ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, April 8, 1997 TAG: 9704080088
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: ROANOKE, TEXAS
SOURCE: BOB ZELLER THE ROANOKE TIMES
Sprawling Texas Motor Speedway has its critics after Sunday's smashing debut.
The skies over Texas Motor Speedway had finally cleared and the Winston Cup cars were circling the track Saturday morning, mostly single file, as NASCAR President Bill France watched from the end of the pits.
Dressed in his usual track clothes, which include a jacket and a sport shirt unbuttoned at the neck, France studied the scene with the critical eye of a man who not only runs the sport, but owns a few of his own tracks.
``They tried to put too many seats along the bottom here,'' he said, looking toward the grandstands where the fourth turn becomes the trioval. He indicated that the track was too cramped in that area and should have been extended into what are now the lowest rows of the main grandstands.
Later, he told the New York Times: ``I like everything from the walls out.''
Of course, France wasn't the only critic of the mammoth new speedway built north of Fort Worth.
And after the running of the inaugural Interstate Batteries 500 on Sunday, which was won by first-time winner Jeff Burton, France's comment to the Times seemed to best characterize the feeling in the garage that Texas Motor Speedway is, at present, a mixed blessing for the NASCAR Winston Cup series.
It is impossible to look at the place and not acknowledge the sheer grandeur of it. An oft-heard comment from Texans during the weekend was how big the place is, a rich compliment from folks who know what big is.
It rises from the plains as you travel north on I-35W, eventually dominating the skyline. The grandstands sparkle. Everything is new, and seems to work. The press box and the suites are unquestionably the finest in the sport.
But the consensus among the drivers is that the 1.5-mile oval is a bad track. There's only one groove and it's simply not designed well, they say. It's extremely difficult, they say, but not in a good way. In contrast, they are raving about the racy new speedway in Las Vegas, which has several grooves.
The crashes the drivers expected to happen in Sunday's 500 did happen, and the headline in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram Monday morning was: ``A Smashing Debut.''
It is quite common to have 10 yellow flags in a race, as occurred Sunday. But that begs the issue.
The drivers complained about Texas even more than they complain about Dover, another notorious one-groove track. They complain that because Texas has only one groove, they can't pass drivers who are significantly slower.
``I hope they get a group of us drivers together and bring us down here so we can talk about what we can do to make it better,'' Geoff Bodine said . ``I was driving for my life."
``I think you saw today an example of trying to run 190 miles per hour around a race track that is not built for that,'' Brett Bodine said .
The very visible difference between Texas and Charlotte Motor Speedway, which share the same trioval configuration, is the full banking in the turns at Charlotte extends throughout the turns.
In Texas, the full banking exists only in the heart of the corners. The turns are much flatter at the entrances and exits. And that means as they exit the corners, the drivers don't have enough banking to give them the leverage they need to build enough momentum to pass on the straightaways.
On the other hand, the track did have its boosters after the race was over. ``The track was good, very raceable,'' said Dale Jarrett, who finished second.
It was not a boring race, to be sure. The difficulty of passing made the passes that did occur seem all the more daring. And there was passing. And with the crashes, there was plenty of action.
It remains to be seen whether track magnate Bruton Smith will play hard ball and leave the track the way it is or respond to the drivers' criticisms.
``I just left Victory Lane where a driver told me, `Don't change one thing about this race track,''' said Eddie Gossage, the speedway's general manager. ``In every race, you've got one winner and 41 other guys who are unhappy.
``But if improvements or changes need to be made to improve either safety or competition, we'll look at it.''
LENGTH: Medium: 86 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: ASSOCIATED PRESS. Rusty Wallace (2), Greg Sacks (20),by CNBErnie Irvan (28) and Jeff Gordon (24) crashed in the fourth turn at
Texas Motor Speedway on Sunday. Drivers and NASCAR officials voiced
some complaints about the new track. color. KEYWORDS: AUTO RACING