Bluesy Monday Music: "Too Rolling Stoned"

Here's an obscure classic (that may be an oxymoron) from the Golden Age of Rock. I'm talking mid-70's or so. It's Robin Trower's "Too Rolling Stoned" from his magnificent Bridge of Sighs album. The real attraction to this song is hearing the former Procol Harem guitarist getting down on this bluesy number. It's guaranteed to get your Monday going in the right direction or double your money back!

You can hear the original version here. (I tried to embed it but it would only give me about 30 seconds of the song.) The video is a much newer live version with different bandmates and a much older, but still jamming Trower...



Lyrics:

Oh, a stitch in time just about saved me
From going through the same old moves
And this cat is nine
He still suffers
He's going through the same old grooves

But that stone just keeps on rolling
Bringing me some real bad news
Takers get the honey
Givers sing the blues

Too many cooks, yeah, spoil such a good thing
I know I laughed out loud but that was then
Ain't it funny, a fool and his money
Always seemed to find those real good friends

That stone just keeps on rolling
Bringing me some real bad news
The takers get the honey
The givers sing the blues

Well, that stone keeps on rolling
Bringing me some real bad news
The takers get the honey
The givers sing the blues

A stitch in time helps to unfold me
The circus starts at eight so don't be late
Please be so kind not to wake me
I think I'll just sit this one out

Well I'm too rolling stoned
I'm too rolling stoned, yeah
Like a rolling stone
Just, just, just like a rolling stone
Rolling, rolling, rolling, rolling stone
Yeah, too rolling stoned
Oh just like a rolling stone

Weekend Assignment: Book Boosters

Karen, at Outpost Mavarin, deals out the weekend assignments. While it is technically Monday, I don't consider the weekend over until I have to go back to work, so here goes...

Weekend Assignment #213: While it may be difficult to choose your favorite book of all time, there's probably a certain genre or category of books you prefer over other kinds. Do you love a mystery, or would you rather read about dragons? Are you thirsty for a good vampire tale, or is science fiction more your style? Do you mostly stick with the classics, or look for the latest spy novel? Are you a biography buff? Do a lot of your books have the word "Dummies" in the title? Do you like to read about real-world politics, science, history or sports, or would you rather escape the real world with a good romance? Tell us! And while you're at it, tell us your second favorite category of books.

I've always been an avid reader, but the Internet sometimes gets me out of the habit of actually picking up a book and reading it. There are several genres that I like, but it would be hard to settle on a favorite. I like horror novels a la Stephen King or Dean Koontz, some science fiction, some mysteries, some political novels, historic novels. I'm making an effort to read some of the classic literature. I also like to read non-fiction books about politics or history, especially books about the Civil War. I'll read the occasional biography, but it's usually about someone like Ty Cobb or Braxton Bragg, never celebrities. I don't have a favorite genre. In fact, when I finish a book, I usually pick up something entirely different to read next. I've recently read Old Man's War by John Scalzi, Children of Men by P. D. James and Cell by Stephen King. Right now, I'm wading through Sketches from Boz by Charles Dickens. What will I read after that? Who knows? If you held a gun to my head and made me choose a favorite genre, I'd probably have to go with the horror novels. Most of them are pretty fun.

Extra Credit: Do you ever loan out books to friends or family?

When I finish a book, my only reasons for keeping it are that it's so fantastic that I think I might want to one day read it again (which I rarely do, although I've read Catch-22 by Joseph Heller about five times) or that I think of someone I know that might like to read it. So, yes. Otherwise, I save them up and trade them in for new books (new to me) at the used bookstore.

Freedom Riders

It was a feel-good day in Nashville, Tennessee Friday. The Tennessee Board of Regents voted unanimously to award honorary degrees to fourteen people who had been expelled from Tennessee Agricultural and Industrial State College (now Tennessee State University) in 1961 after participating in the Freedom Rides. The students were expelled after being convicted on breach of peace charges in Jackson, Mississippi.

