Eddie Gossage
Texas Motor Speedway
P.O. Box 500
Fort Worth, Texas 76101-2500

Dear Mr. Gossage,

I am a regular visitor to Texas Motor Speedway, having attended every Winston Cup race there since the track opened in 1997. Each year, I have written a letter or email to you, offering my praise for such a wonderful facility and expressing my disappointment in certain policies and procedures observed by track employees. I do this not to complain, but simply to insure that you are aware of certain problems that might otherwise be over-looked or not reported. I also do this to make sure that you are aware of the needs and desires of your patrons, because if we don't tell you what we want, then no one else will.

Overall, my comments and opinions have been good. I love your speedway, and would attend many more races there if time and money allowed. I am very pleased to say that many of the problems I've seen in the past, particularly in the areas of traffic and parking, have consistently improved. Unfortunately, there is one incident from this year's race that I must bring to your attention because it could have had tragic results. This situation angers me, and I sincerely hope that the potential consequences of this incident are enough to anger you as well.

My mother and I parked in the lot on the north side of Wallace Lane, trying to get as close to the pavement and the road as possible. This has always been a good spot, and in fact, after last year's race, we were off the speedway property and heading north on I-35 within an hour of getting to our car. When we reached our car, we decided to wait about 30 minutes before trying to pull out. That gave us time to stow our gear, and would give the traffic a little time to begin moving at a steady pace. As we waited, we listened to radio station WBAP 840 AM. The station was taking calls from race attendees who were all reporting that the traffic was moving smoothly and that they were well on their way home. But the traffic around us wasn't moving at all -- every vehicle that had pulled onto Wallace Lane was jammed bumper-to-bumper and had not moved an inch.

As we continued listening to the radio, we began to wonder about the reports that traffic was moving quickly out of the track. We tried calling in to the station, but the circuits were all busy -- too many people in the parking lot using cell phones to call home. After more than two hours, the vehicles around us still had not moved. There was no way to turn and go another direction because the traffic was two and three cars wide through the opening to the paved parking lot, and there was a ditch separating the two lots. We continued to try to get through to the radio station, hoping we could find out what was holding up the traffic on Wallace Lane.

I finally managed to stand on the window of my car and use my binoculars to watch for movement in the traffic. I could see that traffic on Victory Circle (the outer ring road) was moving at a steady clip, but the cars on Wallace Lane were not moving out of the parking lot -- the gate was locked, trapping us all inside. The traffic on Lone Star Circle (the inner ring) was also moving steadily, but none of the cars in our lot were exiting in that direction. Apparently, when the race ended, all the cars started down Wallace Lane toward Victory Circle, overflowing into the paved parking area and completely blocking an exit in that direction. No one could move, and no one could turn around and go the opposite direction.

I was quite incensed that there were no track personnel working to rectify the situation. Surely someone would have noticed that thousands of cars were still in this lot and were not moving! But there was no track employee in sight. I decided to take it upon myself to get us all out of there. I started at the back of the line of cars (the ones blocking the exit into the paved parking), and explained that the gate was locked and the only way to get out was to turn around and head toward Lone Star Circle. Fortunately, race fans are generally very kind and cooperative people, and most of the dozen or so vehicles I talked to did turn around immediately and file out in the opposite direction.

Within minutes, the traffic around our car began to move, and we quickly followed suit. We stopped to tell three different parking attendants at Lone Star Circle that the Wallace Lane gate was locked and that the cars were trapped inside the parking lot. One completely ignored us, and one did not care, but the third did say he would let someone know so they could unlock it. Needless to say, once the traffic on Wallace Lane got turned around, the parking lot began to clear quickly, and we were off the track property in less than 30 minutes.

Obviously, for me, this incident was merely an inconvenience. A two or three hour wait to get out of the parking lot is nothing compared to our experiences in the first few years after the track opened. But the point remains that the situation could have had tragic results. If someone in that parking lot had needed emergency medical attention, it could have been fatal. There was no way for vehicles to get out or for help to get in. The phones were jammed, no one could call for help -- a situation that is beyond the control of track management. The gates were locked, and the vehicles were trapped inside -- that should never have happened.

This unforgivable situation is the result of one thing -- poor traffic management policies. To start with, parking and traffic personnel are not familiar with the layout of the speedway. They are often rude, ill informed, and most of them really don't care if traffic is moving or not. Hiring a higher quality of personnel and offering better training would help a great deal. Each attendant should have intimate knowledge of the streets and roadways surrounding the speedway, and should carry a map for reference. All traffic and parking personnel should have radios and should be instructed to alert others of potential problems (like locked gates). Track management should make use of this communication as well as radio traffic reports, helicopter fly-bys, and any other possible means to insure that traffic is moving. Track management should immediately rectify the situation (i.e.: send someone to unlock the gate) when it is not. All parking lot gates on the speedway property should remain open at ALL TIMES. If you want to keep the public out of a private area or VIP parking, traffic attendants should suffice, but the gates themselves should NEVER be LOCKED. A locked gate endangers the health and safety of the people trapped within, and is inexcusable.

Please accept my letter in the spirit in which it is given -- as a concerned race fan who would like to make sure that attending races is fun and safe for everyone. I know that you work hard to make TMS a premier racing facility, and your efforts show in the continual improvement of conditions at this track. In making you aware of the problem with the locked gate, it is my hope that you will make an effort to correct this problem before it becomes a matter of someone's life or death. I look forward to visiting your track again in the near future.

CC:
Bruton Smith; Speedway Motorsports, Inc.
Mike Helton; NASCAR