NASA astronaut Doug Hurley to be honored at Texas Motor Speedway

By SceneDaily Staff

Wednesday, November 04, 2009

NASA astronaut Doug Hurley looks over a checklist while occupying the pilot's station on the flight deck of Space Shuttle Endeavour during STS-127 in July.

Courtesy
NASA

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Texas Motor Speedway plans to honor Space Shuttle Endeavour pilot Doug Hurley in its prerace festivities for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Dickies 500 this weekend, but track President Eddie Gossage is keeping the details a surprise.

Hurley, a Marine Corps colonel, has been a TMS season ticket-holder since 2005.

“When Texas Motor Speedway said that they wanted to honor me, I thought Eddie would say a few kind words about me on the prerace stage,” Hurley said. “This is beyond my wildest dreams, but everyone told me that Eddie would come up with something dramatic, and he sure did.”

Gossage has only said that some type of aircraft will be involved in Hurley’s arrival.

“How cool is it that a Texas Motor Speedway season ticket-holder is a space shuttle pilot?” Gossage said. “It is amazing to learn that he carried NASCAR items – including one from Texas Motor Speedway, I am told – on his mission aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour. I guess this proves once and for all that race fans are rocket scientists. I think our fans are really going to enjoy seeing one of their own be honored in the way we have planned. It should be a very cool deal.”

Hurley was the Endeavour pilot on the STS-127 mission from July 15-31 earlier this year. He carried a few NASCAR-related items as the shuttle orbited the Earth and docked with the International Space Station. One of the items he took was a DVD of Dale Earnhardt’s 1998 Daytona 500 victory, apropos since Hurley, 43, had waited nine years for his first space flight.

“I had waited a long time to fly in space and [Earnhardt] waited a long time to win the Daytona 500, so I thought it was fitting to watch that while docked at the International Space Station,” Hurley said. “Dale never gave up on winning the Daytona 500 and finally achieved his goal, and I could definitely relate to that type of perseverance.”

Hurley also took other mementos from his trip that he will present to Gossage, two-time Cup champion Tony Stewart, Sprint Cup owner Joe Gibbs and two-time champion crew chief Greg Zipadelli of Joe Gibbs Racing.

“I know all of these guys have probably collected their share of memorabilia over the course of their careers, but I am hoping something from space may be a bit unique to their collection,” Hurley said.