Fan Perspective: Texas Motor Speedway vs. Atlanta Motor Speedway

I've been to a lot of NASCAR races over the years, but about 90% of them have been at Atlanta Motor Speedway, my home track.  I haven't missed a race weekend there since 1985, so it will always be the track I compare others to.  This past weekend, I took a group of guys from the office to Texas Motor Speedway for the Samsung Mobile 500 weekend.  Three of the four guys had never been to a race before, and none of them had ever camped in the infield for a race weekend.  This was a first for me too, as I'd never been to the north Texas track.

Texas Motor Speedway

Texas and Atlanta obviously have a lot in common.  They are both "cookie cutter" tracks owned by Speedway Motorsports, Inc. aka Bruton Smith, though Atlanta hasn't always looked the same as the likes of TMS and Charlotte Motor Speedway with the double dogleg.  They feature similar racing with multiple grooves available for the drivers to move

Atlanta Motor Speedway

around and find the best line for their setups.  They are also both popular stops on the schedule for the drivers.  But there are a lot of differences that I noticed too, especially regarding the fan experience, despite the fact that they are sister tracks. 

I'll start from the beginning... driving up to the track is completely different.  Texas Motor Speedway is located right off of I-35, a major interstate that runs through Fort Worth.  The view of the track from the main entrance is overwhelmed by the huge continuous grandstand from turn four to turn one, and the condominiums overlooking turn two.  Atlanta, on the other hand, is actually located in the town of Hampton, about 45 minutes south of the city, and a good twenty minute drive from the nearest interstate, I-75.  It is really out in the middle of nowhere.  It looks just as massive from the main entrance, though, with similar grandstands that stretch from turn four to the entrance of turn one, and another large grandstand in turn three.  Until 2006, when a tornado hit the track, there was an additional grandstand on the backstretch, which served as the main grandstand back in the day when the track was a pure oval, and the start finish line was on the other side of the track.  Atlanta has a bit more of an awesomeness factor in this category, in my opinion, because it sticks out so much from the surrounding farmland and rolling hills, whereas TMS looks a bit like just another large complex on the outskirts of Fort Worth. It's all relative, I suppose.  Huge props to Texas though for having a Cup car, INDY car and Truck Series truck sitting in the middle of one of the ponds near the entrance of the track... that was cool!

You enter and exit the infield the same way at both tracks, through one of two tunnels that take you underneath the track surface.  Inside the track is where the differences become much more noticeable and important to the fan experience.  First, the Texas Motor Speedway infield is comprised of only reserved RV spaces, whereas Atlanta has a section in turns three and four for tents and pop-up campers only, allowing a cheaper alternative for fans wanting to camp in the infield.  This is a HUGE selling point for me, not just because I'm biased from being one of those tent campers for the last 26 years, but because renting an RV for a race weekend is expensive, let alone owning one!  An RV rented from Houston and driven to the track and back cost us $1350 including gas, and this was cheaper than the alternative of renting one in the Dallas/Fort Worth area because of the race weekend premium on all the rentals.  In addition, the space itself cost us $1000 for the year, and that's the cheapest reserved space you can get in the infield.  Compare that to Atlanta, where we spend $1200/year for four spaces and sleep in a tent (admittedly these four together are about the same size as two RV spots at TMS).  Our only other expenses for the weekend are the infield tickets and food, both of which you have to have at Texas as well.

The facilities within the infield differ as well.  Our Texas spot is in turn three, so I tried out the bathrooms located on the north side of the track.  There were far fewer bathroom stalls at Texas than at Atlanta, and fewer places to actually do your business in general.  However, there were many more showers at Texas, which is a huge plus since there is almost always a line outside the door to the showers at Atlanta with only 5-6 showers available.  I'd say Texas had 15-20.  Unfortunately, at least the time I tried to use the showers last weekend, there was no hot water... in fact there was nothing but freezing, take your breath away cold water.  Two thumbs down for that.  Even if it had been 100 degrees outside, it wouldn't have felt good.  It was like jumping into a mountain stream in Colorado.

For attractions other than the racing, Texas and Atlanta have a nice mix of options.  The Midway areas at both tracks offer a wide range of displays and activities, but Atlanta seems to have more souvenir haulers than Texas did.  I may have just missed it at Texas, but at Atlanta there is a cluster of "Mom and Pop" souvenir tents a few hundred yards from turn three that is a goldmine for collectors.  You can find just about every die cast car you can think of there, all kinds of vintage memorabilia, and there are items for every price range.  Texas has a nicely organized row of sponsor displays and souvenir trucks, but Atlanta seems to have some of the lesser known drivers' souvenirs, and multiples of the big names like Earnhardt and Gordon.

