Speedway Motorsports’ earnings dive

Friday, Nov. 5, 1999 | 11:33 a.m.

The stock of Speedway Motorsports Inc. plunged as much as 41 percent this morning when the racetrack operator said its third-quarter earnings will be about $6 million below expectations due to problems in Las Vegas and elsewhere.

The Concord, N.C., company's stock fell 13.94 to 32 in midday trading on the New York Stock Exchange.

Speedway Motorsports attributed about half of the earnings shortfall to lower than expected attendance at Indy Racing League events at Atlanta Motor Speedway and Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The Las Vegas IRL event in September -- the Pep Boys Indy Racing League Vegas.com 500 -- was attended by about 35,000 people.

The rest of the shortfall was attributed to problems with an NHRA event at Bristol Dragway, marketing expenses for the company's Oil-Chem Research Corp. and carrying costs for the Las Vegas Motor Speedway's 1.4 million-square-foot industrial park that Speedway Motorsports has been trying to sell.

"More than 530,000 square feet of the facility have been leased and we expect the property to sell as occupancy improves," Speedway Motorsports said.