Speedway to trim jobs

Thursday, Sept. 27, 2001 | 10:28 a.m.

Speedway Motorsports Inc., the publicly traded company that owns Las Vegas Motor Speedway, announced Wednesday it would lay off 150 full-time employees as part of a $12 million reduction in expenses amid uncertain economic conditions.

In addition to LVMS, SMI owns tracks in Atlanta, Charlotte, N.C., Bristol, Tenn., Dallas/Fort Worth and Sonoma, Calif.

LVMS general manager Chris Powell said he was uncertain how the cuts would impact his speedway.

"It will affect Las Vegas Motor Speedway," Powell said, "but to what degree it will affect us I don't know just yet. I have not had any discussions with anybody at the home office about what (budget) numbers I have to get to."

Powell was forced to cut $500,000 from his 2001 budget and now will have to further trim the track's expenses for 2002.

Powell said that this year's budget cuts targeted operating expenses as opposed to laying off employees -- although several staff members were laid off and others had their hours reduced.

However, Powell said, next year's cuts would affect "more people."

SMI said the cuts would start next year as it tries to reduce costs because of lower corporate business and increasing purse and sanctioning fees. SMI also said its third-quarter earnings may be 5 to 6 cents lower than it had forecast.

Shares of Speedway Motorsports fell 32 cents Wednesday to $20.38. They have fallen 15 percent this year.

"While retail ticket sales have remained relatively steady, increases in purse and sanction fees continue to outpace revenue growth, and corporate business has slowed for 2001 and 2002," SMI chairman and CEO Bruton Smith said.

"This, coupled with the uncertainty of the economy and possible additional incidents, convinced us that stringent expense reductions are necessary to place the company in a defensive position. In the past 25 years, we have never had to significantly reduce staff and this will be difficult for our entire company."

Powell said that SMI's actions mirror those of the rest of corporate America in the wake of a sagging economy.

"Our industry is not unlike any other industry," Powell said. "Corporate America is in a defensive mode because revenues are flat. You're seeing (these types of cuts) all across corporate America."

Powell said that although ticket sales for next year's NASCAR Winston Cup race are "significantly ahead" of last year's sales, the track is experiencing a decline in corporate sales.

"I firmly believe we're going to have the best event we've ever had here at Las Vegas Motor Speedway," Powell said of the Winston Cup race next March.

"We're not going to do one thing less out here. Some employees will have to do more things because we have to make up for (the loss of) manpower, but I would like to think the race fan will not notice any discernible difference."

This year's Winston Cup race at LVMS attracted an estimated 125,000 fans.