SMI completes purchase of Kentucky Speedway
Speedway Motorsports Inc. has completed its purchase of Kentucky Speedway, SMI officials announced Wednesday in a news release.
SMI Chairman Bruton Smith announced May 22 that he had agreed to purchase the 1.5-mile oval in Sparta, Ky., located about 40 miles from Cincinnati, 60 miles from Louisville and 80 miles from Lexington.
"We are extremely excited about the new opportunities this market is going to bring the company," Smith said in a statement Wednesday. "Since we announced this acquisition in May, we have been overwhelmed with the response of fans expressing their support and desire for a Sprint Cup event at Kentucky Speedway.
"We will continue to work with NASCAR to bring a Sprint Cup race to this fine facility as soon as possible. We are going to do everything we can to bring the great people of Kentucky what they want and deserve."
SMI agreed to purchase the track for $15 million in cash and assumed $63.3 million in debt, according to previous filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The 66,000-seat track, built at a cost of $152 million, opened in 2000 and it has played host to a Truck series race every year and a Nationwide Series event since 2001.
Smith has pledged to move a Sprint Cup date from one of his tracks to Kentucky but has not designated which track would lose a date. NASCAR won’t allow Smith to realign a Cup date to Kentucky until a federal antitrust lawsuit is settled with the former owners of the track.
Track co-founder Jerry Carroll has pledged to continue the suit, filed in 2005 and currently pending in U.S. appeals court in Cincinnati. The appeal likely will be decided sometime in 2009 and centers on whether Carroll and his investors have enough evidence for there to be a trial.
The lawsuit focuses on NASCAR's past refusal to award Kentucky Speedway a Cup date, alleging antitrust violations by NASCAR, which is owned by the France family, and ISC, a publicly-traded track-operating company whose majority of voting stock is owned by the France family. SMI also is an alleged co-conspirator in the legal filings.
“Congratulations to SMI for its purchase of Kentucky Speedway," NASCAR said in a statement. "NASCAR is looking forward to running successful races in 2009 for the NASCAR Nationwide Series and the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. NASCAR has a great fanbase in Kentucky and the surrounding area, which is why we always look forward to racing there. However, as we have said consistently, there will be no consideration for a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series date until the pending lawsuit against NASCAR, ISC and SMI is resolved.”
Speedway Motorsports Inc. plays host to two Cup events at Atlanta, Bristol, Lowe’s (Concord, N.C.), Texas and New Hampshire as well as one Cup event at Infineon (Sonoma, Calif.) and Las Vegas.
