FORT WORTH, Texas _ Texas Motor Speedway has laid off one-third of its staff amid the coronavirus pandemic, sources have told the Star-Telegram.
Former employees have posted messages on social media about their departures from the track, while others who remain described Tuesday as "hard" to see co-workers depart.
TMS president Eddie Gossage declined comment when asked about the cuts late Tuesday. Speedway Motorsports Inc., which owns TMS and a number of other tracks, described its "restructuring" decisions in a statement to the Star-Telegram on Wednesday morning.
In total, SMI laid off approximately 180 employees from all of its properties and furloughed another 100 employees. That equates to about 15% of total company staff.
"The extraordinary circumstances presented by this pandemic and the subsequent shutdown of the economy have had a significant impact on our business," the company said. "Since the beginning of the shutdown four weeks ago, we have kept our entire team on full pay while our properties remained dormant.
"In that time, it has become clear that we must be a more nimble, more efficient organization. As such, we have made the difficult decision to restructure our business and eliminate many duplicate positions.
"Unfortunately, part of this restructuring includes eliminating approximately 180 positions across all departments at our speedways and subsidiaries. Approximately 100 additional employees have been furloughed. These decisions were not easy. Our company is providing a severance package to each person affected by job eliminations.
"Speedway Motorsports remains committed to providing the very best entertainment experience to all who come through our gates when America's fight against this pandemic is behind us. This reorganization positions us to move forward at that time and well into the future. In the meantime, our staff will continue to maintain our facilities in preparation for the event days ahead and support our community with outreach efforts during this time of need."
SMI does not qualify for the forgivable loans through the Paycheck Protection Program, designed by the government to help small businesses get through this crisis.
TMS is believed to employ approximately 100 people, which means 30-35 people lost jobs at the track. SMI also owns Charlotte Motor Speedway, Bristol Motor Speedway and Atlanta Motor Speedway, among others.
NASCAR has postponed seven races so far amid the pandemic, including TMS' opening race weekend scheduled for last month. The track was set for a NASCAR triple-header March 26-29. A makeup date has not been announced.
Other races postponed at SMI-owned tracks include Atlanta and Bristol. NASCAR is scheduled to return May 9 at Martinsville Speedway, with the following two race weekends _ NASCAR's all-star race on May 16 and the Coca-Cola 600 on May 24 _ scheduled for Charlotte.
TMS is scheduled to host its summer race weekend June 5-6 with a NASCAR truck race on June 5 and the IndyCar's Genesys 600 on June 6. As of now, those races remain on the schedule, however, Gossage said last week that TMS would not host the races if fans were not able to attend.