A major plus for Texas Motor Speedway is the 1/5th mile short track outside the big track, where we watched the Legends and Bandalero races on Saturday.  With its own little grandstand, we were able to see some of NASCAR's potential superstars battle it out.  And though there were no races held there last weekend, there's an awesome dirt track right next to the 1/5th mile.  If Atlanta built a dirt track on their property and held a race during Labor Day weekend, in my opinion that would put that race weekend among the best on the schedule, right up there with Daytona Speedweeks and the All-Star Race/Coke 600 weeks at Charlotte Motor Speedway.  Bruton, if you build it, we will come.  Who wouldn't show up to watch Bill Elliott and his son run on dirt at Atlanta Motor Speedway?!  Finally, I have to give kudos to Texas Motor Speedway for their infield restaurant, Fuzzy's Taco Shop.  I'm not much of a fan of tacos, but I've found most everyone who has lived in Texas longer than me is.  I can't tell you if it's any good, or how much it costs, since we didn't eat there.  Regardless, having a restaurant in the infield that serves something other than a hot dog or funnel cakes is kinda cool.  

From turn 3 to turns 1/2 at TMS

From turn 3 to turns 1/2 at AMS

View of turn 3 from our spot at AMS

The view from inside the track is a little difficult for me to objectively compare between tracks.  Our spot at Atlanta Motor Speedway is a treasured piece of real estate right up against the fence in turn three.  The space we received through the lottery at Texas Motor Speedway is in the middle of turn three, about 5-6 RV rows back from the fence.  As I mentioned, Texas has nothing but RV spaces, so you're always looking over everyone else's RV or through the people standing on top.  I've never watched a race from the top of an RV at Atlanta.  There, we build platforms on the back of pickup trucks for our view, since we are in "no RVs allowed" section.  Despite the lower height of our platforms, we can see the entire track at Atlanta except the front stretch from our spaces.  The reason for this, I believe, is that Atlanta is much more bowl-shaped than Texas.  The turns seem to be elevated a little higher in comparison to the infield there, perhaps giving a better view because you are almost looking up at the track.  Since you have to look up anyway to see over your neighbors standing on their platform or RV, you still get to see the cars go by.  At Texas, if they were running the low groove, you had no view of them at all.  Another thing helping Atlanta is that the backstretch, which used to be the frontstretch in the old configuration, has few if any visual obstructions.  The old garage area is at a lower elevation than the track, so there is not much to look over.  In my opinion, this is a feature that sets Atlanta apart from many other tracks, allowing a great view of the backstretch for fans all around the track.

One of the main reasons fans camp at NASCAR tracks is for the partying that goes on at night.  Even for those who aren't party animals, campgrounds can at least provide some highly entertaining people-watching.  Though I've heard things can get pretty interesting outside the track, the infield is where most people think the action is on Friday and Saturday nights.  About ten years ago, NASCAR seemed to be at its peak in popularity, and around that time I recall seeing a lot of college-aged people in the infield at Atlanta.  This was also about the time when Girls Gone Wild was all over late night TV infomercials.  Mix in some Mardi Gras beads, and, well I'll leave it at that.  Since then, I've noticed a less rowdy crowd at AMS.  Texas Motor Speedway gets the prize for the better party track.  There was a little of everything there- Margaritas in a blender powered by a motorcycle engine, handlebars and all... karaoke, laser lights projected onto the ground, tetherball, and tetherball dancing without the tether or the ball (yes, that would be pole dancing, and we saw at least two such poles in the infield).  There were toy haulers with the back door down and people dancing on them, NASCAR beer pong tables, there were funnels, and yes there were women lifting their shirts.  Everyone was just having a good time, and the even police patrolling the infield let everybody do their thing as long as it didn't get out of control.

I'm convinced no matter which track you go to, you're going to have a great experience at any NASCAR race.  If you've never been, you won't truly understand until you go.  It doesn't matter if it's a short track or a superspeedway,  the first lap is enough to get your blood pumping.  I can't wait to get back to the track again on Labor Day weekend for the Advocare 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway!

