Former owner: Kentucky sale predicated on promise of Cup date
By Bob Pockrass - Associate Editor
Friday, May 23, 2008
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David Griffin / NASCAR Scene
Jerry Carroll
CONCORD, N.C. – Jerry Carroll’s ownership group did not recoup its $152 million investment in Kentucky Speedway with its sale to Speedway Motorsports, which was announced Thursday at Lowe’s Motor Speedway.
The track was sold for $78.3 million – the assumption of $63.3 million in debt, $7.5 million in cash and $7.5 million upon the satisfaction of certain conditions. SMI has a 90-day option to terminate the sale, according to the filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Carroll said the sale was predicated on the promise of a Sprint Cup date for the 1.5-mile oval, which he expects the track to have in 2009.
SMI Chairman Bruton Smith also said he expects to have a Cup race at the track next season.
“He will bring a race there next year,” Carroll said. “I do not have any idea where it’s coming from, but when he tells me he would bring a race – we would not have done this deal if we did not think Bruton was going to bring a race.”
The sale would end an eight-year quest of Carroll for a Cup date for his track.
“Bittersweet,” Carroll said about his feelings about the sale of the track he built in 2000. “I want the best thing to happen for the State of Kentucky. They have got $90 million [invested] into this. It’s the best thing to happen for race fans.
“We’ve been in it for eight years. … We’ve got a heck of a market. Bruton saw the market and understands what we can do. And it’s about time that somebody realized that this track deserved a race.”
How the track gets a race is still to be determined. Carroll and his group tried to buy Martinsville Speedway, New Hampshire International Speedway and Dover International Speedway in hopes of getting a race.
Carroll said the track had not been up for sale until discussions began with Smith a few months ago.
“I would have never sold it,” Carroll said. “We never had any idea of selling it. It was not ever up for sale. Ever. If you guys remember, I tried to buy tracks. I offered more for New Hampshire than Bruton paid for it.”
So who might be the next track for SMI to buy? Carroll doesn’t think it would be Pocono Raceway.
“Pocono to me will never sell. I don’t think they’ll sell,” Carroll said. “I don’t know what the story is on Pocono, but I don’t think the guy will sell, Dr. [Joe] Mattioli. … I think he has got it into a trust for his children that skips a generation … . I don’t think he has ever entertained a thought of selling.”
But Dover, he thinks, could be sold.
“I think Dover would be ripe,” Carroll said. “I don’t think there has been much change there. I don’t think they have much enthusiasm to do anything. I think the old guard is still there, and it’s time for change.”
The best date for a Cup race at Kentucky would be September and October, Carroll said. He said the possibility of snow likely would prohibit a date earlier than April.
Carroll also defended the facility, saying everything is fine with the racing surface, which has been plagued with seepage problems the last few months.
There is the possibility, though, that the track could be resurfaced and/or reconfigured.
“He’s going to do some major changes,” Carroll said.
The garage area could be changed as well – and Smith recently completed a major renovation of Las Vegas Motor Speedway’s garage area.
“Bruton knows more about this business than I do, so I think he’s changing the garage,” Carroll said.
Smith said he might add as many as 50,000 seats to the track, which seats slightly more than 66,000. The plans already had been developed by Carroll’s group.
“We brought everything down to Bruton today,” Carroll said. “We brought a plane full of plans. And he’s going to be able to see our Phase 1, Phase 2, Phase 3. I think he definitely is going to build 40,000 to 50,000 more seats.”
Carroll will stick around for as long as needed. He already has a commitment from a sponsor that has the right of first refusal for naming rights for a Cup race at the track.
“Part of my job is to continue the business end of this stick,” Carroll said. “I sort of gave birth to this thing and I don’t want to leave until it turns out to be what we really anticipated this to be.”
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