Michael Gentry I loved that Track, I was at this race on the infield near turn 3... but I use to go to see every type of racing from GP motorcycle races to Indy car.. and when they reconstructed the track it was awesome for awhile then they started having problems with the surface of the track and no funding, nothing but AMA and Amateur sportsman races ran there after mid-90's...
I was spotter for the 77. Had problems in qualifying, had to take a provisional. Hit something on the track, blew the LR. Wrecked going into one. The first time the yellow came out for us, the car just shut off, continuation of earlier problems. Actually had the car fixed for the next speedway race. All of us worked real jobs, and only about four could be there every night to work on it.
Steve Peterson worked for NASCAR. I guess since this wasn't a Cup or Busch race, he could be with a crew. He ended up pretty high on the NASCAR food chain. I became friends with now a long passed on Cup official. I used to always ask him about things that would get his dander up on purpose. He always said, first thing, "Oh, that some of Peterson's s***."
This track is really cool, too bad about it being essentially abandoned and recently torn down. Many other tracks suffered the same fate because of their location(Nazareth, Chicago Motor, North Wilkesboro). RIP to all.
It's a pity to know that an awesome racing track like Texas World Speedway doesn't realize races anymore. It would has been incredible to watch IndyCar Series and NASCAR racing in it again.
Too bad this track looks like a death ring with concrete walls all around and inside, cool to see the old short track car passing Earnhardt. A time when engineering out done money.
@@dirtdevil2394 MIS was a killer as it killed Clifford Allison and nearly killed Ernie Iran twice. So the description of this track as one would be appropriate
@@Eibarwoman Michigan and Texas World and later Fontana where kind of the open wheel answer to Daytona and Talladega as they like Pocono where built for IndyCars.
Thank you for posting this all in one video! This should be kept forever on YT as a time capsule of the good ol' days of auto racing; first ever televised stock car race at Texas World Speedway, Bob, BP, and Ned in the booth, Page Jones on the pole (Parnelli's son & PJ's brother; he would be in a sprint car accident a year or so later that almost claimed his life and ended his racing career), Dale, Sr., DW, and Kenny Schrader in the race as Cup Ringers (and all 3 finishing in the Top 4, no less!), and finally, a combined auto racing series race, something that we don't see anymore in auto racing, or, at least in stock cars.
Awesome track really. With its higher degree of banking (22° in the turns, 12 on the tri-oval and 2 on the back straight) it was faster than both Michigan (18°, 12 and 5) and California (14°, 11 and 3). Such a shame that it saw relatively little NASCAR, Champ and Indy Car racing.
Some great Texas racers in the field. Greg Davidson (still racing today) Johnny Walker (still racing today) HB Bailey (passed a few years ago but his son Joe Dan Bailey was part of the flying aces pit crew for Dale Earnhardt and today is one of the top guys for a Camping World Truck series team).
It's definitely not demolished and should never be! I was there a few hours ago and there still running the road course inside of it for different series. It's a crazy layout in person.
@@bighunterman77 A planned subdivision. I live ~10 min from it and have visited the abandoned site several times... sadly it's mostly demolished or delapitated at this point. Bats all over the tunnels, coyotes and hogs occupying the garages, thick brush all over, flooded roads/bits of track. A sad sight to be sure.
Herschel raced in the first NASCAR race outside of North America in Australia in 1988 at the age of 60. Local television commentator Mike Raymond called him the "Medicare Master". He was one of only 5 drivers on the day to lead the 280 lap race. The others were winner Neil Bonnett, 2nd placed Bobby Allison, 3rd placed Dave Marcis and another Winston West driver in this race, Ron Esau. McGriff qualified 8th in a Monte Carlo and finished 5 laps down in 6th place.
