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What time is the race?
Traffic is going to be a crap shoot. Leave the night b4 and get cheap motel?
Or leave at 4 AM maybe.
Any of you NASCAR fans, I need some advice on traveling to Texas Motor Speedway.
I'll be headed up for the race on Sunday April 9th. I'm going with 3 friends, but I'm wondering when is latest I can leave?
Can anyone give me the scoop on how bad the traffic actually is, coming and going?
We were planning on leaving at like 6:00 a.m. on Sunday. Is that crazy, or is it realistic? I'm being told we need to leave earlier than that.
Any advice or travel experiences would really help!
Thanks.
What time is the race?
Traffic is going to be a crap shoot. Leave the night b4 and get cheap motel?
Or leave at 4 AM maybe.
Went to the ies 500 in November. The traffic going in wasn't as bad as I was led to believe (of course I was on a bus, but it wasn't too bad)...about a 45 minute delay from downtown Fort Worth, but leaving was horrendous. Or so I'm told. I slept (Dawn will say passed out but she's mistaken!) through most of it.
Thanks guys.
It starts at 1:30 p.m., by the way.
Dude, you need to go up there the night before...
Whats another 50 bucks.
no, you need to go up at least 2 nights before, remember there is a Bush race and all the qualifying. TMS is not too bad to get to, but finding a place to stay is almost impossible!
oh and just TRY to get a hotel around Bristol, everyone is sold out 6 months in advance! And it is totally impossible to get in/out of!
Be prepared to WALK YOUR ASS OFF, and get there extra early...especially if you plan on buying anything from Tony Stewart's merchandise trailer. They are the SLOWEST sum es on the planet. I've renewed my car tags faster than that line moves!
go to the Carl Edwards trailer, he has better merchandise!
I didn't BUY anything from Smoke's trailer. I just stood in line with someone who did.
And the best merchandise is at Dale Jr.'s trailer. That's where I dropped my cashe.
Tony Stewart being three times the driver Earnhardt JR and Edwards is, the wait is worth it.
Unless you want to stay in Waco or over on the other side of DFW, you should have already made hotel reservations if you spend the night. And most motels within 25 miles of the track will not sell you a room for a single night around race weekend. It's usually a minimum of 3 nights (Friday, Saturday, and Sunday), 2 at the very least (Saturday and Sunday). And the prices of rooms will be VERY inflated. There are some great packages (don't know if they are still available at this point) that have hotel, race tickets - some for all three races - and motor coach transportation to and from the track for all races. Runs about $600-$900.
If you leave on Sunday morning, you will probably be ok traffic-wise until you get to Ft Worth; from that point on it will be major gridlock. It will probably take you 3 hours to get from Ft Worth on out to the track and parked, and that's a conservative guess.
I was passing through Taledega one Saturday evening of race weekend there, and looking for a hotel room. We started looking when we left Atlanta and did not find a room on the interstate (that didn't cost $250 a night with a minimum of 2 nights) until we got to Tuscaloosa. And there are THOUSANDS who park RVs there, too. I have never seen anything like it, I-20 shoulder-to-shoulder bumper-to-bumper at 80 mph in Taledega AL. It was like the twilight zone.
I have never been to the race at TMS, but I have been in Ft Worth on many race weekends.
My brother goes to the race every spring (he has not been to the one in the fall yet). He has a friend who lives in Dallas who takes an RV over and parks it on the infield at TMS on Tuesday or Wednesday of every race week. They (a group of friends from high school/wives/girlfriends/kids/etc.) spend from Friday afternoon until Monday afternoon or Tuesday morning at the track, barbecuing, partying, watching all the races, and sleeping in the RV. They have a blast.
Last edited by pache100; 03-28-2006 at 09:43 AM.
I'll be heading out there on Friday. I will be going to Qualifying, Busch race, and the Nextel race. You can still find a hotel in Ft. Worth believe it or not. You may also want to wait like several days or a week before the race starts and call a few hotels/motels around Ft. Worth. A lot of people cancel their reservations and that opens up some rooms. I have done that twice and it has worked out fine. Of course its better to reserve way in advance. However, you can still get a room. Send me a PM and I'll give you the name of one hotel that has a few rooms left last time I checked, which is in downtown Ft. Worth.
This year I am staying in Irving, which is a straight shot to the track off of HWY 114. It may be a bit further out, but it beats being in the I-35 traffic. If you are leaving SA on Sunday morning, I would suggest leaving like at 2:00am. No joke. I left my hotel in downtown Ft. Worth last year like @7:30am and got to the track at 10:00am. I am not kidding. I-35 is only two lanes when you are heading towards the track. Leaving the track is worse though.
Pache100 and MoSpur thanks for some of your detailed messages. I know that spending the night would be the best idea, but that was actually never an option.
You see, since me and my friends are still new to the sport; we aren't yet interested in watching the Busch race or the other events. We just want to see the main event.
But the real reason;we couldn't pull off "spending a night" without the wives completely flipping out. So we need to do a sameday road trip.
Which means leaving extra early Sunday and coming back late that night or into the wee hours of Monday morning.
Thanks again guys
Have a GREAT time, NINERS4LIFE! Hope the weather holds out for you all.
Since you are going to do the same day thing, leave from SA really early. And expect to be home really late like around Monday 12 - 2am. Depending on traffic.
Its going to be fun. I cannot wait. I'll post some pictures when I get back from this race.
Looking forward to the pics.
I have a great picture of Kasey I caught when he was walking towards his car to start the race. He was near the garage. I'll try to post it later some time.
Its a good picture. My friends were drooling all over it.
Anything else would be impossible. Why, if I was 30 years younger...
Why does that remind me of A commercial?
If you watch the races, you know which one I speak of.
I was wondering how much that car and the big sign cost too.
here is an Idea, rent and Rv and stay at exit 65 on 35w and you are only 5 miles from the track.
, you can get anything you want at exit 65, Hookers, bait, waffles and drugs.
Honestly you need to be the there day before. HA-Ha But in all seriousness, we leave at 6:30 am and get into the track at 9am. Oh we stay less than 30 minutes from the track. Traffic is crazy and even worse getting out. Plan on 2-3 hours getting out of the parking lot. This is the average for me and I have not missed a Nascar race at TMS in 6 years
Plenty of time to sleep...or pass out, depending on your point of view.
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