William Edgar Gossage (born October 15, 1958) is an American public speaker and the former president of

Texas Motor Speedway Texas Motor Speedway is a speedway located in the northernmost portion of the U.S. city of Fort Worth, Texas – the portion located in Denton County, Texas. The reconfigured track measures with banked 20° in turns 1 and 2 and banked 24° ...

. In June 2021, he stepped down from the position at Texas Motor Speedway after 27 years of running the speedway. Gossage is known in the

NASCAR The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. The privately owned company was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1948, and hi ...

community as a promoter who had tried numerous, out-of-the-box promotional stunts to promote tracks and companies.

Early life and education

Gossage was born on October 15, 1958, in

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the List of muni ...

to H.L. and Lucille Gossage. Early in his life, Gossage had ambitions of becoming a player in the

NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the major ...

. Playing as an end for Pioneer Christian Academy, midway through his high school career he would decide to switch his focus towards journalism. He would commit to

Middle Tennessee State University Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU or MT) is a public university in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. Founded in 1911 as a normal school, the university consists of eight undergraduate colleges as well as a college of graduate studies, together off ...

(MTSU), where he would major in journalism. While at MTSU, Gossage would write articles for the university's student newspaper, ''

Sidelines The "sidelines" are the white or colored lines which mark the outer boundaries of a sports field, running parallel to each other and perpendicular to the goal lines. The sidelines are also where the coaching staff and players out of play ope ...

'' along with sports articles for local Tennessee newspaper ''

The Tennessean ''The Tennessean'' (known until 1972 as ''The Nashville Tennessean'') is a daily newspaper in Nashville, Tennessee. Its circulation area covers 39 counties in Middle Tennessee and eight counties in southern Kentucky. It is owned by Gannett, ...

''.

Career

Early promotional career (1980-1994)

Gossage began his career in April 1980 as director of public relations and assistant general manager with Nashville International Raceway. In the following

year A year or annus is the orbital period of a planetary body, for example, the Earth, moving in its orbit around the Sun. Due to the Earth's axial tilt, the course of a year sees the passing of the seasons, marked by change in weather, the hou ...

, the company moved Gossage to manage

Bristol Motor Speedway Bristol Motor Speedway, formerly known as Bristol International Raceway and Bristol Raceway, is a NASCAR short track venue located in Bristol, Tennessee. Constructed in 1960, it held its first NASCAR race on July 30, 1961. Bristol is among the m ...

in February. In October 1983, Gossage joined the

Miller Brewing Company The Miller Brewing Company is an American brewery and beer company in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It was founded in 1855 by Frederick Miller. Molson Coors acquired the full global brand portfolio of Miller Brewing Company in 2016, and operates the M ...

as marketing communications supervisor, working for the company's racing public relations program. However, after being tired of constant traveling that the program made him do, he left the Miller Brewing Company and joined

Charlotte Motor Speedway Charlotte Motor Speedway (previously known as Lowe's Motor Speedway from 1999 to 2009) is a motorsport complex located in Concord, North Carolina, outside Charlotte. The complex features a quad oval track that hosts NASCAR racing including th ...

in March 1989 as the vice president of public relations.

Texas Motor Speedway (1995-2021)

In 1994, Speedway Motorsports, Inc. owner,

Bruton Smith Ollen Bruton Smith (March 3, 1927 – June 22, 2022) was a promoter and owner/CEO of NASCAR track owner Speedway Motorsports, Inc. He was inducted into NASCAR Hall of Fame in 2016 and the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in 2007. He was bill ...

decided to build a new track. He handed over the project to Gossage to help determine a market location and a suitable tract of land for the new venue.

's track debuted on April 6, 1997, running the

Interstate Batteries 500 The O'Reilly Auto Parts 500 was a NASCAR Cup Series stock car race held at Texas Motor Speedway (TMS) in Fort Worth, Texas. Even though it is advertised as a "500-mile" race, because TMS is a track that is in length, the actual race distance is ...

. In 2004, Gossage became the president at TMS. With the city of

Dallas Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...