The Supreme Court ruled in Boynton v. Virginia that segregation in public transportation was illegal, a violation of the Interstate Commerce Act. The Freedom Rides went down into the deep South to test the limits of the ruling. The riders ran straight into Jim Crow and mob violence.

The Board of Regents decision reverses a March 28 vote. Then the board voted 7-5 against awarding the degrees, a vote that drew much public criticism. Board members claimed that the earlier vote was more procedural than substantive -- rarely are so many honorary degrees awarded at one time at one school. There was also the issue of what kind of degree to award; they settled on Doctor of Humane Letters degrees.

The PBS American Experience website has a concise, but informative section on the Freedom Rides from their Eyes on the Prize program. The Nashville Tennessean has a Freedom Rides photo gallery.

An Epiphany

Eugene Robinson of the Washington Post has a column, "The Race That Wouldn't Die," in which he expresses an idea I've had for a while that the race for the Democratic nomination needs to end soon. He gets this point across without overtly suggesting that Hillary Clinton drop out...

No, I'm not calling for Clinton to get out of the race. It's ridiculous to advise a candidate who just won Pennsylvania by 10 points to pack it in, even if it's still hard to imagine a plausible way for her to win the nomination.

And it is, you know; the delegate arithmetic has hardly budged. Clinton would have a realistic chance of eliminating the future rebel leader who someday will threaten the dominion of sentient machines over all of humankind -- I mean, of defeating Barack Obama -- only if her opponent were gracious enough to dissolve into a quivering puddle. She has done everything she can to encourage such a meltdown, but by now it should be clear that it won't happen.

Conventional wisdom, which rarely has anything to do with real wisdom, suggests that the long, drawn out fight for the nomination is harming the Democratic Party, that Clinton's attempts to undermine Obama's gravitas to be president will hurt him in the general election against McCain, tarnishing him with independent voters. I agreed with Robinson 100 percent. He even threw in the "long national nightmare" phrase that seemed to sum up the race.

But the next sentence after the quoted section above triggered an epiphany: "If anything, Obama is learning some of Clinton's war craft." Clinton staying in the race could be a good thing. If Obama can't learn to deal with the issues that are out there now, he's going to have some real problems on down the road. The Republican attack machine, the Swift Boaters Against Truth and other special interest groups are going to attack Obama in ways that rational people can't comprehend. Opposition research trolls will begin pulling attacks out of thin air. The real fun in this campaign season is still a good four or five months away when both sides begin making a real play for these independent voters, these politically inept individuals who "vote for the man, not the party." Let the race continue. Our candidate needs a little toughening up.

And while we're on the subject of the Washington Post, I just recently noticed that they are now doing animations of Ann Telnaes's political cartoons. The latest, I would call it "Georgie in Wonderland," is pretty excellent.

NASCAR: The Tracks: Talladega

Image via Wikipedia

Talladega! There's nothing quite like it, but Daytona comes close. They are both superspeedways, both tri-ovals, both restrictor plate tracks. Both have an intense party atmosphere, especially in the infields. But Talladega seems a little wilder and woolier to me, both on and off the track.  Talladega also seems, as NASCAR.com writer David Caraviello puts it, "semi-off -- so much so that in 2009 they brought in a Creek medicine man to perform "a prayer of protection, restoration, and balance to try and ease whatever cosmic instability surrounds the track."

Talladega Superspeedway, in Talladega, Alabama, is a little longer than Daytona -- 2.66 miles to 2.5 miles. The straightaways are a bit longer -- a 4300-foot frontstretch and a 4000-foot backstretch compared to Daytona's 3800-foot frontstretch and 3000-foot backstretch. The turns have a little more banking -- 33 degrees to Daytona's 31 degrees. Daytona has three degrees of banking in the straightaways. Talladega has two degrees of banking in the backstretch, but a whopping 16.5 degrees in the frontstretch.  One track anomaly:  the start/finish line is not in the middle of the tri-oval where it should be, but several hundred yards further along, past the exit of pit road.  Many races are won or lost in those extra yards.

