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Kentucky antitrust lawsuit continues despite sale
By Bob Pockrass - Associate Editor
Friday, May 23, 2008
CONCORD, N.C. - The Kentucky Speedway ownership group, which is selling the track to Speedway Motorsports Inc., will continue its antitrust lawsuit against NASCAR and sister company International Speedway Corp., according to track founder Jerry Carroll.
Carroll said the suit continues because SMI bought the company's assets but not the company outright. SMI cannot be party to the suit because it cannot sue NASCAR for antitrust as part of a settlement of a previous SMI shareholder suit against the companies.
"We're going to continue the litigation," Carroll said after SMI's announcement Thursday. "The litigation will continue on as long as we think that there's an opportunity to do something right, get an even playing field."
The lawsuit currently is in U.S. Appeals Court in Cincinnati. In January, a U.S. District Court judge ruled in favor of ISC and NASCAR without the case going to trial because he ruled Kentucky Speedway's expert's theories were inadmissible. If Carroll's group wins its appeal, the case would then go to trial.
Carroll's group alleges in the suit, filed in 2005, that the France-family owned sanctioning body, NASCAR, illegally works with the France-controlled race-track operating company, ISC, to keep tracks such as Kentucky Speedway from getting a Cup date. NASCAR and ISC deny those claims.
Carroll and SMI Chairman Bruton Smith said they expect to have a Cup date at the track in 2009. The track is located between Cincinnati and Louisville in Sparta, Ky.
"What we now have is a group of plaintiffs that no longer own the facility for which they wanted [a Cup] date," NASCAR spokesman Ramsey Poston said Thursday. "How that effects the lawsuit, we don't know. Assuming the lawsuit is going forward, we will continue to vigorously defend ourselves in court."
Poston would not speculate if a Cup date could be part of a settlement to the suit, and Carroll nearly dismissed the idea.
"I've been [around for] eight years, and I've never been able to work with NASCAR one time," Carroll said. "I don't know if it gives us any leverage in any way."
The lawsuit asks for NASCAR to create objective factors for the awarding of Cup dates, for the France family to relinquish control of ISC or NASCAR, for ISC to sell eight of its 12 tracks and for damages of at least $200 million.
"There's still this matter of an even playing field," Carroll said. "There should be some other people who have the right to build a track. We would be remiss if we just said, 'We sold it. And now we're going to live.'
"It wasn't a money matter. ... It mattered on the even playing field, the right if somebody in this country is entering a free-enterprise situation and they want to put the money up and take the risk and build the track, they at least ought to have an opportunity to attract [a race] if they build it in the right market. We were always told we were in the wrong market. I don't think that's the case, and Bruton Smith showed us that isn't the case."
2009 Sprint Cup Race for the Chase Standings
Driver Standings after the AMP Energy 500
| 1 | Jimmie Johnson | 6248 |
| 2 | Mark Martin | -184 |
| 3 | Jeff Gordon | -192 |
| 4 | Juan Pablo Montoya | -239 |
| 5 | Tony Stewart | -279 |
| 6 | Kurt Busch | -312 |
| 7 | Greg Biffle | -340 |
| 8 | Ryan Newman | -402 |
| 9 | Kasey Kahne | -414 |
| 10 | Carl Edwards | -437 |
| 11 | Denny Hamlin | -448 |
| 12 | Brian Vickers | -556 |
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Comments
1 response to "Kentucky antitrust lawsuit continues despite sale".
DON ZEIDLER said:
May 23, 2008 at 10:03 PMTHERE IS SO MUCH GOING ON BETWEEN SO MANY PARTIES.HOW DO THEY KEEP YOU FROM GOING OUT OF YOUR MIND READING IT.EVERYBODY WANT'S TO SUE THIS ONE OR THAT ONE.THIS WOULD BE A GREAT TRACK TO GET ON THE VENUE.IT WOULD BE GREAT FOR ALL PATIES INVOLVED.HAPPY MEMORIAL WEEKEND.......
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