It sucks to see Texas World Speedway is torn down and wont have anymore races. This new car would've put on a great show at that track and showed some phenomenal racing. Track was built way before its time and in an area without the infrastructure to accommodate it
In 2009 while testing at Texas World for Roush Fenway, Greg Biffle turned a lap at 195 mph (314 km/h) with a top speed of 218 mph (351 km/h) in a Ford Fusion. It was the fastest ever recorded NASCAR lap at the speedway. No restrictor plates on 2 mile tracks remember. As a comparison, the fastest pole speed at California in 2009 was 183.87 mph (295.91 km/h) set by Denny Hamlin in a Toyota Camry. The fastest pole speed at Michigan was 189.11 mph (304.34 km/h) set by Brian Vickers in a Camry. Shows just how fast Texas World Speedway was.
And considering that the record at Michigan is now 206 mph (Jeff Gordon in 2014), its probably safe to say that if Texas World still existed and was still on the Cup Series calendar that its fastest lap could well be up to what we saw Bill Elliott do at Daytona or even Talladega in 1987. That track was seriously fast for a 2 mile track.
Holden308 you also forgot to mention Micheal Andretti turned a lap of 234 in a indycar once in the early 90s which is equivalent to the current record in Michigan of 234 which happens 7 years later
Too bad this track is gone. Wish texas motor speedway closed and this one and Riverside was still around. Too bad i wasn't born when they raced at Texas World Speedway but i was around for Riverside. R.I.P to both tracks
I guess it was going to be during to do a subdivision there's nothing nobody can do at least they should keep the sign for memorabilia keep it up where it's located that'd be pretty cool
Well if they still use the road course I would think that It would only be a matter of time before they race on the oval again especially when you consider that TMS is not bringing in as many people as it used too....
The oval is never going to be used again as the baking is no longer there, on top of that the largest attended race this track had was off 20k (cup race) people which is 2-3 times less than TMS today,the thing about tms as someone who goes there every year is that the place holds 100k+ but only gets around 40 to 60 thousand which is better than most races today
Well it is now no longer there thanks to them selling to a developer, it's only partially there or was! I was there for a couple of races it was an awesome track.
I found this race poking around the videos on Smiff's channel and was interested, so did some cursory google searches on the ol speedway. APpears to be a giant storage lot for the insurance companies for all the cars that were "totaled" after hurricane Harvey. Pretty sad to see on google earth.
That was only for a few months after Harvey, it's mostly cleared out now and most of the buildings are demolished or seriously dilapidated. Still found some modified 90s Miatas in the garages (didn't touch a thing, don't worry) that were obviously for the track but that and the stands are just about all that's left there now.
@@trentspears9118 I was checking google earth the other day, it looks like some of the speedway has been demolished as the property is prepared for development. Turn 4 is completely gone now.
@@marlafar I'll probably visit again in a few days just to reminisce... last time I was there the track was partially disassembled and the press box was gone, as well as most of the center buildings and about half of the garages/storage units.
Basically these cars back in the day were old cup cars that the teams bought from cup teams. They were 2 to 3 years old. So Earnhardt probably had an old car that sitting on the side that he would pull out and race an occasional ARCA race with
because bruton smith spent sever hundred million bucks building a track about 200 or so miles to the northeast of this one, hell, tms was prolly under construction while this race was going on
Gladiador Baiano nobody showed up to any of the nascar or indycar races when the track was open and the price purse was really small so it would be a risk to bring back the racetrack
I love when people talk about how great the racing was in this or "back in the day"... DW won by A LAP, 6th place was 2 laps down. Yeah, I'll take today's racing any day of the week.
Passing and racing are two different things. Besides if not for stages , lucky dog and all the other modern gimmicks Kyle Busch and Harvick would be putting laps on the field.
What a wate this track is so much beter than that track they built In ft worth.brutin smith should have bought this track an renovated it leaving the track an surface alone this track is so much more awsome than Texas motor speed way an jus look outside back stretch at all that land for parking and camping..