Texas Motor Speedway Forecast

Two questions are on the minds of fans and competitors on their way to Texas Motor Speedway for this weekend's Nationwide and Sprint Cup Series races. First and foremost, will we be hit by severe weather while at the track, and secondly, will rain cause delays and/or cancellation of the events.  Lets start off with the most important question concerning severe weather. 

Simply put, I believe chances are very low that severe weather will impact Texas Motor Speedway, and that a widespread, worst case scenario outbreak (like we saw a couple weeks ago in the Dallas-Fort Worth area) will NOT occur between now and the completion of Saturday night's Sprint Cup race.  Here's the deal... There WILL be severe thunderstorms not far to the north and northwest of the Fort Worth area, but it is very typical for these storms, which form along a front of sorts called a dry line, to die out before reaching the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex in the type of weather pattern that will be in place Friday and Saturday.  What is possible is that these storms weaken as they approach Fort Worth, but hold together just long enough to produce a thunderstorm at or near the track, and therefore, we cannot completely rule out an isolated strong thunderstorm in the Texas Motor Speedway area.  Check out this map from the National Weather Service's Storm Prediction Center and you'll see what I'm talking about...

Notice that the threat for severe weather becomes greater in the Saturday afternoon to Sunday morning timeframe, but mainly for the Texas/Oklahoma border and points north (up into Kansas).  That's where I think the main event will be.  Notice in the graphic on the right, although the "slight risk" area is just getting into the western Fort Worth area, near the track, there is no longer a green "general thunderstorm" area over the rest of Texas. So while the potential for severe thunderstorms increases Saturday into Sunday, the overall coverage of these storms will likely be less by then.  

My thinking is that we'll have to keep an eye on the radar Friday and Saturday, especially in the afternoon and evening hours leading up to and during the races, but I think we'll get the races in, and I think there is only a slim chance that we'll have to worry about severe storms at or near the track. On Sunday, however, I would advise anyone still camping at the track to try to leave as early as possible. A line of strong to severe thunderstorms will pass through the Dallas-Fort Worth area sometime between late Sunday morning and mid-afternoon.  I will be camping in an RV in the infield with some guys at work, and at this point I am suggesting to them that we leave no later than 10am to get out ahead of the storms.  That time is subject to change, but again I will stress that I do not see these more severe storms sneaking in early enough to affect Saturday night's race, or traffic leaving the track immediately after the race. 

With all that said, I think we'll get the races in both Friday and Saturday night, since any showers or storms that do try to sneak in will likely be isolated and short-lived.  In fact, I think chances are good that we'll make it through both races without any rain delays.  So here's my forecast for Friday and Saturday night's races... I'm going to go ahead and give them both green flags...

Friday night, O'Reilly Auto Parts 300: Mostly cloudy, breezy and muggy with a very small chance of a brief thundershower. Green flag temperature around 77 degrees, cooling to near 73 when the checkered flag falls.

Saturday night, Samsung Mobile 500: Partly to mostly cloudy, breezy and humid, with a slight chance of a brief shower or thunderstorm just before or during the race. Green flag temperature 80 degrees, cooling only to around 75 when the checkered flag falls.

Hope everyone enjoys the race, and for my fellow travelers/campers at the track, be safe!

Benefits of a Texas-Bristol Spring Race Date Swap

On the evening of March 11, 1993, while preparing for our biannual trip to Atlanta Motor Speedway for the upcoming NASCAR race that weekend, I told my dad I didn't want to go.  This is the only time I've ever said those words to him.  If the date rings a bell, you know why I didn't want to go.  As a 13 year old budding meteorologist, I knew we'd be in trouble if we tried to go to the track and camp for the weekend, because we were about to get pounded with heavy snow and strong winds.  Two days later at my childhood home in Roswell, Georgia, we had nearly a foot of snow on the ground, and no electricity.  Several inches of snow fell at the track, which looked more like Chicagoland Speedway in January than Atlanta Motor Speedway in spring.

Image courtesy of taurtoisemotorsports.com

Of course, the next weekend was beautiful in Atlanta, and because it was a rare open weekend on the schedule, we were back at the track in our infield space that Saturday to watch the race.  Atlanta Motor Speedway has always had its fair share of crazy weather over the years, though things improved slightly when the fall race was moved from the last race of the season in November to late October.  Moving that race to Labor Day weekend under the lights made it downright warm.  In 2010, we learned we'd be losing the March race date, which was plagued by volatile and mostly cold weather, affecting attendance especially hard when the economy became an added excuse not to show up on race weekends.  For many fans, it wasn't worth spending their money if they were going to have to suffer through cold or wet weather.

