Texas Motor Speedway Undergoing Renovations

Texas Motor Speedway has a love-hate relationship when it comes to weather, particularly with rain. Last year, not only did it rain for both of their main NASCAR events, but it rained for the Verizon IndyCar series event to the point where it had to be postponed from its June 11th event to August 27th, as they had never completed half the race and therefore could not declare a race winner.

Texas Motor Speedway after light rain during the Duck Commander 500.

Well, come race time this year, we can say goodbye to the problems the track had when it came to puddles from the rain on the track surface that could not be dried in a reasonable timeframe. On Monday, renovations were underway at Texas Motor Speedway.

First off, they are removing the old defective drainage system and adopting the French drainage system.  They are also repaving the track surface and reconfiguring the first two corners.

For the French drainage system to work, they will have to dig trenches in numerous places on both the frontstrech and backstretch of the track to provide multiple exit points for the water to drain from track surface.  A drainage mat is also going to be installed that will tie into a continuous toe drain to further aid in track drying.  This system should aid the jet dryers if there is slight delay due to rain so they can get the track dried much faster.

Lane Construction Corporation will be handling the repave of TMS.  To keep the “aged” look, the track has hired the corporation that is going to use the same construction method with the new asphalt mix.  When asked, track president Eddie Gossage remarked, “The old pavement no longer dried as quickly because, through the years of use and weather, the asphalt became porous, kind of like a sponge.  Even if we only had a brief shower, it was taking us far too long to get the track dried in order to get on to the racing.”

The start/finish line at Texas Motor Speedway.

In terms of reconfiguration, turns three and four are going to remain at 24-degree banking with 60 feet of track for the drivers to work with.  However, turns one and two are getting a complete makeover by decreasing to 20-degrees of banking and 20 feet of extra track surface for the drivers to play with.

Essentially, those turns are going to be somewhat flatter in the hopes of decreasing corner speeds along with adding possibilities for passing opportunities to be made by the drivers in both series.

All in all, these renovations are for the fans and to keep them coming back year after year without worrying if the race is going to be postponed a day or even a week away.  This will also be good on the business side as they will no longer have to refund tickets by giving you tickets to a later event in another series.

Mandy Winslow

Birthday: May 3rd, 1992 (24)
Hometown: Montgomery, IL

I am Mandy and I am a huge indycar fan with interest in F1 as well. If it is open wheeled chances are I am a fan. My first race every was and Indy 500 back in my freshman year of high school. I was a band kid and we got to go to march the race. Needless to say, I caught the racing bug and have been watching ever since. I enjoy tracks I can camp at as I enjoy hanging out with other fans and waking up trackside.