Texas World Speedway was built in 1969 and was one of seven superspeedway tracks in the United States. The track was located on State Highway 6 in College Station, TX. The track hosted many racing events over the years such as USAC, NASCAR, IMSA, and SCCA.
The track was compared to its sister track Michigan International Speedway. The track wasn’t just for oval racing but also road course racing. During the 1980s, the track fell into disrepair and both NASCAR and IndyCar dropped the speedway from their schedules.
Even though both series dropped Texas World Speedway, the track continued to host racing events such as ARCA, NASA, Porsche Club of America, Corinthian Vintage Auto Racing, CMRA, driving schools, and car clubs, as well as hosting music concerts.
When NASCAR raced at Texas World Speedway, Richard Petty won the most races with three wins. Other winners at the track include Bobby Isaac, Buddy Baker, Darrell Waltrip, Cale Yarborough, and Benny Parsons.
IndyCar or USAC at the time also raced the oval track with A.J. Foyt winning four times in the years 1976, 1978, and 1979 (2-times). Other winners for the USAC race at the track included Al Unser (1973), Johnny Rutherford (1976 2nd race), Tom Sneva (1977), and Danny Ongais (1978 1st race).
For the road course track, names like Bruce McLaren, the founder of McLaren Automobiles in 1963, won at the track in 1969. IMSA also raced at the track in 1972 with the winners being Juan Izquierdo and Daniel Muniz in a Ford Mustang, in 1995 was Wayne Taylor in a Ferrari 333SP, and in 1996 once again Wayne Taylor and Jim Pace in a Riley and Scott MKIII-Oldsmobile.
In 2017, Texas World Speedway closed and housed all cars that were flooded by Hurricane Harvey. Now the track is slated to be torn down and converted into a housing community. The track may be gone but it won’t be forgotten.
