He presides over Texas Motor Speedway, where the Samsung 500 will be run this Sunday.

But Eddie Gossage is more than just the president and general manager of TMS. He is the man who once accidentally set Bruton Smith's hair on fire during a track promotion in Charlotte, and not only survived that unintended assault on his boss' already-thinning follicles but later rose to head up one of the most ambitious projects ever attempted by Smith's aggressive Speedway Motorsports Inc. He is the guy who loves to good-naturedly gig his NFL neighbors, the Dallas Cowboys. He is a father who used to coach hockey and recently entertained overtures from some of the power brokers in the National Hockey League, who had visions of him possibly becoming future commissioner of that league.

Gossage carved some time out of his busy schedule to talk one-on-one with NASCAR.COM.

Texas-sized facts

Texas Motor Speedway

Covers 1,500 acres

Seats 159,585

Contains 194 luxury suites

Includes Speedway Club which houses an upscale restaurant, ballrooms and a gym

Includes 10-story Lone Star Tower, which houses offices and 76 luxury condominiums

Celebrated the 10th anniversary of its opening last year

• Track Page | Tickets

Q: What was it like in 1989 when you took the public relations job at what is now Lowe's Motor Speedway in Charlotte, knowing you were the 19th man in 15 years to hold that position?

Gossage: It was an exciting time because, to me, Lowe's Motor Speedway -- Charlotte Motor Speedway back then -- was a magical place. What I quickly learned was that there isn't any such thing as magic. It's just hard work. At the time it probably wasn't viewed as the smartest career move, because I think generally the average time lasted on the job was less than a year.

It was a tough place to work, because Humpy (Wheeler, track president and general manager) demanded so much. But I held the record for many years. I left and Jerry Gappens took over, and now he holds the record. We'll see how Scott Cooper does (since Gappens left to become president and GM at New Hampshire International Speedway).

Q: Do you think maybe Humpy is just getting soft in his old age?

Gossage: I think I softened him up for both of 'em, actually. But it was an interesting place to work, to say the least.

Q: What did you learn that you have applied over the years by majoring in journalism at Middle Tennessee State?

Gossage: What I learned is that there are really no limits. You truly are limited only by your imagination. To me, that's a wonderful thing -- to know that you can accomplish anything, that you've got the freedom to do anything that you want to try and pull off. The (SMI) company and its management is fearless. Part of that is Bruton and part might be Humpy, but there are things I've done here in Texas where I've been told, 'Boy, that's genius.' And I go, 'No, that's not genius. That was obvious. It's just having the guts to do it.' That's the challenge to me. Having the guts to do some of the things that we do.

Q: What are one or two of the gutsiest things you've done, then?

Gossage: I'm not going to say best -- they may have been the best, but I'm not going to say best -- but certainly the billboard campaign with Dale Jr. and stepmom this spring took some guts, because I knew it was going to result in some pushback. Like both Kelley Earnhardt and Dale Jr. told me, 'I'm not sure what it means.' I told them, 'That's the absolute beauty of it. It's left to each person to say, really, what does it mean to you?' But that one took some guts.

Q: For those of us not in Texas, describe exactly what that billboard campaign consisted of?

Gossage: Well, you won't see it now -- because at the request of Kelley and Dale Jr., we changed it. But our advertising campaign this year is what we call our 'Reasons Campaign' -- reasons why you would attend the Samsung 500 or the Dickie's 500 in the fall. And so we had one billboard that had a photograph of Dale Jr. and it said, 'Reason No. 88: Stepmom.' It created quite a buzz. Kelley and Dale Jr. said, 'Look, our issue is that we're trying to move forward. This is one of those things that is causing us to look back.' ... And I said, 'Look, if it makes you uncomfortable, we'll change 'em.' Now it says: 'Reason No. 88: New car smell.'

Q: Any other billboards we should know about?

Gossage: Oh yeah, there are other 'Reasons' billboards and newspaper ads, too. Reason No. 24: Eighty-one career wins, zilch at Texas. Reason No. 48: Twice as good as 24? Reason No. 20: Road rage, with a great wild-eyed photo of Tony (Stewart). Those kinds of things, you've got to have the guts to pull them off.