The strategy at Talladega is pretty simple: eke out every last bit of horsepower and speed from your car, dial in enough downforce to get the thing to stay on the track, find a drafting partner and avoid the Big One, the wreck that takes out multiple cars.  The winner is usually the driver who navigates to the front of a line and gets a timely push from a teammate or another driver.

Talladega International Motor Speedway was built on soybean farmland next to two abandoned World War II-era airport runways in North Alabama.  Some claim that the land was once an Indian burial ground -- an explanation for some of the inexplicable things that happen there.  The name was changed to Talladega Superspeedway in 1989.

The track opened in 1969 amidst a boatload of controversy. The speeds were so high that the tire companies could not come up with a compound that would hold together, or that might have just been an excuse.  Other issues, including salaries and driver amenities, were on the table.  The Professional Drivers Association, led by Richard Petty, declared the situation unsafe and walked out, but NASCAR went ahead as scheduled and ran the full 500 miles without a major incident, employing Grand American and ARCA drivers. Richard Brickhouse, the lone PDA driver to challenge the walkout, replaced Paul Goldsmith in one of the new winged Dodge Charger Daytonas and won the inaugural race, but runner-up Jim Vandiver is convinced that he was actually the winner, that Brickhouse was a lap down.  (See "Lives, Sport Were Changed Forever at 'Dega's First Race" and "Strike of '69 Dega's Defining Moment")

Bill Elliott established the stock car speed record at Talladega in 1987, posting a qualifying speed of 212.809 mph. Rusty Wallace set an unofficial record at Talladega in 2004. Driving a car without a restrictor plate, Wallace reached 228 mph in the backstretch and a one-lap average of 221 mph, an experience he later described as "out of control."  Mark Martin holds the all-time race speed record -- 188.354 mph. Incredibly, he set the record during a caution-free restrictor plate race in May of 1997.

In the 1987 Winston 500 at Talladega, Bobby Allison blew a tire entering the tri-oval. His Buick flew backwards into the catch fencing and several fans suffered minor injuries. Fearing a major incident in the not-too-distant future, NASCAR experimented with a couple of methods of slowing the cars down before finally settling on using the restrictor plate at Talladega and Daytona. The plates reduce engine horsepower from around 750 to around 430, affecting top speed and acceleration. An unintended consequence is that the cars tend to stay bunched close together to take advantage of the draft, going full speed three- or four-wide. One mistake or blown tire is usually enough to cause The Big One, a massive multi-car accident.

In April of 2009, Carl Edwards was leading with Brad Keselowski right on his bumper as they entered the tri-oval on the last lap.  Keselowski feinted a high move, then went low.  Edwards went high, then went low to block, but he wasn't clear.  Edwards slid across Keselowski's nose and spun.  His rear end lifted and he was slammed by Ryan Newman, who was running in third at the time.  Edwards's car went into the catch fencing and debris pelted fans in the grandstand, injuring several.  Again, NASCAR had to do something to prevent a more serious accident in the future.  They announced that they were mandating a smaller restrictor plate for races at Talladega and Daytona to slow the cars even more.  They also raised the catch fencing from 14-feet to 22-feet at the tracks.

Dale Earnhardt is the all-time winner at Talladega. He won ten races there during his career.  Jeff Gordon leads active drivers with six 'Dega wins.

Talladega Superspeedway hosts a Sprint Cup race, the Aarons 499, and a Nationwide race in April and a second Cup race, the Amp Energy 500, the sixth race in the Chase for the Sprint Cup, and a Camping World Truck race in October.

(diagram from NASCAR.com)

Talladega Cup winners

NASCAR tracks index page

Out of It

In case you haven't noticed, I haven't exactly been prolific here lately. I've been out of it. I've been suffering from writer's block -- a strange combination of apathy, Bush Fatigue Syndrome and plain old-fashioned fatigue.

