Ever the crafty promoter, Texas Motor Speedway president Eddie Gossage has found yet another way to keep the speedway in the news while there is absolutely nothing going on at the track. Gossage offered morning radio host Terry Dorsey $100,000 if he will legally change his name to TexasMotorSpeedway.com for one year and get a permanent TMS tattoo.
With April Fool’s Day just around the corner, many may doubt the showman’s sincerity. This is the same man who sent out a press release on April Fool’s Day 2008 detailing plans to dome the speedway and make it NASCAR’s first indoor event. However, he seems sincere with this offer.
“This may seem a bit crazy, but if you think about it Texas Motor Speedway will have a walking, talking billboard that is a well-known personality in the country’s fourth-largest media market,” Gossage said. “He also is a race fan that has been broadcasting out at Texas Motor Speedway during our big race weeks since Day 1. Still, our finance guy here nearly had a heart attack when I told him what I did this morning, but I told him to look at it as a one-year “˜promotional investment.’ The ball is in Terry’s court now.”
Dorsey, host of the Dorsey Gang on country station 96.3 KSCS, said he would need to discuss the offer with his wife, or the future Mrs. TexasMotorSpeedway.com, before accepting. He better hurry though, according to Gossage, Dorsey has only 24 hours to decide. Dorsey said he’ll announce his decision Wednesday at 8 a.m. on 96.3 KSCS.
Eddie, if Terry balks … I’ll take the offer in a heartbeat. I’m not as popular as Dorsey, but I do have a byline and that could be good, consistent exposure on one of the most-read local news Web sites in Dallas-Fort Worth. Also, I have no tattoos, so there is a lot of real estate left upon which you can choose from to tattoo your corporate logo.
I’ll go ahead and start mulling over designs for my TMS tramp stamp while Dorsey drags his feet.
The next race at the speedway is the Samsung mob!le 500, April 15-18.