And in these cases, all these guys are friends of mine. Jeff and I have talked about how it's really buggin' him that he's never won here in Texas. With Jimmie, we're just trying to cause water-cooler debate. First of all, you can't be twice as good as Jeff Gordon. That's not possible. But where does Jimmie stack up to Jeff? Jimmie has won two straight Cup championships. ... Those are some of the silly things we've done along the way.

Q: Of course you also recently made the $15,000 offer to any driver who would throw his helmet in a fit of anger during a competition. What was that all about?

Gossage: About a month ago, we had a media day. And a reporter asked a question about NASCAR's statement that they planned to let drivers show more emotion. It seemed like they got fined money or points or both for any little thing they were doing the last few years, and NASCAR said that they were going to kind of let them show their real colors or whatever.

So I said, 'I'll tell you what. I'm inspired by Brian France and Mike Helton saying this. And here's what I'm going to do: I've got a big helmet collection, and between now and the Samsung 500 -- that meant (through last Sunday) and the race at Martinsville -- I'll pay $15,000 for the helmet that any driver throws during the course of a race. I just thought I could add something to my collection, and get a little excitement going, a little buzz going. In truth, it was a joke. But I would have done it if a driver had thrown something.

Q: He wouldn't have had to throw it at another competitor, though, right?

Gossage: Well, Kevin Harvick was nearby. And he stopped by to say, 'Let me make sure I've got this straight. If I throw a helmet, you're gonna give me $15,000?' I said, 'OK, since you're going to parse words, the caveat has to be that during the competition it has to be in a fit of anger or rage.' You can't just stand there in the garage and say, 'Oh, here's an old helmet and toss it in the corner and say, 'OK, Eddie, where's my 15 thousand bucks?'

Harvick came back and said, 'Well, they fine us $25,000 for that.' And I said, 'Yeah, well, and you fools still throw 'em, don't you? So at least this way you've got $15,000 Eddie Bucks in your pocket before you start, so it's only going to cost you $10,000 instead of $25,000.'

Q: What did you learn during your first job out of college working at 14,000-seat Nashville Speedway, and what's the craziest thing you ever saw happen there?

Gossage: The craziest thing I ever saw was an almost-knife fight between two competitors during the race on the racetrack. One guy crashed. The other guy jumped out. They're going at it, cars are still flying by during the caution, and by the time the cops got there one of the guys was trying to get his knife out of his pocket.

I had made it to the big time. But, you know, at Nashville, as it is the case at any Saturday night short track, you don't have any staff. You've got to do everything. So I've flipped burgers and I've driven the pace car and I've done the P.A. and I've flagged the races and I've sold tickets and I've handed out the trophy and suspended drivers and on and on and on. That's the beauty of learning at that level -- because there is nothing here at Texas Motor Speedway that I haven't already done. I can do it, and the staff can't pull the wool over my eyes and say something can't be done, because I've already done it. So it was a great learning experience, but I wouldn't do it again for a million dollars. You could kill yourself. It was six days a week and on Sunday you slept, because you were just exhausted. But it was a fun experience, a great time in my life -- and that's why the young are given youth.

Q: Talk a little about leading the SMI side of the negotiations with former U.S. presidential candidate Ross Perot's people to purchase the land where Texas Motor Speedway now sits?

Gossage: It was exciting. Bruton told me to go buy the land and gave me the parameters of what to work with, in terms of here's your ceiling but negotiate. Ross Jr. went to Vanderbilt, which is located in Nashville, where I'm from. And I'm not sure what his degree was in, but probably it's some sort of business degree. And here's me -- a journalism major from Middle Tennessee State University. My dad loaded box cars for a living. He worked hard, sweated a lot -- good, honest hard work, that kind of thing. And here I find myself sitting across the table from Ross Perot Jr., trying to negotiate this deal to buy the land to build this speedway. I'm proud to say that we ended up getting the better end of the deal.

It really was one of those experiences where you say to yourself, 'How did I end up here? How do the stars align in such a fashion that little ol' me winds up doing this?'

Q: How close did you come to hitting Bruton's ceiling in those negotiations?

Gossage: Oh, not even close. Not even close. We got a heck of a deal. I know we bought the land from Ross for less than what he paid for it, how's that? And Ross, to his defense, because this worked out extremely well for him, saw it as kind of a loss leader. We're at the north end of a monstrous development called the Alliance development, which includes a free-trade airport. I mean, we're talking warehouse and distribution centers that are a half-million to a million square feet. So these are monstrously huge facilities.