After working eight hours a day (and into the night -- I work second shift) , I'm not often up for something as mentally strenuous as coming up with a post or two for this blog. By the time I go through my email, scan the news headlines, surf the web a little or watch a little TV, and find an appropriate Quote of the Day for the Blue Voice, I'm not too motivated to do much of anything else. Before I can get sufficiently motivated, it's time to go to bed for a few hours of sleep, then it's up again to start all over again.

Bush Fatigue Syndrome? Don't tell me you haven't experienced it yet. It's that exasperated feeling that we've entered some alternative version of America in which anything goes and usually does. It's that feeling you get when you hear of the latest outrage perpetrated by Bush and Company and aren't the slightest bit surprised. In fact, you were kind of expecting it. A couple of weeks ago, the big outrage for a few days was the Yoo memo. Remember that? This was a memo written by John C. Yoo from the Legal Counsel's office that, in a roundabout way, described how, in time of war, the president could pretty much do whatever the hell he wanted to do without interference from Congress or anybody else. In fact, according to Yoo, "Any effort by Congress to regulate the interrogation of battlefield detainees would violate the Constitution's sole vesting of the Commander-in-Chief authority in the President." Nothing really that surprising there. BushCo has continually pushed the envelope on the issue of executive privilege ever since we entered the Era of Perpetual War. That's just one of the benefits of conducting a war on a concept, like terrorism, instead of your more traditional sorts of enemies. But the most shocking thing about the Yoo Memo was the in-your-face deliberations about what was acceptable behavior when it came to dealing with detainees at Guantanamo Bay and other fun spots. Could the president order someone's eyes poked out? How about throwing acid on them? Drugging them? What were the limits? Were there any limits at all? "Our previous opinions make clear that customary international law is not federal law and that the president is free to override it at his discretion...Finally, even if the criminal prohibitions outlined above applied, and an interrogation method might violate those prohibitions, necessity or self-defense could provide justifications for any criminal liability." Sigh...

Shortly after the release of the Yoo Memo, we discovered that Vice President Dick Cheney and the highest ranking members of the Bush Administration -- Condoleeza Rice, Colin Powell, Donald Rumsfeld, George Tenet and John Ashcroft -- had quite a few meetings in the White House Situation Room in which they discussed the same thing: What were the limits? Were there any limits? The most shocking thing about this revelation was that Ashcroft was the most reasonable person in the room, asking at one point, "Why are we talking about this in the White House? History will not judge this kindly." Sigh...

A day or two later, in a rare press conference, Bush acknowledged that, yes, he knew what was going on. Was well aware of the meetings and what went on there. Wanna make something of it? Sigh...

Add to that two ongoing wars, domestic surveillance, the deteriorating environment, the imploding economy, the skyrocketing gas and food prices, etc., etc., etc. and all I want to do is just count down the days until the next Inauguration Day (eight months, 25 days), when someone...anyone new takes office and our long national nightmare is finally over. Which brings me to the apathy...

Way back in olden days, back when they first started counting votes in Iowa and New Hampshire and other quaint outposts of rural America, I was excited about the political process, and especially excited about the opportunity to elect a new president. I was excited about John Edwards, but there were a few other contenders who looked promising. The Republican Party contenders were a myriad collection of loons and crooks who, for the most part, made George W. Bush look halfway ethical and sane by comparison. John McCain quickly emerged from this pack of reprobates to win the nomination -- not exactly a case of the cream rising to the top.

The Democratic Party has a rare gift for snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, for finding new ways to lose elections they should have won. I'm afraid that they've found a new way this year: the front-loaded primary season. Instead of everyone being patient and waiting their turn, various states played havoc with the primary calender in an effort to move to the head of the line. In two cases, Michigan and Florida, the states ignored party rules and threats to move their primaries up. It will eventually be up to some party rules committee to determine how or if the states will have delegates at the national convention. The Democrats also have the superdelegate, the party insider whose vote is worth much more than your ordinary human delegate. All this has conspired to give us a race between the original front-runner, Hillary Clinton, and the charismatic upstart that we know next to nothing about, Barack Obama. Everyone else was gone before we ever really had a chance to see if they had any new ideas about anything. Neither Clinton nor Obama is anywhere near where my ideal candidate would be on almost any issue, but I've never experienced a presidential election that was anything but a choice between the lesser of two evils. Just give me a nominee and I'll try to get behind him...or her. But, at this point, I'd be happy with anyone, even McCain, just so long as we can get Bush back home to Crawford and consigned to the dustbin of history as quickly as possible.

