"Alright. I’ve got it!"
It wasn’t so much this exclamation as he walked into the meeting; it was more the double pointed fingers that told us all this is going to be good. Eddie Gossage, president of Texas Motor Speedway, does that. He uses both fingers to point at nothing in particular when a big idea strikes. And this... was a big idea.
It was a rainy Monday afternoon a couple of weeks after a NASCAR race weekend. This particular group of eight people meets every Monday to plan a blow-out party twice a year for Season Ticket Holders, the No Limits Garage Party. Our competition is ourselves and honestly, one another. What can we bring to the table to up the ante? What can we do that no one has ever seen before? Or, better, even thought of?
“We need a monkey knife fight.”
A couple of uncomfortable laughs, some sideways glances, curious looks and a smirk (ok, that was me). Silence.
And then, Eddie makes a bad excuse for not being able to stay and leaves. He leaves us with this big idea. He leaves us wondering how we keep the monkeys from harming our guests and well, one another. He leaves us pondering if he is just overtired or has just plain lost his mind. He leaves some of us considering, “Do the monkeys fight with four knives or five?” (think about it). He leaves us talking about who will be the one to draw the short straw and has to break the news to Media Relations that PETA will be needing protest space at our next Garage Party.
I’m not proud of this, but he kept us wondering, pondering and chasing phantom knife-fighting monkeys for three weeks… and along the way, we came up with some killer ideas. Ok, maybe ‘killer’ isn’t the best term considering, but they were pretty fantastic. Which, of course, was his big idea.
That is what you will find here on this blog. The things you won’t find anywhere else. The untold stories, the behind-the-scenes, the things that set Texas Motor Speedway apart from all of the others.
Only here. Expect the unexpected. Because we have learned from the master, when they least expect and need it most, lay a Monkey Knife Fight on them.