which hosts extraordinary racing events. The NASCAR drivers enjoy the track because of its speed and challenging layout.

Everything is bigger in Texas, and NASCAR certainly is.

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