TV is 30 percent larger than Cowboys'

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Charlotte Motor SpeedwayCharlotte Motor Speedway's new HDTV on the backstretch will be 30 percent larger than the one installed at Cowboys Stadium. When finished, it'll be 80-feet tall by 200-feet wide and weigh 650,000 pounds.

Looks like somebody was in such a hurry to keep up with the Joneses, that they surpassed one of Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones' most prized possessions.

Charlotte Motor Speedway and Panasonic, with help from former Dallas Cowboys All-Pro Ed "Too Tall" Jones, showed off the track's completed 500,000-pound steel structure on Thursday morning. It will hold the world's largest HD television -- taking that distinction away from Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas.

"We opened the new stadium in Dallas two years ago that had the largest TV in the world up until today, so I wanted to see it," Ed Jones said. "The one in Dallas was one of the most incredible things I've ever seen in my life, but this one just kind of tops it all."

Just how big is the television, which will be located on the track's backstretch?

The Charlotte Motor Speedway video board will measure 80-feet tall by 200-feet wide, which will be nearly 30 percent larger than Jerry Jones' screen (72-feet tall by 160-feet wide).

The full screen will be made up of 158 panels consisting of 9 million LED bulbs, and the entire structure -- which will weigh 650,000 pounds when complete, will reach more than 110 feet in the air.

"Our fans are going to love it," CMS president Marcus Smith said. "They're going to have a great time and they just will not believe how exciting the racing will be when they can watch it both in front of them on the track and catch all the action on the television screen."

Officials expect the designation of "world's largest high-definition video screen" to be verified by the Guinness Book of World Records.

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