Brian Booher well bringing this track back would have been a major risk as the nascar and indycar races that ran here were only able to attract less than 20k spectators which is really small for a track this size meanwhile Tms would have been less of a risk as around the time of construction many of these 1.5 were attracting more than five times the people
@@bat-man502 the thing is the racing they had wasnt cup level racing .but your probly right an is the reason it never had a cup race to start with it jus sucks that they built a cookie cutter track an have it a cup date
I no its a litle late an also tim jus pased away .He crashed while testing bud Moores ford cup car at Atlanta right after it was reconfigured I belive he blew a tire an hit walll headon
Larry LoPatin who built Michigan had a plan of building several tracks just like Michigan in the late '60's. He built Texas and Michigan and was planning one in New Jersey when he went bankrupt.
R.I.P. Texas World Speedway
Michael Gentry I loved that Track, I was at this race on the infield near turn 3... but I use to go to see every type of racing from GP motorcycle races to Indy car.. and when they reconstructed the track it was awesome for awhile then they started having problems with the surface of the track and no funding, nothing but AMA and Amateur sportsman races ran there after mid-90's...
Unless you play need for speed pro street
I was spotter for the 77. Had problems in qualifying, had to take a provisional. Hit something on the track, blew the LR. Wrecked going into one. The first time the yellow came out for us, the car just shut off, continuation of earlier problems. Actually had the car fixed for the next speedway race. All of us worked real jobs, and only about four could be there every night to work on it.
Steve Peterson worked for NASCAR. I guess since this wasn't a Cup or Busch race, he could be with a crew. He ended up pretty high on the NASCAR food chain. I became friends with now a long passed on Cup official. I used to always ask him about things that would get his dander up on purpose. He always said, first thing, "Oh, that some of Peterson's s***."
This track is really cool, too bad about it being essentially abandoned and recently torn down. Many other tracks suffered the same fate because of their location(Nazareth, Chicago Motor, North Wilkesboro). RIP to all.
the track surface is still there, for now anyway
@@bighunterman77 just got tore down
It had purpose but NASCAR now a days don't care about tracks like TWS
We need someone to save NASCAR. You know what I'm saying?
The good news is that North Wilkesboro is back. And Rockingham's comeback is in progress. But I certainly miss Nazareth and the others
It's a pity to know that an awesome racing track like Texas World Speedway doesn't realize races anymore.
It would has been incredible to watch IndyCar Series and NASCAR racing in it again.
Once upon a time an incredible superspeedway called Texas World Speedway, it never will be forgotten.
California race yesterday was a snorefest. This track is awesome a mix between talladega and michigan.
Ironic, this track and Michigan were built around the same time with the same plans. California is also the same with 2° less banking.
Too bad this track looks like a death ring with concrete walls all around and inside, cool to see the old short track car passing Earnhardt. A time when engineering out done money.
@@dirtdevil2394 MIS was a killer as it killed Clifford Allison and nearly killed Ernie Iran twice. So the description of this track as one would be appropriate
@@Eibarwoman Michigan and Texas World and later Fontana where kind of the open wheel answer to Daytona and Talladega as they like Pocono where built for IndyCars.
@MetalMastodon Do they. Oh, shit. There is a "Killer Racetrack" right behind me, is not there. Good grief.
Thank you for posting this all in one video! This should be kept forever on YT as a time capsule of the good ol' days of auto racing; first ever televised stock car race at Texas World Speedway, Bob, BP, and Ned in the booth, Page Jones on the pole (Parnelli's son & PJ's brother; he would be in a sprint car accident a year or so later that almost claimed his life and ended his racing career), Dale, Sr., DW, and Kenny Schrader in the race as Cup Ringers (and all 3 finishing in the Top 4, no less!), and finally, a combined auto racing series race, something that we don't see anymore in auto racing, or, at least in stock cars.
Randall Dubin The east and west series still run a combo race at Iowa every year.