, Texas proposing a bid to host the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

, in 2000, Gossage would propose the integration of motorsports into the Olympic Games as a

demonstration sport A demonstration sport, or exhibition sport, is a sport which is played to promote it, rather than as part of standard medal competition. This occurs commonly during the Olympic Games, but may also occur at other sporting events. Demonstration spor ...

. Gossage would propose using

as a racing venue, along with using the track for several other sports. In 2007, rumors speculated that Gossage would replace the commissioner of the

NHL The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

Gary Bettman Gary Bruce Bettman (born June 2, 1952) is an American sports executive who serves as the commissioner of the National Hockey League (NHL), a post he has held since February 1, 1993. Previously, Bettman was a senior vice president and general cou ...

. Both Gossage and the NHL would deny the claims, with Gossage saying that he was loyal to SMI and Texas Motor Speedway. In 2014, Gossage, with the help of Japanese electronics company

Panasonic formerly between 1935 and 2008 and the first incarnation of between 2008 and 2022, is a major Japanese multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate corporation, headquartered in Kadoma, Osaka, Kadoma, Osaka P ...

built ''Big Hoss TV'', which was certified by the

Guinness Book of World Records ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a reference book published annually, listing world ...

as the largest HDTV in the world. In June 2021, Gossage stepped down as president and general manager of Texas Motor Speedway.

Public speaking (2021-)

Following his retirement from Texas Motor Speedway, Gossage would focus solely on a public speaking career.

Other racing work

Gossage has served on the board of directors for ''Speedway Children’s Charities'' from 1997 to 2021, a member of the NASCAR Hall of Fame Nominating Committee, board of professional advisors for the MTSU College of Media and Entertainment, and member of the NASCAR Hall of Fame Voting Panel. He served as a member of the ''IndyCar Iconic'' Committee, which selected the ''Dallara DW-12''; and serves on the

Kyle Petty Charity Ride Across America The Kyle Petty Charity Ride Across America is an annual, cross-country motorcycle ride that travels to raise awareness and funds for Victory Junction, a camp created to enrich the lives of children with chronic or life-threatening medical illne ...

board of directors.

Awards and recognitions

* In 2015, Gossage received ''Advertising Innovation and Marketing Excellence Award'' from the Dallas-Fort Worth chapters of the

American Marketing Association The American Marketing Association (AMA) is a professional association for marketing professionals with 30,000 members as of 2012. It has 76 professional chapters and 250 collegiate chapters across the United States. The AMA was formed in from th ...

and the

American Advertising Federation The American Advertising Federation (AAF), headquartered in Washington, D.C., is the oldest national advertising trade association in the United States. The AAF also has 15 district operations, each located in and representing a different region o ...

. * In 2017, he received the ''2017 Middle Tennessee State University Distinguished Alumnus Award''. * In 2018,

Eldora Speedway Eldora Speedway (nicknamed "The Big E", "Auto Racing's Showcase Since 1954," and "The World's Greatest Dirt Track") is a high-banked clay dirt oval. Located north of Rossburg, Ohio in the village of New Weston, Ohio, it features permanent and ...

infield tunnel, Love Tunnel, was renamed as ''Gossage Tunnel'' in reference to Eddie Gossage. * Gossage was named to

D Magazine ''D Magazine'' is a monthly magazine covering Dallas–Fort Worth. It is headquartered in Downtown Dallas. ''D Magazine'' covers a range of topics including politics, business, food, fashion and lifestyle in the city of Dallas. The first iss ...

(Dallas Magazine) list of the area's ''Top 500 business leaders'' from 2005 to 2021.

Personal life

Gossage has two brothers, Jeff and Craig. His first child, Jessica Amber, was born on December 18, 1980. His second child, Dustin, was born 10 months later. In July of 2009, Gossage was diagnosed with cancer and began treatment in the spring of the same year. In September of that same year, Gossage announced that his cancer was in complete remission.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gossage, Eddie Living people 1958 births American business executives American public speakers