Texas World Speedway

History

Originally opened as Texas International Speedway, TWS was an almost exact copy of Michigan International Speedway 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.

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, the fastest speed ever recorded at Texas World Speedway, while testing for the 1993 Indianapolis 500. 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 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.

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, 2.900 mi road course which was very popular with drivers worldwide, who recognized the fast, wide and rhythmic 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.

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. 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. Over the course of February 27 and 28, 2020 the press box above the grandstands was demolished.

As of June 2024, the outline of the track remains, but most, if not all, of the original asphalt has been torn out as housing developments have been constructed in what were turns 1 and 2.

Lap records

The all-time unofficial track record set during a race weekend on the 2-mile Oval is 0:33.620, set by Mario Andretti in a Parnelli VPJ2, during qualifying for the 1973 Texas 200. The unofficial fastest lap for stock cars around the 2-mile Oval is 0:38.904, set by Page Jones in a Ford Thunderbird, during qualifying for the 1993 Western Auto Texas World Shootout II. The fastest official race lap records at Texas World Speedway are listed as:

Race history

USAC Champ Car Series winners

NASCAR Cup Series winners

• 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 1974-1975 seasons; USAC stock cars and Indycars returned to Texas in 1976.

USAC Stock Car Series winners

• 1973 (April 7) Gordon Johncock
• 1973 (October 6) Roger McCluskey
• 1976 (June 6) A. J. Foyt
• 1976 (August 1) A. J. Foyt
• 1976 (October 31) Bobby Allison
• 1977 (June 5) Bay Darnell
• 1978 (March 12) A. J. Foyt
• 1978 (June 4) Keith Davis
• 1978 (November 12) A. J. Foyt
• 1979 (March 11) A. J. Foyt
• 1979 (November 11) Bobby Allison
• 1980 (March 9) Terry Ryan

SCCA Can-Am winners

IMSA winners

ARCA Menards Series winners

• The inaugural ARCA race at Texas World was held in 1972, but counted towards the 1973 season.
• The fall 1992 and 1993 races were held as combination events with the Winston West Series (now known as ARCA Menards Series West).
• Darrell Waltrip's win in the 1993 race marked his second and final win in ARCA.

References

References

1. "1978 USAC Texas Grand Prix telecast".
2. "Texas World Speedway: Lonely Star".
3. (3 June 2015). "Racing in the Rain: The Undoing of LoPatin's Raceway Dreams".
4. (February 24, 1993). "Jeff Andretti sets unofficial mark". [[Lodi News-Sentinel]].
5. Rodman, Dave. (January 22, 2009). "Notebook: Biffle hits 218 mph in test at Texas World".
6. King, Alanis. (September 18, 2017). "Thousands Of Flooded Hurricane Cars Finally Killed Texas World Speedway".
7. Falls, Clay. (July 19, 2018). "New Southern Pointe Community taking shape near College Station".
8. "TWS, Texas World Speedway 2019 Drone Video 1 of 2".
9. Falls, Clay. (February 28, 2020). "Texas World Speedway press box demolished as Southern Pointe grows".
10. (6 Jun 2024). "What's left of Texas World Speedway. Man..".
11. (6 October 1973). "1973 Texas Indycars".
12. (7 May 2022). "Texas World Speedway 2016".
13. "1993 WESTERN AUTO TEXAS SHOOTOUT II".
14. "1993 WESTERN AUTO TEXAS WORLD SHOOTOUT II".
15. "Texas World Speedway - Racing Circuits".
16. "Texas World Speedway - Motor Sport Magazine".
17. (9 November 1969). "Can-Am Texas 1969".
18. (13 April 2010). "Ty Howard Sets New CMRA Lap Record At Texas World Speedway".
19. (5 May 1996). "Texas 500 Miles 1996".
20. (10 September 1995). "3 h Texas World 1995".
21. (20 October 1991). "1991 Liquid Tide Trans-Am Tour Round 14 - Texas Trans-Am Festival - Race Results".
22. (4 December 1971). "200 mile Texas 1972".