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Speedway Motorsports, Inc.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Speedway Motorsports | |
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| Type | Public (NYSE: TRK) |
| Founded | 1959 |
| Headquarters | Concord, North Carolina (at Lowe's Motor Speedway) |
| Key people | Bruton Smith, founder and CEO |
| Industry | Motorsports |
| Products | Motorsport venues |
| Revenue | $570 million USD |
| Employees | 793 (full time) |
| Website | www.speedwaymotorsports.com |
Speedway Motorsports, Inc. or SMI (NYSE: TRK) is an American corporation that owns and manages race tracks on the NASCAR Nextel Cup series and other race series.
The company owns Atlanta Motor Speedway located in the nearby suburb of Hampton, Georgia, Bristol Motor Speedway, the Infineon Raceway (formerly known as Sears Point), a road course near San Francisco, California, Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Lowe's Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina, a suburb of Charlotte (where SMI has its corporate headquarters), New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon, New Hampshire,[1] and Texas Motor Speedway near Fort Worth, Texas. Together these tracks represent slightly less than one-third of the events on the NASCAR Nextel Cup series. The company also owns the Performance Racing Network, a radio network that broadcasts races from its tracks.
The company's tracks are known for elaborate pre-race shows, often featuring displays by the United States Armed Forces.[citation needed]
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The company has a history of purchasing tracks to obtain race dates. The company's purchases and closures of the tracks in order to obtain dates for the Texas facility led to the Ferko lawsuit, and to objections to by many traditional NASCAR fans and by many politicians in North Carolina.
In 1996, the company purchased half interest in North Wilkesboro Speedway in North Wilkesboro, North Carolina along with Bob Bahre of New Hampshire International Speedway. SMI moved one of North Wilkesboro Speedway's dates to Texas Motor Speedway. As part of the deal to purchase New Hampshire International Speedway in November 2007, SMI gained full ownership of North Wilkesboro Speedway [2].
In 2004, as a result of the Ferko lawsuit, SMI gained ownership of the North Carolina Speedway in Rockingham, North Carolina. SMI closed North Carolina Speedway and moved the track's final race date to Texas Motor Speedway. On October 2, 2007, SMI sold North Carolina Speedway at auction. The track was purchased by "Indiana" Andy Hillenburg for $4.4 million.
On November 2, 2007, SMI announced the purchase of New Hampshire International Speedway from Bob Bahre. This has led to specluation that SMI would move one of New Hampshire's dates to Las Vegas Motor Speedway and/or swap the date with the fall race at Texas Motor Speedway (TMS has expressed an interest in moving the fall race away from the first weekend in November, which is also the opening weekend of deer hunting season in Texas). The 2008 Sprint Cup Schedule has been set and any changes for 2009 would require NASCAR approval [3].