Texas Motor Speedway to Webcast Media Day Live

Fort Worth – Texas Motor Speedway Media Day will feature Tony Stewart, Ryan Newman and Colin Braun of NASCAR along with Danica Patrick, Scott Dixon and Dario Franchitti of the IndyCar Series for the annual media kick-off luncheon in the Speedway Club’s Texas Grand Ballroom. The webcast will begin at approximately 12 p.m. CT and the 90-minute segment will feature TMS President Eddie Gossage’s state of the sport address, Patrick, Dixon and Franchitti via satellite from an IndyCar test session in Homestead, Fla. and an on-stage Q&A session with Stewart, Newman and Braun.

While the drivers will field their traditional questions from the media during this session, Texas Motor Speedway also will give fans the opportunity for some of their questions to be answered by the special guests. Beginning today, fans can post their questions for any of the drivers within our new discussion forum and TMS will select several of the best for Gossage to ask the guests during the live webcast. For a question to be considered, fans must send in their full name and hometown, designate for who the question is for and include only one question per user.

Gossage, along with the guests, also are scheduled to post some comments to the TMS blog that day to kick off that feature as well.

“We thought this would be a great way to roll out the redesigned site by offering our fans a peek into a media-only event and see some of the biggest stars in NASCAR and the IndyCar Series,” Gossage said. “We also wanted to make it somewhat interactive and allow fans to submit questions for the drivers and share the best ones with the drivers that day. I’m sure we will get a few entertaining ones.”

In addition to the webcast, Texas Motor Speedway is providing an additional incentive for fans to visit the new site. All fans who sign up and add their physical address to their personal profile on the website will receive a $10 credit for their next TMS race ticket purchase. Fans can begin signing up for the website today in preparation for the webcast as well as the opportunity to send in a question for the drivers at Media Day. Members of the website who have already signed up are eligible, too, by clicking the Edit link located at the top right-hand corner of the site, and then adding their physical address.

The website will have a new look, but more importantly, has been enhanced with several social networking tools to become a more comprehensive destination for its fan community. Texas Motor Speedway has completely revamped its website to allow its fans to communicate among themselves as well as provide speedway officials with constructive feedback on key issues for the fan base.

Among the new features:

- Fan profiles. Each fan can create a personalized profile, including a photo, favorite driver, bio information, and contact details.

- Blogs, forums and communities. Fans will have multiple areas to discuss TMS and the sport itself. They also will have the ability to post their comments on any stories/news articles posted on the website.

- Profiles of news fans to the website will be featured on the web front after they join.

- Top post contributors are profiled on the web front daily and will be awarded status medals.

- Fan gallery for both photos and video.

- Video and podcasts featuring many of the stars of NASCAR and the IndyCar Series, including media events.

- TMS Live Webcam to allow fans to see what different events are going on at the speedway during non-race weeks.

- Weather forecast, track calendar of all events being hosted at TMS, announcements and a countdown clock to the start of the next upcoming major event (Samsung 500, Bombardier Learjet 550k, Dickies 500).

“I think our fans will truly enjoy all the social networking features we added in addition to having fresh, daily news content on the site, both from Texas Motor Speedway and current events in motorsports,” Gossage said. “We definitely want to make this a destination for TMS and race fans.”