Texas Speedway banks troublesome

Wednesday, June 4, 1997 | 10:33 a.m.

The 24-degree turns proved much more challenging to drivers during Tuesday night's practice sessions for Saturday night's True Value 500K than the lights used to illuminate the 1 1/2 -mile oval.

"I'm just sort of trying to find my way around," said Indianapolis 500 runner-up Scott Goodyear. "I literally drove into the turn and couldn't see it. I've never experienced anything like that before. We obvously are going to have to work to get the car set up to feel comfortable with it."

Goodyear traced part of his problem to a sticker stripped across his visor to block the sun. He said he may need to modify his helmet midway through Saturday night's 208-mile race.

But that change won't compensate for the simple fact the track is designed with corners that slope about twice as much as IRL drivers have ever seen on their circuit. The Indy 500, for example, is run on 8-degree turns.

"A lot of these guys aren't used to having to look up and see the end of the corner," said Tony Stewart, who ran the fastest lap in each practice session, going 213.211 mph in the first session then topping that at 215.371 mph. "It's going to help the guys who have been on high banks before."

Davey Hamilton of Las Vegas said the pull coming off the turns is tough to handle.

"It really wants to go to the wall," Hamilton said. "But the way I look at it, it's the same for everybody. It's a driver's job to find the fastest, best way around and it's up to the engineer to make it handle the best."

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