For a while I was actually kind of excited about having two nominees battling it out in the marketplace of ideas. But it turns out the ideas were whether Obama's pastor loves America and why Obama doesn't love America enough to wear a flag pin. Now it's gotten to the point where David Letterman is joking, "The Democratic presidential race is dragging on and on and on, but the Democrats are trying to put a good face on this. They say now absolutely they will have a nominee by McCain’s second year in office. So they’re ready to go." Sigh...Wake me when it's over.

But I'm trying to shake out of it, trying to clear the cobwebs from my mind. I'm going to try to start posting on a more regular basis. If I can't work up the outrage or interest to post about politics, I'll hit you with some other topics -- NASCAR or the Civil War or whatever else I can come up with. Thank you for your patience and understanding in these trying times.

Better Late Than Never Monday Music, Take Two: True Faith

For the second week in a row I was away from my computer and unable to post a Monday music thingy. To make it up to you here's one of the most bizarre videos ever made...and a pretty good song, "True Faith" by New Order...

I feel so extraordinary
Something's got a hold on me
I get this feeling I'm in motion
A sudden sense of liberty
I don't care 'cause I'm not there
And I don't care if I'm here tomorrow
Again and again I've taken too much
Of the things that cost you too much

I used to think that the day would never come
I'd see delight in the shade of the morning sun
My morning sun is the drug that brings me near
To the childhood I lost, replaced by fear
I used to think that the day would never come
That my life would depend on the morning sun

When I was a very small boy,
Very small boys talked to me
Now that we've grown up together
They're afraid of what they see
That's the price that we all pay
Our valued destiny comes to nothing
I can't tell you where we're going
I guess there was just no way of knowing

I used to think that the day would never come
I'd see delight in the shade of the morning sun
My morning sun is the drug that brings me near
To the childhood I lost, replaced by fear
I used to think that the day would never come
That my life would depend on the morning sun

I feel so extraordinary
Something's got a hold on me
I get this feeling I'm in motion
A sudden sense of liberty
The chances are we've gone too far
You took my time and you took my money
Now I fear you've left me standing
In a world that's so demanding

I used to think that the day would never come
I'd see delight in the shade of the morning sun
My morning sun is the drug that brings me near
To the childhood I lost, replaced by fear
I used to think that the day would never come
That my life would depend on the morning sun...

Debate Postmortem

Wednesday's debate solidified an opinion I've had for a while that the so-called liberal media is going to try its damnedest to shove a McCain presidency down our throats. The "Democrats Debate" was, to paraphrase Shakespeare, a program moderated by idiots, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.

"Let me turn to the economy. That is the number one issue on Americans' minds right now." That line came from George Stephanopoulus...over an hour into the debate, long after "bitter" and flag pins and Reverend Wright and Bosnia sniper fire and the Weather Underground and so many other things that don't matter a hill of beans when you consider two on-going wars, 47 million Americans without health insurance, rising food prices, rising gas prices, or the vice president and the top officials in the cabinet sitting around the White House discussing whether the president could order someone's eyes gouged out.

Barack Obama offered his own debate postmortem at a town hall meeting in Raleigh, North Carolina on Thursday.

The Onion Strikes Again

The Onion always has some funny content, but every now and then they outdo themselves. For example, there's this "news" story from Onion News Network...


Wildly Popular 'Iron Man' Trailer To Be Adapted Into Full-Length Film

Better Late Than Never Monday Music: Heartbreaker

I couldn't get to the computer yesterday (Monday) to do my weekly music thingy, so I thought I'd share something special with you for being so patient. Here's Dread Zeppelin! They usually cover Led Zeppelin songs with an Elvis/reggae style. Here's "Heartbreaker (at the End of Lonely Street)."

