France won’t sell 2nd race to LVMS

Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2003 | 9:03 a.m.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Bruton Smith, chairman of Speedway Motorsports, Inc., said two weeks ago that he would like to buy a NASCAR Winston Cup race date from rival International Speedway Corp. and move it to Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Although Smith may be in a "buying mood," ISC chairman Bill France Jr. said he is not selling any of his company's tracks or race dates -- to Smith or anyone else.

"Not for sale," France replied Monday when asked about Smith's comments. "(ISC) is not for sale ... (and) the units aren't for sale -- i.e., the racetracks.

"Bruton, sometimes when he opens his mouth he sounds constipated."

During a media tour in Texas on Jan. 29, Smith said he had "minor discussions" with NASCAR vice chairman Brian France, Bill France Jr.'s son, about acquiring an ISC track and its dates.

"I don't know what's for sale yet," Smith said, "but yes, I'm in a buying mood. Hopefully, we can put something out there that maybe ISC or NASCAR will be interested in. We're looking."

France, who also is the chairman of NASCAR, said that even if Smith bought a racetrack with a Winston Cup date from another party, NASCAR would not necessarily allow Smith to move that race date to Las Vegas.

"That's not an automatic deal," France said. "Like I said (two weeks ago), nothing's automatic. We're already in that (Las Vegas) market."

Las Vegas Motor Speedway has hosted one Winston Cup race a year since the spring of 1998. From the time Smith's SMI purchased the track in the winter of 1998, he has unsuccessfully lobbied NASCAR for a second Cup date in Las Vegas.

Last year's UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400 Winston Cup race at LVMS attracted a sold-out crowd estimated at 137,500 and this year's race, scheduled for March 2, is nearly sold out.

France said he has received mixed reaction to NASCAR's plan to realign the 36-race Winston Cup schedule beginning in 2004.

"Some like it and some don't," France said. "It's not something they have to do; we're offering that up and we're going to encourage it now but if somebody doesn't want to move, it'd be kind of tough (to force them)."

France said shifting less successful races to tracks that could ensure sold-out crowds and running more races at night for the benefit of television are important "to move this sport forward."

"It's a different ballgame now," France said, referring to NASCAR's multi-billion-dollar television contract. "With the amount of revenue that (the TV networks are) putting into the sport, we've got to pay attention.

"We've also got to pay attention to the car sponsors (because) they're a big part of it. Where they want to go and to give them as much bang for the buck as we can, we need to pay attention to that."

France earlier had cited Darlington Raceway and North Carolina Speedway -- two ISC tracks -- and Atlanta Motor Speedway and Lowe's Motor Speedway in Charlotte, N.C. -- two SMI tracks -- as prime candidates to move one of their two Cup dates.

Although Smith countered by saying he was not moving any of his Winston Cup dates to any of his other tracks, France refused to characterize his relationship with his business rival as adversarial.

"There's some times he's not adversarial -- he's a hard worker, I'll give him credit for that," France said. "He does work hard and he's not dumb by any stretch of the imagination.

"He builds nice racetracks. He had some growing pains with (Texas Motor Speedway) ... it's still not perfect, maybe, but it's certainly raceable and Bruton's selling tickets there -- that's good news. He built a nice facility there, all in all."

France, 69, also addressed his recent health issues that include a successful battle with an undisclosed form of cancer, a broken hip and triple heart bypass surgery.

"On average, I feel pretty good," he said. "It's like you put your feet in a deep freezer and your head in a microwave oven: on average you'll feel pretty good."