Saturday, February 28, 2009

How to attend a dirt track race at Texas Motor Speedway

By Todd E. Jones of College Football Top Ten

When the Texas Motor Speedway runs a dirt track race, it usually happens once, maybe twice per year, therefore, local fans may be a little unsure how to go about attending a dirt race at TMS. I’ve got you covered. The following is a “how to” on attending a dirt track race at TMS.

1. Secure tickets. Now this is not really that hard to do. You have approximately two choices. First, go to whomever is the major sponsor of the said racing event and purchase the tickets. In this case, the tickets are usually a bit discounted or even free. The other option is to show up at the ticket gate on the night of the races and purchase your tickets. Now, on the night of the final races, more fans show up. Therefore, you should arrive very early to make sure you get a ticket. There is room for you and 11,999 of your neighbors. Oh, and parking is free!

2. Locate the track. This might be a bit tricky as when you first arrive at TMS you are immediately drawn to the 1.5 mile “big track” which has the huge grand stands. But, the dirt track isn’t there. The dirt track is located right behind the backstretch of the “big track.” You should see it just fine, but be careful not to be drawn in to the allure of the “big track,” or you might miss the dirt track altogether.

3. Buy some refreshments. Once you have paid for your ticket(s) and gone inside the facility, locate the nearest concession stand and buy something for supper. Make sure you bring plenty of money as it will be a long night of racing. You will have to come back for a second supper or maybe a third. Levy Restaurants have plenty of things to eat such as sausage-on-a-stick, burgers, hot dogs, bbq, etc. Oh, and make sure you get something to drink to wash it down with. That is very important.

4. Buy some merchandise. There will be at least two trailers from which you can purchase many different kinds of merchandise. You can purchase t-shirts, caps, die-cast cars, sweatshirts, etc. Some will have your favorite drivers on them and others will be an advertising for the dirt track or TMS. If you can, buy something to keep you warm such as fleece. You see, TMS holds these dirt track events in late winter or early fall, and that means that the weather will be very cold. It doesn’t matter if the temperature was 90 degrees the day before. You can bet that it will drop until it is in the 40's the night of the races.

5. Bring something warm to wear. See above.

6. Take advantage of promotional trailers. There will be trailers and displays at the track to promote businesses. The great thing about these trailers and displays is that they give away promotional items. I checked out the Road Runner Cable display and they had tons of give-aways. Other businesses will be on hand as well to give away promotions just to try to bribe you in to using their products. Isn’t being a potential customer great?

7. Find a seat. Once you have checked out all the promotional trailers, bought foot, drink and some merchandise, head in to the bleachers and find a seat. It is first-come-first-served here, so make sure you get in as soon as possible. There are exceptions, but you should figure that out. Now, you want to find a seat high enough to see all of the action well, but low enough to see the cars clearly as they go by on the front-stretch. Another thing to consider is try to get as close to the flag-stand as possible. You see, this is the start-finish line, and you can tell better who crosses the finish line first.

8. Pick a favorite driver. This shouldn’t be too hard. There are plenty of local drivers that will make the short trip to TMS. Pick one from the city where you live. If you live in Fort Worth, one guy you can root for is Troy Taylor. If you are from Mesquite, you can choose Tom Lorenz. The possibilities are endless. Further, if you grew up in another section of the country, you might choose a driver from that area to root for. For instance, I grew up in Arkansas, so I tend to root for whomever is from Arkansas.

9. Understand the format. Dirt racing is different than the racing they do at the “big track.” They have to try to narrow down a huge field of cars until there are about 24-30 cars left. They will use a series of heat races and qualifier races until they have the final group. Be patient. It will take two nights of racing to get to that point.

10. Bookmark a racing site. When it is all done and you get home, you will probably want to know who came in 5th place during the second C Qualifier race. You will probably will not have written all of that down. This is where our friends in the racing website business comes in handy. You have several options. First, you can go straight to the source at the TMS website. Next you can go to Racefeature.com or Midwestdirt.com. Both sites keep up with the results.

Enjoy the races!

Pegasus News content partner - College Football Top Ten

Special thanks to TMS for letting me study attending a Dirt Track Race.

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Comments

okme2 Anonymous

Well, Todd was right about the weather...

As far as Dirt Track racin, The Limited Modifieds, Modifieds and Late Models are OK, but if you want to see some REAL DIRT action, go see the GREATEST SHOW ON DIRT, the World of Outlaws Sprint Cars!

These open wheel winged Sprint cars (410 motors), Methanol burning monsters weigh about 1200lbs and really fly. This series races from FEB – NOV at a different dirt track every weekend which makes these drivers THE REAL DEAL!

The bad news is they don’t race in the area anymore, they use to race every year at the Devils Bowl in Mesquite, in fact the DB considers itself the birthplace of the WoO. There is a (smaller engine) series that does run around the area and is worth checking out called the ASCS Outlaw Sprints.

The DB does run their version of Sprint cars every weekend....

8 months, 1 week ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )