A College Station, Texas complex with a 3.219 km (2.000 mi) banked oval, NASCAR and IMSA racing, repeated ownership crises and a closure that ended in houses.
Texas World Speedway was a College Station complex whose 3.219 km (2.000 mi) oval opened in 1969 and hosted NASCAR and IMSA races. It shut in 2017, and most of the site has since been given over to housing, with Southern Pointe the best known development.
Texas World Speedway, based in College Station, Texas, opened in 1969 and shut its gates in 2017. Its main feature was a 3.219 km (2.000 mi) banked oval, supported by road course layouts, and the site has since been largely given over to the Southern Pointe housing development.
What was Texas World Speedway?
Texas World Speedway was a multi-layout facility that hosted NASCAR, IMSA GT Championship and USAC events during its life. It was first called Texas International Raceway, and it was renamed in October 1971 after its purchase by new owners.
The complex offered two ovals and several road courses. The larger oval measured 3.219 km (2.000 mi) and was banked at 22 degrees in the turns, with 12 degrees on the frontstretch and 2 degrees on the backstretch. A flat 2.414 km (1.500 mi) oval and a variety of road layouts completed the options.
A main grandstand was erected on the frontstretch, which a 1969 report recorded as seating 26,000 people. The track's location beside State Highway 6 gave it access to the city's roads, and the owners continued to promote big events from the site.
A 3.219 km banked oval in Texas that hosted NASCAR and IMSA, changed hands repeatedly and ended as a housing estate.
How was the track planned and built?
The scheme was unveiled on 23 January 1969 by the banker Dennis Goehring, who ran the Bank of A&M, as a 3.219 km (2.000 mi) oval inside College Station. At the time the facility was expected to cost 6,000,000 dollars, a sum that would be much larger in today's money, and it was planned for a capacity of 30,000.
The main financier was revealed to be Lawrence LoPatin, the owner of the Michigan International Speedway, and the track was designed by Charles Moneypenny. Moneypenny first planned banking of 25 degrees for the turns, and the owners hoped to host Indy car, stock car and sports car racing.
Dignitaries at the 20 March 1969 groundbreaking included LoPatin, James Earl Rudder of Texas A&M and Bill France Sr, the NASCAR leader. The official opening was brought forward to 9 November when a Can-Am race was booked for that date.
The water supply was a difficulty. College Station's council said extending the water lines was not practical, so a well was dug, and a plastic pipe later carried water from the city's water tower. The city also extended its electricity supply to the site in July, and paving began in August.
What were the first years like?
The first events were run on 19 October 1969, when the Sports Car Club of America held a shakedown, and Cecil B. Harriss took the opening race. The first event open to spectators was a Can-Am race on the road course, which Bruce McLaren won before a crowd that was reported as 24,260.
That crowd figure was later disputed in a 1982 report by a local newspaper, whose writer said spectators had told her it was too high. The debut NASCAR event, the 1969 Texas 500, went ahead as scheduled and Bobby Isaac took the victory.
George Boyett was appointed general manager in February 1970, after the vice president of the parent company, Les Richter, had taken a role at American Raceways Inc. The parent company was already in trouble, and it faced its first lien on the track on 23 January 1970.
American Raceways, run by LoPatin, had disputes with several sanctioning bodies, including USAC, NASCAR and the SCCA. Attendance at its tracks was weak through the first half of 1970, and LoPatin was fired as chairman on 30 July 1970.
Many major races were postponed or cancelled. Can-Am, NASCAR Cup and USAC Championship Car events were all affected, and the driver Wally Dallenbach criticised the track's safety for USAC cars in July 1970. Boyett responded that the track had been built for speeds of 190 to 200 mph.
How did the first owners lose the track?
In September 1970 the racing car builder Carroll Shelby replaced LoPatin as the track's controller, but the parent company's debts were by then serious. The company was estimated to owe about 11,000,000 dollars, and a foreclosure notice followed in November from a construction company owed 525,000 dollars.
A bankruptcy reorganisation under Chapter 10 was approved on 29 December 1970. Talbot Rain, a lawyer from Dallas, took charge of managing the track, and he doubted recovery was likely, calling the odds unencouraging.
A reorganisation plan was turned down twice, in May and then September 1971, by the judge Dan Gandy, and the court eventually ordered the track sold to Holloway Construction. The buyers were Daniel W. Holloway and Robert M. Andrews, and the track's debt of more than 3,000,000 dollars was cancelled in exchange for a payment of 10,000 dollars for the real estate.
The sale became final in October 1971, and the facility was renamed Texas World Speedway. The owners reopened it in December 1971 with IMSA GT Championship, NASCAR Late Model Sportsman and NASCAR Cup races, although the Cup race was delayed by rain until 12 December.
| Years | Owner or operator | Notable development |
|---|---|---|
| 1969 to 1971 | American Raceways Inc, led by Lawrence LoPatin | Built the track and opened it in 1969 |
| 1971 to 1976 | Daniel W. Holloway and Robert M. Andrews | Renamed Texas World Speedway; two-year closure from 1974 |
| 1976 to 1990 | Dick Conole and partners | Major races ended in 1981; later independent events only |
| 1990 to 1994 | Ishin Development | Renovations and bankruptcy |
| 1994 to 2007 | Dick Conole | Track used for private rental and amateur racing |
| 2007 to 2017 | Corps Ventures, led by Bill Mather | Demolition plans and closure |
Why did major racing leave in the early 1980s?
Dick Conole bought the track in February 1976 from Holloway, for about 1,500,000 dollars, with W. Perry Gresh and Carl B. Lehr as partners. The first event under his control was a USAC stock car race in June 1976.
Racing continued to suffer serious accidents. Phil Carney died in March 1977 during qualifying for a Formula Ford race, and in November 1980 Ronnie Miller died in a crash during an unsanctioned practice session.
By 1981 all the major sanctioning bodies had stopped racing at the track. Open-wheel racing left after 1980 because of the split between USAC and CART, and NASCAR left in 1981 after disputes with Conole, who said he was unhappy with what major races cost to promote.
Conole later explained that hosting only independent races let him create rules that focused on entertainment. By 1982 he was disenchanted with major motorsport, and he began hosting non-racing events and independently run races. He also built two oil wells on the property to raise revenue.
The Texas Race of Champions, an unsanctioned race, was run each year for seven years until 1989, when lack of financial support ended it. The oval's surface was deteriorating, and by November 1984 Conole had spent over 40,000 dollars on track repairs.
What happened under Ishin Development?
In December 1990 Ishin Development, a Japanese company that had run resorts on the American West Coast and in Hawaii, agreed to buy the track at a reported price of 8 to 10 million dollars. Ishin intended to spend 5 million dollars on renovations, including repaving all the layouts and expanding the grandstands.
The purchase was completed on 24 January 1991. Ishin had broader plans, including two other motorsport facilities, one in Fort Worth and another in Hawaii, but the company was soon in trouble with contractors and creditors.
The track was reopened on 19 September 1991 after a delayed renovation, with an expanded grandstand of 40,000 seats and suites overlooking the pit road. The first race on the reopened track was an ARCA event won by Bill Venturini, two days after the opening.
Ishin's problems soon grew. Contractors filed lawsuits for unpaid bills, the company postponed its plans for the other facilities, and the track's president, Dick Respess, was demoted in January 1992 after a confrontation with the Ishin chairman over unpaid bills.
Conole tried to foreclose in August 1993, and in December Ishin filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy an hour before the scheduled auction. Conole bought the facility at the April 1994 auction for 1 million dollars, along with 250,000 dollars of county and state tax liabilities.
How did the track end?
Conole died on 3 January 2007, aged 70, and the track was put up for sale at 10.5 million dollars. In December 2007 Bill Mather of Corps Ventures announced that the company had bought the facility.
Mather at first considered demolition but chose to develop the surrounding land instead. He later judged that a private membership facility would cost hundreds of millions to build, so in March 2014 the plan to demolish the track and develop a municipal utility district was announced.
The College Station council approved the plan unanimously on 28 March 2014, and it made room for 1,400 single-family lots, a school, commercial space and parkland. The closure was delayed several times, and the track was finally closed in late 2017.
In September 2017, shortly before the closure was completed, the track was used as a storage area for flood-damaged cars after Hurricane Harvey, under a lease from Copart. Racing operations ceased within the month. Construction of the Southern Pointe housing development began in July 2018, and the first phases opened in April 2019.
Which racing series used Texas World Speedway?
NASCAR raced there in several periods, including the Cup Series from 1969 to 1973 and again from 1979 to 1981. Regional Winston West Series races were also held in 1992 and 1993, although the second was cancelled.
The sports car side was equally important. The first major sports car race was a Can-Am event in 1969, and the IMSA GT Championship first came to the track in 1971 and returned for 1995 and the following year.
Other categories also used the circuit, among them the 24 Hours of Lemons endurance event, AMA motorcycle racing and Trans-Am cars. Independent events such as the Texas Race of Champions also took place on the layout, and the drag strip was added in 1973.
The quickest official lap belongs to Mario Andretti, set in qualifying for the 1973 Texas 200.