Both are NASCAR sanctioned series. This race was ARCA VS: NASCAR West ( and 3 cup series guys)
Awesome track really. With its higher degree of banking (22° in the turns, 12 on the tri-oval and 2 on the back straight) it was faster than both Michigan (18°, 12 and 5) and California (14°, 11 and 3). Such a shame that it saw relatively little NASCAR, Champ and Indy Car racing.
Wish TWS could have been saved, incredible oval with an amazing road course to boot!
It would have if they raced both in Texas motor speedway and Texas world Speedway
Some great Texas racers in the field.
Greg Davidson (still racing today) Johnny Walker (still racing today) HB Bailey (passed a few years ago but his son Joe Dan Bailey was part of the flying aces pit crew for Dale Earnhardt and today is one of the top guys for a Camping World Truck series team).
1:20 Page Jones. Remember when I was a kid in the 90s he was a rising star before his accident. What could have been.
It's definitely not demolished and should never be! I was there a few hours ago and there still running the road course inside of it for different series. It's a crazy layout in person.
Yeah bro looks like an amazing track and it's so wide could almost go 5 wide probably 6
Unfortunately they are demolishing it, press box came down today
@@joshuasweeney7864 it's in the middle of nowhere on highway 6...what they planning on putting there?
bighunterman77 not sure, didnt look into it probably just getting it out of the way for aesthetics
@@bighunterman77 A planned subdivision. I live ~10 min from it and have visited the abandoned site several times... sadly it's mostly demolished or delapitated at this point. Bats all over the tunnels, coyotes and hogs occupying the garages, thick brush all over, flooded roads/bits of track. A sad sight to be sure.
I saw new homes where turns 1 & 2 used to be....I was sad and needed some TWS good times. Thanks.
1:14:54 = That top 5: Nothin but legendary greatness there...
pour one out for Texas World Speedway
I was at this race with my dad. Thankfully he had a four wheel drive truck and didn't get stuck in the mud like many people did...lol
what an event, ,I've always wanted to see Herschel McGriff race, finally got to see DW at Texas World Speedway, what an event!!!
Believe it or not Herschel "retired" the first time in 1956. . .
DDS029 see, I keep learning more all the time, my family bought race cars from him, we also raced
DDS029 we were buying asphalt race cars from him in 1975
Herschel raced in the first NASCAR race outside of North America in Australia in 1988 at the age of 60. Local television commentator Mike Raymond called him the "Medicare Master". He was one of only 5 drivers on the day to lead the 280 lap race. The others were winner Neil Bonnett, 2nd placed Bobby Allison, 3rd placed Dave Marcis and another Winston West driver in this race, Ron Esau. McGriff qualified 8th in a Monte Carlo and finished 5 laps down in 6th place.
It sucks to see Texas World Speedway is torn down and wont have anymore races. This new car would've put on a great show at that track and showed some phenomenal racing. Track was built way before its time and in an area without the infrastructure to accommodate it
Esse era um belíssimo speedway, uma pena que não existe mais
In 2009 while testing at Texas World for Roush Fenway, Greg Biffle turned a lap at 195 mph (314 km/h) with a top speed of 218 mph (351 km/h) in a Ford Fusion. It was the fastest ever recorded NASCAR lap at the speedway.
No restrictor plates on 2 mile tracks remember.
As a comparison, the fastest pole speed at California in 2009 was 183.87 mph (295.91 km/h) set by Denny Hamlin in a Toyota Camry. The fastest pole speed at Michigan was 189.11 mph (304.34 km/h) set by Brian Vickers in a Camry.
Shows just how fast Texas World Speedway was.
And considering that the record at Michigan is now 206 mph (Jeff Gordon in 2014), its probably safe to say that if Texas World still existed and was still on the Cup Series calendar that its fastest lap could well be up to what we saw Bill Elliott do at Daytona or even Talladega in 1987.
That track was seriously fast for a 2 mile track.