NASCAR Tracks: Phoenix

Phoenix International Raceway (located in Avondale, Arizona, a Phoenix suburb) was constructed in 1964 and was originally designed for open-wheeled cars.  The NASCAR Cup Series didn't begin racing there until 1988. Al Unser, A. J. Foyt, Tom Sneva, Richard Petty (racing in the NASCAR Winston West Series), Ken Schrader (racing in the National Midget Series), and Steve McQueen have all been winners at PIR. This was the site of the first "Polish Victory Lap" when Alan Kulwicki recorded his first Cup victory at the track's first Cup Series race on November 6, 1988.  A second Sprint Cup race was added to the schedule in 2004.

The track, shaped around the rugged terrain of the Estrella Mountains foothills (hence the little dogleg in the back straightaway), features a one-mile tri-oval, a 2.5-mile road course, and a drag strip.  After the construction of nearby Firebird International Speedway, use of the drag strip declined dramatically.  PIR used to have an external road course before the infield course was built and replaced it.  In 2002-03, a tunnel was constructed under Turn Four for infield access.

NASCAR prefers to use the oval. The banking is not very steep -- just eleven degrees in turns 1 and 2, nine degrees in turns 3 and four and the backstretch, and an almost flat three degrees in the frontstretch. The biggest issue with the track is that the two ends of the track are so different. If a car is dialed in to handle turns 1 and 2 well, it probably won't handle well in turns 3 and 4, and vice versa. Weather is almost never a factor. Only one Cup Series race, in 1998, was shortened by rain. The track seats 76,800.

Jimmie Johnson leads all drivers with four Phoenix wins.  Ryan Newman holds the Sprint Cup qualifying record, 26.499 seconds (135.854 mph), set in 2004.

In October 2009, NASCAR and their television partners announced new uniform start times for all NASCAR Sprint Cup races with all night races starting at 7:30 p.m. ET.  To ensure that the Phoenix night race in April (which would begin at 4:30 p.m. local time) actually finishes under the lights, NASCAR decided in January 2010 to increase the race by 63 miles -- from 312 laps (500 kilometers) to 375 laps (600 kilometers).  Yes, PIR is one of the few tracks where the races are measured not in miles or laps, but in kilometers.  The Subway Fit Fresh 500 would become the Subway Fit Fresh 600.  PIR also hosts a Nationwide Series race in April.

The fall weekend in November is one of the biggest events in the state with the Sprint Cup Series, the Nationwide Series, the Camping World Truck Series and the Featherlight Southwest Series all holding races.  The Sprint Cup race, the Checker O'Reilly Auto Parts 500 presented by Pennzoil, is the ninth race in the Chase for the Sprint Cup.

(diagram from NASCAR.com)

Phoenix Sprint Cup winners

NASCAR tracks index

Melodic Monday Music: "Life in a Northern Town"

I don't listen to much country music, so I was shocked to see Sugarland's latest crime against humanity. In their latest video (WARNING: occasionally playing on CMTV), Sugarland even brings out several other big name country acts to aid and abet them in their shocking crime, the brutal murder of a beautiful song by the Dream Academy, "Life in a Northern Town."

A Salvation Army band played
And the children drunk lemonade
And the morning lasted all day, all day
And through an open window came
Like Sinatra in a younger day,
Pushing the town away. Oh...

Ah hey ma ma ma
Life in a northern town.

They sat on the stoney ground
And he took a cigarette out
And everyone else came down to listen.
He said "In winter 1963
It felt like the world would freeze
With John F. Kennedy
And the Beatles." Yeah, yeah...

Ah hey ma ma ma
Life in a northern town.
Ah hey ma ma ma
All the work shut down.

The evening turned to rain
Watched the water roll down the drain,
As we followed him down to the station
And though he never would wave goodbye,
You could see it written in his eyes
As the train rolled out of sight
Bye-bye.

Ah hey ma ma ma
Life in a northern town.
Ah hey ma ma ma
Life in a northern town.

