Eddie Gossage

William Edgar Gossage (born October 15, 1958) is an American public speaker and a former motorsports executive and businessman.

He is best known as the former president of the Texas Motor Speedway, a 1.5 mi banked racetrack in Fort Worth, Texas.

He previously held positions at numerous companies, holding various public relations positions.

He is a major auto racing promoter and businessman, particularly in stock car racing and IndyCar racing.

Gossage was born and raised in Nashville, Tennessee.

Gossage was born on October 15, 1958, in Nashville, Tennessee to Howell Lee Gossage (1927–1998) and Martha Lucille Craighead (1928–1994).

He is the middle child of his older brother Jeff and his younger brother Craig.

His father worked at a packing house near the Cumberland River after dropping out of high school in his freshman year to serve in the United States Navy, and his mother worked as a housewife.

According to himself, Gossage's early childhood heroes were Muhammad Ali and Evel Knievel, both of whom he saw while watching Wide World of Sports.

Both celebrities influenced his interest in promoting.

To start his promotional career, Gossage hosted events in his parents' backyard.

According to Gossage, his family lived in the middle-class, with the family not having anything except "a roof over our head".

While playing numerous sports for Pioneer Christian Academy in high school, Gossage had ambitions of playing for the Green Bay Packers.

Playing as an end for Pioneer Christian, midway through his high school career he decided to switch his focus towards journalism and writing, instead wanting to become the public relations director for the Packers.

Graduating from Pioneer Christian in 1976, he committed to Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU), where he majored in journalism.

While at MTSU, Gossage wrote articles and was the sports editor for the university's student newspaper, The Sidelines along with interning at The Tennessean sports department.

While working for The Sidelines, he met his first wife.

While at Middle Tennessee, Gossage considered getting a job at the local Nashville International Raceway.

In 1980, he gained his first major publicity job when he was hired by the Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway.

After a brief stint with the Bristol Motor Speedway, he moved to becoming the public relations director for the Miller Brewing Company's racing program for six years.

After getting a recommendation from fellow The Tennessean sportswriter Larry Woody, he was hired to become the director of public relations at the speedway in April 1980.

He earned $9,000 (adjusted for inflation, $) annually for the job.

According to himself, the work he did for the speedway was strenuous; he, on numerous occasions, had to be the janitor, a grass-keeper, the chef, and the pace car driver.

He initially regretted the job, stating that he thought his parents had thought he had wasted four years of college education to earn a low-paying job.

In January 1981, Nashville attorney Gary Baker bought full control of the Bristol International Raceway after being the co-owner of the speedway for three years.

With the purchase, Baker owned both Nashville International Raceway and Bristol International Raceway.

As a result of the purchase, Baker moved Gossage to become the assistant general manager and the public relations director of Bristol International Raceway in February, with recent University of Alabama graduate Tom Roberts taking his place at Nashville.

Under Gossage's work, the Bristol International Raceway saw renovations and improvement, bringing over $20 million (adjusted for inflation, $) in revenue to the Tri-Cities area annually.

In November 1981, California businessman Warner W. Hodgdon purchased half of the interest from Baker for the Bristol International Raceway.

In addition, the job delayed his graduation from Middle Tennessee to 1982.

Along with this, he, along with Baker, negotiated the live coverages of races held at Bristol and for the speedway to host events for the 1982 World's Fair.

He also made attempts to try and broaden the market of stock car racing, which at the time had been stuck to a mainly Southeastern and Appalachian market.

By late 1983, Hodgdon managed to purchase complete control of both the Bristol International Raceway and the Nashville International Raceway, where both Gossage and Roberts worked, respectively.

He was later hired by Charlotte Motor Speedway president H. A. "Humpy" Wheeler in 1989 to become the vice president of public relations at the speedway.

In 1995, he was promoted by Speedway Motorsports owner Bruton Smith and placed in charge of building the newly-announced Texas Motor Speedway, becoming the track's general manager.

After his retirement from the position in 2021, he focused on a motivational speaking career.

Gossage is regarded as a foremost promoter who held unique promotions and as one who hosted some of the largest events in terms of attendance in both auto racing and concerts.

Throughout his tenure at the Texas Motor Speedway, he ran numerous races and concerts that attracted over 200,000 people per event.

A protégé of NASCAR promoter Humpy Wheeler, he has also spurred the creation of numerous promotions and campaigns to promote the speedway.

His advertising campaigns and promotions have sometimes been viewed as controversial in the NASCAR landscape, turning Gossage into one of the most polarizing figures in NASCAR.