Holden308 you also forgot to mention Micheal Andretti turned a lap of 234 in a indycar once in the early 90s which is equivalent to the current record in Michigan of 234 which happens 7 years later
Brian Vickers got a lap at Atlanta over 196mph. That was after it was repaved.
5:00 in Row 12, Brad Keselowski's dad
Brad and Brian's dad.
He’s dead
They honestly could of made it into another superspeedway but it’s good how it was.
It's a shame that they are tearing down this beautiful track.
Hershel Mcriff = 90 years young and still racing... as of 2018...
Still racing 2022😂
Man wont retire
probably going to “THE PEARLY GATES OUT ON THE RACE TRACK; THEN”?
Do you have the June 1993 ARCA 150 at Pocono?
Did TNN or ESPN televise the ARCA race that DW won in 1992 at Topeka, KS?
If they did FIND IT and UPLOAD IT!! please... THANK YOU!!
Darrell's last win even though it was not in Cup.
Pervis was one hell of a dirt late model racer
If NASCAR still race both in Texas world Speedway and Texas motor speedway they would’ve made a southern pointe subdivision in Dallas
Too bad this track is gone. Wish texas motor speedway closed and this one and Riverside was still around. Too bad i wasn't born when they raced at Texas World Speedway but i was around for Riverside. R.I.P to both tracks
Cup Series drivers Darrell Waltrip, Ken Schrader and Dale Earnhardt Sr all finished in the Top 5.
RIP Texas World Speedway
Sad the track is gone now.
track is pretty much like michigan
It was built by the same company - American Raceways Inc. - but banked higher than MIS.
I guess it was going to be during to do a subdivision there's nothing nobody can do at least they should keep the sign for memorabilia keep it up where it's located that'd be pretty cool
Such a shame they didnt give this track a cup race instead of that cookie cutter track In ftworth.
They didn't have the facilities for it traffic was terrible and lack of attendance
This track will be remembered in need for speed pro street
I’ve always heard about this place. Very cool. Woulda been better than Michigan and California
Since Texas motor speedway was built they stopped racing in Texas world Speedway and I wish they raced in both Texas tracks
Was this a bye-weekend in the cup series? How did so many cup guys get to run this race??
This was DW’s last win.
Well if they still use the road course I would think that It would only be a matter of time before they race on the oval again especially when you consider that TMS is not bringing in as many people as it used too....
The oval is never going to be used again as the baking is no longer there, on top of that the largest attended race this track had was off 20k (cup race) people which is 2-3 times less than TMS today,the thing about tms as someone who goes there every year is that the place holds 100k+ but only gets around 40 to 60 thousand which is better than most races today
The track is now under demolition. Huge gaps stripped in the corners. Just dirt where the corners were.
Shame. Such a good track. NASCAR should've put it back on the schedule when they had the chance.
50-Page Jones? How many pages did he turn this race? 49?
Well it is now no longer there thanks to them selling to a developer, it's only partially there or was! I was there for a couple of races it was an awesome track.
When did Cup stop running there?
I worked fire / Safety at this race.
I checked, Hershel is still with us, 94yo!!
And still racing
I found this race poking around the videos on Smiff's channel and was interested, so did some cursory google searches on the ol speedway. APpears to be a giant storage lot for the insurance companies for all the cars that were "totaled" after hurricane Harvey. Pretty sad to see on google earth.
That was only for a few months after Harvey, it's mostly cleared out now and most of the buildings are demolished or seriously dilapidated. Still found some modified 90s Miatas in the garages (didn't touch a thing, don't worry) that were obviously for the track but that and the stands are just about all that's left there now.
@@trentspears9118 I was checking google earth the other day, it looks like some of the speedway has been demolished as the property is prepared for development. Turn 4 is completely gone now.
@@marlafar I'll probably visit again in a few days just to reminisce... last time I was there the track was partially disassembled and the press box was gone, as well as most of the center buildings and about half of the garages/storage units.
