Some of the TIAA members signed up for a tour of one of the world’s largest entertainment facilities, the Texas Motor Speedway with it's 1,500 acres and five different tracks. First, we hopped on a bus to enjoy lunch at Red Robin in Fort Worth and then headed to the speedway. We visited several areas while on site: a gift shop (of course), the garages (with 45 bays), pit row, the wall where the mechanics stand (read to jump down and attend to their car when it enters pit row at 45 mph) during the race, victory lane, and a luxury suite. (Drivers are penalized a lap if they exceed 45 mph while on pit row or hit anyone!) The winner usually takes home over $1M but the last place driver gets only $100,000. However, the highlight of the tour was making several laps on the actual 1.5 mile racing oval in one of their tour vans. NASCARs race at 200 mph while Indy cars do about 225 mph, but we had to settle for 60 mph and could still feel the track bank while going thru the four turns. Some of us took numerous photos (selfies were not required but were encouraged) while looking around and riding on the track but all of us enjoyed the adventure.
Texas Motor Speedway Tour, June 18, 2019
