Midland
Chamber of Commerce officials Wednesday announced plans for a
proposed open road race running from Spraberry to Rankin and back to
the Midland city limits.
The John
Foster West Texas Open Road Race is scheduled for Oct. 19 with a
proposed route from Spraberry at the intersection of Texas Highway
158 and Farm to Market Road 1379 to Texas Highway 349 where it will
continue on to Rankin. A return run will continue from Rankin along
349 to Midland's southern city limits.
Project
developers hope the race will be an economic opportunity for
Midland.
"Participants will occupy hotel rooms, eat in our restaurants
and buy products like gasoline, tires and other automotive items in
our area," said Shura Lindgren, vice president of Visitor
Development for the Chamber's Convention and Visitors
Bureau.
Naming the
race after Foster, who died late last year, was important to project
planners, who said Foster was a key planner in developing the
race.
"Mr. Foster
was instrumental in the initial planning of this event, and it is
with his help that the race is coming to fruition," said Ms.
Lindgren.
The race is
actually a four-day event from Oct. 16 to Oct. 19. The previous
three days of the competition will be geared toward registration,
inspection, a car show and qualifying as well as a Saturday car show
and festival.
Texas
Department of Transportation officials last week briefed Midland
City Council members on proposed plans. District Engineer Lauren
Garduno said TxDOT would help with plans to facilitate the race as
long as business owners and residents that access the roadways agree
to the race.
"We've been
in contact with the (Chamber) Convention and Visitors Bureau and the
Midland Sports Commission," said TxDOT spokesman Glenn Larum.
"They're preparing a detailed safety plans, a traffic control plan
for that Sunday."
While TxDOT
approves other road races across the state, with at least one known
fatality, Chamber officials are looking for TxDOT approval.
Currently, the Big Bend Open Road Race runs from Fort Stockton to
Sanderson. Officials said that race requires a more technical type
of driver, while the John Foster West Texas Road Race calls for a
driver with "concentration and the shear joy of a great car over
great roads."
Several
categories of racing will be allowed.
- Street
Rod: 85-95 mph
- Touring:
100-110 mph
- Grand
Touring: 115-125 mph
- Grand
Sport: 130-150 mph
- Super
Sport: 155-170 mph
- Unlimited: 170 mph plus
The route
provides the two-lane highway with a banked turn and long straights
through the oil patch. TxDOT officials acknowledge there is a
bit of danger anytime speeds exceed posted limits. "Anytime
you're running your vehicle at a high rate of speed, there's a
risk," said Larum.
In 2000, in
the Big Bend Open Road Race, a 60-year-old driver from Vineland,
N.J. headed into a turn at a high rate of speed in his 1987 Mercedes
560-SL. The driver had been racing in the unlimited class, and when
emergency crews first arrived the driver told them he was uninjured
and did not require transport. A few hours later, he was pronounced
dead in Lubbock. The final cause of death was determined as a kidney
laceration.
