Speedway Motorsports’ Bruton Smith still confident about Cup date going to Kentucky in 2011

By Bob Pockrass

Saturday, March 06, 2010

Bruton Smith still believes Kentucky Speedway can land a Sprint Cup date in 2011 despite ongoing legal maneuverings.

Sam Cranston
NASCAR Illustrated

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HAMPTON, Ga. – Speedway Motorsports Chairman Bruton Smith says he is confident that Kentucky Speedway will get a Sprint Cup date in 2011.

For that to happen, Smith needs track co-founder Richard Duchossois to agree not to appeal a federal antitrust case against NASCAR and International Speedway Corp. to the Supreme Court. Duchossois and track co-founder Jerry Carroll, the managing partner of the original ownership group, are embroiled in a lawsuit over whether the case should continue.

The Supreme Court likely wouldn’t decide whether to hear the Kentucky Speedway founders’ appeal until October, and NASCAR – which typically has its schedule set by August – wants the suit over before it moves a race to Kentucky.

“I think eventually Duchossois will get tired of trying to do something that he can’t get done,” Smith said Friday at Atlanta Motor Speedway. “I think that [his dropping the suit] will happen. … I’m very confident.”

The Atlanta track has had trouble selling tickets for its spring race, and is considered the leading candidate to lose a race. Smith wouldn’t say which track would lose an event but said he already has determined which track it would be. He did say the race at Atlanta this weekend will sell more tickets this year than last year.

“It’s up now, and it’s going to be better, better, better and we’re thrilled to death about that,” Smith said. “It will be a great race. And I’m going to buy two more tires for Jeff Gordon, and I think that will help him win the race.”

On other issues:

• Smith bemoaned his investment in merchandise company Motorsports Authentics. ISC and SMI spent approximately $247.5 million in 2005 to buy Team Caliber and Action Performance to form Motorsports Authentics – and each company has now entirely written off their investment, meaning it has virtually no value except for inventory on hand and the die-cast molds.

“That was the worst decision that I have ever made in my business life is buying half of that damn sorry-ass company,” Smith said. “I refused to do it for five years and finally got talked into it and should have never done it. We have been working diligently to try our best to straighten the company out and we’re going to be continuing to do that and by golly, we might be successful.

“But it was a sorry-run company and the due diligence was not done properly and the company had a lot of crap out there.”

When asked if Motorsports Authentics would become just a track retail company with other companies taking over the die-cast and clothing manufacturing business, Smith said: “Film at 11.”

“It was a rotten damn company, but it is getting better,” Smith said.

• Smith said the car-selling business is good, and he believes business in general is much better.

“Business is much better than it was, which comes down the road and makes the racing business much better,” Smith said.