Racing magnate Smith boasts six-track mind

Tuesday, Dec. 15, 1998 | 9:56 a.m.

New owner plans to bring second Winston Cup race to LVMS

In his five decades in auto racing, Bruton Smith always has done things on a grand scale.

His purchase of the Las Vegas Motor Speedway complex for $215 million is no exception.

Smith on Monday formally announced the acquisition of his sixth NASCAR Winston Cup track by Speedway Motorsports Inc., then outlined ambitious plans for the 1.5-mile superspeedway.

In addition to adding 20,000 temporary seats for next March's NASCAR Winston Cup Las Vegas 400, Smith boldly predicted the track would land a coveted second Winston Cup race "in the future."

Smith would not say whether he would move one of the existing eight races being held at his other five tracks to accomplish that.

"We would like to bring another Winston Cup event here as well as some other events," the 71-year-old Smith said during a press conference at the Las Vegas Convention Center.

"I can't comment on the other races yet because I don't want to say something about something we haven't done yet but, yes, we anticipate bringing more things here."

Smith also said that he has "major plans" for a parcel of land across Interstate 15 from the Speedway, but would not elaborate what those plans entailed.

One of Smith's top priorities, after naming a general manager later this week, is believed to be the completion of the new drag strip at LVMS and securing a National Hot Road Association date.

Even before landing other races, Smith said he intends to rehabilitate the image of the $200 million facility.

"We'll be making a lot of changes out here," Smith said. "We're in the process of master planning everything (but) we have already done our survey here and your people downtown here don't know where the Speedway is located.

"That sort of surprised me but that's not unusual; that happens in other cities, too. We hope to make everybody that lives in Clark County more aware of where we are, who we are and what we're all about."

What Smith and Speedway Motorsports are about is promotion, something for which the previous ownership often was criticized.

Despite drawing an overflow crowd at the 107,000-seat Speedway for the Las Vegas 400, other events such as the Indy Racing League and NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series races have struggled to draw fans.

"We have great people and just in management alone, we have over 200 years of experience in the racing business, so that is something else that we bring to this great part of the United States," Smith said.

"Recognizing that Las Vegas is the entertainment capital of the world, we're going to be doing things in this market that we hope the hotel owners and casino owners will love, because we're going to bring a lot more people to this state."

Smith's Speedway Motorsports Inc., purchased the 1,500-acre facility from local casino owners Ralph Englestad and Bill Bennett, and closed on the property Dec. 1.

Smith said he had not intended to make an announcement on the sale until Monday, but was forced to confirm the deal last week after the Sun reported the sale in its Tuesday edition.

"I think that we bought it at a very, very low price," Smith said. "You can't duplicate what we bought it for. I'm very, very pleased with what we negotiated."

Smith said he paid $150 million for the 1.5-mile, lighted speedway and an additional $65 million for the industrial park and accompanying real estate.

He said he knew he wanted to add the Speedway to his growing list of tracks the moment he heard the rave reviews from the drivers on the Busch Grand National and Winston Cup series.

"Listening to the drivers and reading what they had to say, they love this place, they love to come here," Smith said. "They want to come here five or six times a year. When I was reading all of that, I thought, 'Well, we ought to be a part of this because if this is where they want to be, then this is where we ought to be.'

"That's the attraction of Las Vegas."

Another attraction was the lucrative television contract, estimated at $35 million for five years, which LVMS holds with ABC and ESPN to televise the Las Vegas 400.

"We have the second-best television contract in all the industry and we're very, very proud of that," Smith said. "The last (Winston Cup) event here, it had the second-best rating of all the speedways."

The 1998 Las Vegas 400 attracted a 5.8 rating on ABC, second only to this year's Daytona 500 on CBS.

Former LVMS chairman Richie Clyne will stay on with the track in a consultant's role as vice president to oversee "the transition period" and SMI's sale of the real estate portion of the complex, Smith said.

Smith's purchase of the Las Vegas Motor Speedway is not without a touch of irony: It was two of Smith's tracks, Charlotte Motor Speedway and Atlanta Motor Speedway, after which Clyne modeled LVMS.

"Bruton was instrumental in the design of the track," Clyne said. "A lot of the ideas and concepts you see here came from Charlotte and Atlanta.

"We worked together with Mel Larson and Bruton Smith before we ever turned a blade of ground in Las Vegas."