Relief may be on the way for angry Chicagoland fans (cont'd)

Eddie Gossage, who has been president of Texas Motor Speedway since it opened in 1997, said he believes that Rust is the right man for the job to get people back in the seats that used to be a hot ticket when Chicagoland first opened in 2001.

Gossage also said that it might help if Rust is given time to turn it around at the facility that is owned by International Speedway Corp., the rival to the Speedway Motorsports Inc. group that owns the track Gossage operates.

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Whatever your desire, whatever your constraints on your wallet, we have something for you.

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EDDIE GOSSAGE, Texas

"Craig Rust is a good man," Gossage said. "He's a smart guy and he's been around this business for a good while. But he's the third manager of that speedway in its existence and it's only been there what, eight or nine years?

"I've been here since before we bought the property. I know our fans. I know them by name. I know what they want; I know what they like. And if you listen to them, they'll tell you what they want and they'll tell you they'll be happy to buy it."

At Texas, for example, fans have several different options. They can buy a Permanent Seat License and a season ticket, or they can buy individual tickets to the races of their choice -- including IRL, Cup, Truck and other events.

"We've always had a healthy season-ticket program. But the rest are sold on a race-by-race basis. With your season ticket, you get a lot of perks -- including paying 20 percent less per ticket, so you're paying substantially less," said Gossage, whose season-ticket sales have been as high as 65,000 and now hover at about 50,000. "So there are a bunch of perks you can get with a season ticket, but we've never required that you buy them. You can buy tickets one at a time. We've always done that, and it's worked exceptionally well and been a key to our success."

Texas Motor Speedway has a grandstand seating capacity of 138,170 -- and recently took out 11,000 seats along the backstretch to convert that space into lucrative sites for motorcoach homes where fans can watch races in style literally from their own front doors. Gossage said the demand for those rental spaces so far is outstripping supply, and that the revenue being generated is more than he could have hoped for by regularly selling out the 11,000 seats he had removed.

"We're no longer the new thing. We've been here 13 seasons now," Gossage said. "In some ways it's easier than when you were brand new, and in some ways it's not.

"It's tough in this economy. You've got to be more responsive than ever. We built this place here in Texas on choice. You can buy a $20 reserved seat ticket to the Cup race, or you can buy a $1 million condominium, or you can buy anything in between. Whatever your desire, whatever your constraints on your wallet, we have something for you."

Meanwhile, it appears Rust must rebuild trust with the Chicagoland fan base and their initially rabid appetite for live NASCAR events.

"I think that as Craig gets more and more comfortable and more familiar with his fans, he'll learn what works for them. Because what works at one place does not work at another place," Gossage said. "I know in our company, we do things distinctly different from one race track to another -- and it's up to the manager of that race track to figure out what works best for their speedway. We're held accountable and responsible, but each one of us does it completely, completely different."

Rust insisted he is ready for the challenge that awaits him.

"I'm hitting the ground running, but I think I can bring a fresh set of eyes here and we've got a good group already on the ground," Rust said. "So we'll go with it and try to continue the growth of this place in whatever ways we determine are the best course for us to take."