NASCAR Fans Race To The Race At Texas Motor Speedway
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NORTH TEXAS (CBS 11 NEWS) - The NASCAR events at Texas Motor Speedway create tremendous traffic congestion as 180,000 fans flock to the races. But some have invested a lot of time winning the race to the race.
Hoby Smith learned from experience.
Smith learned years ago the closer it gets to Sunday's race the slower the traffic moves. Even on Friday night, a flood of fans start pouring in to claim one of 9,000 camping spots around the speedway.
Smith learned to come earlier. A lot earlier.
"We come out here Saturday morning and set all this up," the Wiley resident said.
Smith created a complex of tents, canopies and awnings all tied and taped together. This is beating the traffic NASCAR style.
Old recliner? Check.
Gas lantern hanging overhead? Check.
Beverage holder? Homemade with a couple of brackets a pole stuck in the ground.
And Smith has learned he'd better be ready for the wind. "I'm hunkered down," he said. "I've got zip ties, I've got duct tape, duct tape, duct tape! I've got posts in the ground about a foot and a half to two feet deep."
But make no mistake Smith says the race to the race events often last for days. "A lot of us to come out here all the time and spend the whole week. I've got friends from Corpus [Christi], Fort Worth and everywhere that come here and we spend a whole week together and spend each evening in everybody's camp."
A whole community of fans finds camping beats traffic headaches. In Halloween costumes and with Flamingo-decorated RV's, they have a first hand view of the growing race congestion.
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