Wednesday the 25th of February marked the annual Media Day at Texas Motor Speedway, and, as expected, it didn’t disappoint.

Eddie Gossage, President and General Manager of the track and his staff at TMS are top-notch. The media are very well attended to, as Mr. Gossage understands the importance of a good relationship with those who wield the pen or pixel in your favor, or against it.

Needless to say the lunch was fantastic. Levy Restaurants is the caterer for events out at the track, and they always provide a great meal.

The menu included; tomato basil soup and some outstanding meaty chili (I need to get that recipe!); steak, chicken, and portabello sandwiches on ciabatta bread; and a variety of salads. Afterward there was a desert table with cookies and my favorite, chocolate chunk brownies.

Eddie opened the program on time at noon, speaking to the state of the sport. He made the observation that, “Motor racing is energized by chaos.”

He then read from a “Doom and gloom” piece that very much describes today’s economy and effects it is having on auto racing–except it was an article in a 1974 edition of Sports Illustrated.

I think we were told back then about an impending ice age too, weren’t we?

It was also announced that ticket convenience fees for Internet and Ticketmaster transactions were being suspended, in order to offer further incentive to fans and save them money. This is on top of TMS offering its lowest prices ever for Sprint Cup race tickets at $20 for backstretch seats.

The drivers in attendance were local dirt-track racer Troy Taylor, who will be competing in this weekend’s Texas World Dirt Track Championship at TMS. Taylor won the IMCA Lone Star Nationals in the fall of 2007 at the track.

Colin Braun (pronounced “Brown”–it’s a German thing), who is once again racing the full NASCAR Camping World Truck Series schedule for 2009 in the No. 6 Con-Way Freight Ford for Roush-Fenway Racing was present. He is a native of Ovalo, Texas, a small town south of Abilene.

Ryan Newman and Tony Stewart of Stewart-Haas Racing were also on hand, taking part in radio and television interviews with media as well as answering questions from attendees and those posed by visitors to the newly-redesigned TMS website.

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