I always thought that a good move, at least weather-wise, would have been to swap spring race dates between Atlanta and Texas Motor Speedway, to at least make an attempt to boost attendance at the Georgia track by offering somewhat warmer weather.  Though this would have meant a somewhat cooler Texas race weekend (it's still warmer in Fort Worth in March than average temperatures in Atlanta for the same date), it would also greatly reduce the probability of severe weather during race weekend at Texas Motor Speedway by moving it to March versus April.  In my opinion, this is a ticking time bomb that has the potential to make my biggest fear a reality; damaging severe weather during a NASCAR event weekend. 

Just recently, we saw what April can bring in north Texas.  No fewer than three tornadic supercell thunderstorms threatened the Dallas-Fort Worth area at the same time on April 3rd, one of which actually gave a scare to Texas Motor Speedway, but thankfully did no damage to the property.  Going through the data available from the National Weather Service's Storm Prediction Center, one can find that for the area covered by the Dallas-Fort Worth doppler radar site, there is an average of 12 tornadoes in April, and 151 total "significant" severe weather events (large hail, damaging winds, or tornadoes).  These numbers are significantly lower in the cooler month of March, with an average of 5 tornadoes in the Dallas-Fort Worth radar area, and 72 total significant severe weather events (more than 50% fewer severe weather events versus April).

Average Daily Severe Weather Occurrences between 1980 and 2006 in the area covered by the Dallas-Fort Worth Doppler radar coverage area, courtesy of NOAA Storm Prediction Center

It's too late to swap with Atlanta, since we no longer have a March race, but there is another Speedway Motorsports Incorporated track with a March date that may greatly benefit from a swap with Texas: Bristol Motor Speedway.  I don't think I need to go into too much detail about the attendance for this year's March race in Bristol.  This time, if weather was a factor at all in the lack of attendance, it was only due to rain and not temperatures, because they enjoyed unseasonable warmth all weekend.  But Bristol, which is nestled near the spine of the Appalachian Mountains in the northeast corner of Tennessee, has also endured some pretty cold weather and snow during race weekends over the years, and the weather has been blamed often for empty seats.

Image from NASCAR.com

The average temperature (computed over the last 30 years) in Bristol for March 18, when this year's race was held, is 47 degrees!  Move that race to the weekend of Sunday April 15th, currently held by Texas Motor Speedway, and the average temperature in Bristol is a much more tolerable 55 degrees.  By moving Texas from April to March, you get a similar average temperature of 58 degrees, obviously cooler than you would get in April, but still within reason.  A win-win if you ask me... Though you open the door to the possibility of some cold weather for the Texas race weekend every now and then, you give the fans in Bristol a big break on the likelihood of a really cold race weekend and allow for more walk-up sales when the weather is pleasant.  AND, more importantly, you significantly decrease the probability of a damaging severe weather event during race weekend at Texas Motor Speedway, as shown by the data above.

Obviously weather is just one factor of many in the decision-making process when determining the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series schedule, but in my professional opinion as a meteorologist, I think this issue is something that should at least be reviewed, just in case.  We all saw the horrifying video from the Indiana State Fair last year, where a strong wind gust from a thunderstorm caused a stage to collapse, killing seven people and injuring many others.  With tens of thousands of people working or camping at a NASCAR track with very little safe shelter, a severe thunderstorm or tornado could be catastrophic if one hit during an event weekend.  Last year, NASCAR and Atlanta Motor Speedway officials made what I felt was a heroic and underrated call to push the postponed Labor Day race to Tuesday, instead of making an attempt to run it on Monday when severe weather was forecast (severe weather did in fact affect the area near the track, and a tornado touched down on the north side of Atlanta that day).  In that case, everyone knew there was a high risk of severe weather and flooding ahead of time and they were able to prepare for it, but it's the obscure and difficult to predict event like that which occurred in Indiana that has me worried, as a significant amount of time would be needed to get NASCAR fans, competitors and track workers to adequate shelter during a severe thunderstorm.  Any way we can minimize the chance of an Indiana State Fair-like tragedy needs to be examined, and the argument I've made above to move the spring Texas race to an earlier date, in my opinion, would be a sensible first step.