And he viewed Texas Motor Speedway as an anchor tenant for the northern edge of the Alliance development. Kind of like a shopping mall has anchor tenants, it's the same concept he used here. It has worked well for both of us. They have done extremely well, and Ross is a good friend of ours.

Q: You recently were rumored as a possible future candidate for commissioner of the National Hockey League. Is it true that your son Dustin's reaction to that was, 'Dad, they must not have seen you skate?'

Gossage: Yes, my son, who played hockey for 12 years and whom I coached for many years, made a comment to that effect. He's an adult now, but your kids are always going to try to find some way to point out your weaknesses. So his comeback was, 'Well, they must not have seen your skating skills.'

That was a real honor to be considered, but it just wasn't for me. Without the conversations going very far, I just told them I didn't have any interest.

Q: How did that make you feel to have your name even come up as a possibility?

Gossage: To be considered for such a position was certainly an honor. To be the commissioner of any major sports league is an honor.

Q: Do you have any aspirations to pursue such positions down the road, should the opportunity arise?

Gossage: Well, I'm 49 and I imagine I'll retire here at Texas Motor Speedway. Unfortunately, the commissioner of the National Football League is younger than me. So I don't guess I'll go for that gig anytime soon.

I'll take life as it comes, but I really enjoy where I'm at. I'm looking out the window at a speedway that seats almost 160,000 people. You can fit eight Texas Stadiums in the infield. Now I can tell you that I had a hand in birthing this baby -- and that's not something that many people can tell you, that they played such a role. So that's something that no one can ever take away from me -- my sense of ownership of this place. It's more than just the fact that I'm the president of this place. I saw it from the first spade of dirt being turned to it becoming one of the four big speedways in this country today. So there is an ownership that I have of it that is very important to me. It would be hard to pry me away from here.

Having said that, you never know for sure what is going to come. But I can't see myself doing anything else but this for the rest of my professional career.

Q: Do you have anything special planned for this weekend?

Gossage: Absolutely.

Q: Anything you can reveal?

Gossage: We always have some fun things, and we always have some surprises. And people always want to know ahead of time, 'Well, tell us what surprises you have?' But if I tell you, then they're not surprises.

We stunned everybody a few years ago when I introduced President Bush on the big screen to give the command to start the engines. And everybody said, 'Why didn't you tell us?' And I said, 'We like surprises here.' You need to know that you never know what's going to happen when you come to this place.

Q: So what can you tell us -- aside from the surprises -- that is going to be on tap at Texas Motor Speedway this weekend?

Gossage: Obviously it's a big doubleheader (of racing). That in itself is all you need. The biggest stars that are going to be here are the drivers of these racecars. Everyone else pales in comparison.

But on Friday, we've got Dallas Morning News qualifying day. For $25 you can see all the NASCAR stars practice and then qualify. And then right after that we're going to roll the big stage out ... and we'll open with Cowboy Troy, the king of 'hick-hop' who is from right here in Dallas, and then Big & Rich will hit the stage. Big & Rich are only doing six or eight concerts this year. That's a $25 ticket, but if you clip a coupon out of the Dallas Morning News, it's only $15. Qualifying alone is worth $15. A Big & Rich concert alone is worth $100.

But I'm not going to tell you that Big & Rich are as big as stars as Dale Jr. and Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson and Tony Stewart and on and on. ... And then on Sunday, you've got to have something else going on. Our headliner is the Doobie Brothers. To me, getting to see the Doobie Brothers is a cool thing.

And then we're going to drop the green flag and go racin'. Fans are going to get their money's worth even before it starts. But I just want to have fun and entertain these folks -- and I'll bet we're going to entertain a bunch of folks this weekend.

Q: Tell us one thing that people don't really know about you?

Gossage: I'm a horribly boring person who really would probably go through the day without saying much at all, were it not what I do professionally. Personally, I get great, great pleasure out of just being with my wife and not necessarily doing something. She doesn't talk to the media, but she would tell you, 'He never says anything. He's just quiet.'

Q: That's hard to believe ...

Gossage: I know it is for a lot of people. But it's true. I'm shy. You'd be surprised by how many things I won't do. That's the truth: I'm a quiet, boring person.