Weekend Assignment: Speechifying

Karen has a new assignment every weekend at Outpost Mavarin. Here's the latest...

Weekend Assignment #210: It's been 40 years since the Mountaintop speech, and even longer since the great speeches of John F Kennedy, Winston Churchill, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Abraham Lincoln and others. Are the days of great oratory behind us, or have you drawn inspiration from some recent public speaker? If so, what was the speech? Do you remember any actual quotes from it?

Yes, the days of great oratory are behind us. No, not too much inspiration from too many recent public speakers.

I think public speaking began to go downhill when politicians and others began to rely too heavily on speechwriters instead of their own abilities to craft inspiring words. It all sounds like stuff that's been tested in front of too many focus groups to avoid offending anyone. With our current president, too often the memorable phrases are something like, "Bring 'em on!" or "Axis of Evil." And if he gets off the script, he's liable to say anything like "Too many OB/GYNs aren't able to practice their love with women all across this country." Ronald Reagan could deliver a good performance, but didn't often say anything I was much interested in hearing. You didn't want him wandering too far from the script either. Barack Obama has a good delivery, but I often think of the old Wendy's commercials when I hear him speak. "Where's the beef?"

Occasionally, I'll hear a politician give a speech and be impressed by the ideas, almost never by any lofty rhetoric. Their mostly just focus-tested words to appeal to the lowest common denominator...unless it's an old rerun of the West Wing.

Extra Credit: Have you ever given a speech, other than in a classroom?

I majored in Speech/Mass Communications in college and gave quite a few classroom speeches. I also worked in radio for a while, but that's not the same thing. It's a lot easier to get comfortable when you don't see all those eyes staring back at you.

Forty Years

At what was originally intended to be a campaign stop in the race for the 1968 Democratic nomination, Robert Kennedy broke the news of the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. to a crowd in Indianapolis...

NASCAR Tracks: Texas

Image via Wikipedia

Texas Motor Speedway is a newer version of Atlanta Motor Speedway. Atlanta is a bit longer -- 1.54-miles vs. Texas's 1.50-mile. Both speedways are quad-ovals. The banking is identical at both tracks -- 24 degrees in the turns, 5 degrees in the straightaways. The straightaways are a little longer at Atlanta. Texas can hold around 35,000 more fans, around 160,000.

Bruton Smith spent $250,000 to construct Texas Motor Speedway ("The Great American Speedway") in the northwestern corner of the Dallas-Ft. Worth metro area, between Ft. Worth and Denton. The facility also includes a road course and legends layout in the infield of the 1.5-mile oval. There's also a smaller oval, the 1/5-mile Lil Texas Motor Speedway, and a 2/5-mile dirt track. Legendary racing promoter Eddie Gossage has been the president of the track since it opened.

The big oval was completed in 1996 and Mark Martin won the first NASCAR event at the track, a Busch (now Nationwide) Series race in April 1997. Jeff Burton won the first Cup race at TMS, the Interstate Batteries 500, the next day.

Texas competes with Atlanta in pure speed. They are both big ovals with long straightaways and high-banked turns, and most importantly, no restrictor plates. Texas was a little faster when it was new, Atlanta is a little faster now that both have aged racing surfaces. Brian Vicker set the Cup qualifying record in the fall of 2006, 196.235 mph. Actual race speeds don't fall off too much from that; speeds of over 200 mph before you reach the corners in Turns 1 and 3. Carl Edwards holds the record for Cup wins at Texas, 3 -- he won in the fall of 2005 and swept both races in 2008.

Two racetracks, North Wilkesboro Speedway and North Carolina Speedway (Rockingham), were bought by Bruton Smith and closed so that Texas Motor Speedway could have two Cup races. The track hosts the Samsung 500 along with a Nationwide Series Race in April, and a Camping World Truck Series race in June. In November, the track hosts all three national series, including the Sprint Cup race, the Dickies 500, the eighth race in the Chase for the Sprint Cup.

(graphic from NASCAR.com)


Cup race winners

NASCAR tracks index