Did earnhardt run his cup car or did they have to make a different car for this race
Basically these cars back in the day were old cup cars that the teams bought from cup teams. They were 2 to 3 years old. So Earnhardt probably had an old car that sitting on the side that he would pull out and race an occasional ARCA race with
1:26:58 Final Lap
One thing that I would like to understand is why they not revive this oval track to realize races in it, NASCAR and who know IndyCar Series.
because bruton smith spent sever hundred million bucks building a track about 200 or so miles to the northeast of this one, hell, tms was prolly under construction while this race was going on
Gladiador Baiano nobody showed up to any of the nascar or indycar races when the track was open and the price purse was really small so it would be a risk to bring back the racetrack
Basically a Michigan with Rockingham like banking
ie, perfection
You can't hear what the announcer and pit reporters are saying kind liked Bristol.
1:29:53 = This was DW's final win in a NASCAR sanctioned race, was it not?
I think he might have won a truck race in the late 90s but can't remember if he didn't win he was In Top 3
5:25 race start
What a shame that track jus wasted away
Bill France never would back texas world speedway and thats a shame
You can still race in this track in need for speed pro street
At least we play need for speed pro street
So they ran two series at once?
fairly common in other forms of motorsports besides stock car racing
I love when people talk about how great the racing was in this or "back in the day"... DW won by A LAP, 6th place was 2 laps down. Yeah, I'll take today's racing any day of the week.
Mike A It’s pretty funny, your exactly right.
Passing and racing are two different things. Besides if not for stages , lucky dog and all the other modern gimmicks Kyle Busch and Harvick would be putting laps on the field.
where at in texas was this?
College Station
What a wate this track is so much beter than that track they built In ft worth.brutin smith should have bought this track an renovated it leaving the track an surface alone this track is so much more awsome than Texas motor speed way an jus look outside back stretch at all that land for parking and camping..
"All that land" is, probably, a Toxic Waste Dump of some sort.
Brian Booher well bringing this track back would have been a major risk as the nascar and indycar races that ran here were only able to attract less than 20k spectators which is really small for a track this size meanwhile Tms would have been less of a risk as around the time of construction many of these 1.5 were attracting more than five times the people
@@bat-man502 the thing is the racing they had wasnt cup level racing .but your probly right an is the reason it never had a cup race to start with it jus sucks that they built a cookie cutter track an have it a cup date
Brian Booher they actually did host multiple cup races during the 70s and 80s but like I told told you all of them were pretty big failures
Star studded
Tim Steele = Loved watching him race should of been a WC driver. Does anybody know what happened to cause that serious brain injury in 1997?
I believe he's running the family business
I no its a litle late an also tim jus pased away .He crashed while testing bud Moores ford cup car at Atlanta right after it was reconfigured I belive he blew a tire an hit walll headon
Let’s play pro street
I guess it was cheaper to demolish the truck
You get totaled in need for speed pro street by flipping or hitting something too hard
This track will be no more.....already being demolished
It was a GREAT racetrack, but hey - the wine & cheese Fontana crowd needs their racing too... :roll:
It looks like Chicagoland but with more banking
Play pro street
3 cup drivers ruining this race stealing points from series regulars. WHERE'S THE OUTRAGE?????
Because dale earnhardt was racing
The point was to put asses in seats. Since they could not get a Cup race why not bring the Cup racers to the track?
Nobody really cares if cup guys run the lower series unless its Kyle Busch
Damn shame the track is now a dump for all the vehicles ruined during Hurricane Katrina.
It WAS for cars ruined in Harvey, now it's just actively being demolished.
Cartrip wins
What was the point of this track it’s just Michigan.
Larry LoPatin who built Michigan had a plan of building several tracks just like Michigan in the late '60's. He built Texas and Michigan and was planning one in New Jersey when he went bankrupt.
it's a couple thousand miles to the south? and texas world had more banking, so faster laps
Everybody's Ex's, lived, in Texas and they were bored. Besides; there is a lot of plight, in Michigan and St. Louis.