As I mentioned in the first part of my post, I had the opportunity to tour around Ft. Worth with journalists from around the world during the IFAJ conference. After leaving the Rocky Top Therapy Center we headed to the Texas Motor Speedway for a little fun on the track.
I’ve been to the speedway before and actually enjoyed watching the awe of our international friends more than anything. The speedway seats nearly 200,000 fans on a race weekend and is the host of two Nascar races and an IndyCar race. I could hardly believe this, but the speedway was completed in 1997 and in April ’97 had their first Nascar race. After the weekend was over, the owners made so much money they were able to pay off the speedway. Amazing!
After watching some participants of the Richard Petty Driving School (a program where people can pay to learn how to drive a one of the race cars that compete in the Nascar Sprint Cup Series) with much jealousy, we headed to Superior Livestock Auction located in the historical Ft. Worth Stockyards. From the information that I can gather, they actually auctioned off livestock and other animals in the stockyards until the mid to late 90s. Now, many livestock auctions are handled online and Superior Livestock Auction is the company that pioneered the online auction. You can also watch the actions live on RFD TV and they will also soon be broadcast on cable. Nothing like the ability to buy a lot of Angus without leaving your couch.
You can take a photo tour of my day by checking out our IFAJ/AMS 2009 Photo Album.