Smith bluffs move of LMS in battle with city officials

When NASCAR arrives at the track nearest whomever each week, it has been likened to the circus coming to town.

The exception might be Charlotte, N.C., and its surrounding burgs, where Bruton Smith reigns as NASCAR king and therefore the circus never really leaves.

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Even now, Smith isn't really threatening to. In fact, the billionaire chairman of Speedway Motorsports Incorporated doesn't even like the word "threat" to describe what he states he will do if the city of Concord, just outside Charlotte, continues to block his plans to build a $60 million drag strip adjacent to his flagship operation at Lowe's Motor Speedway.

Told that many folks believe that his plan to close LMS and spend the estimated $350 million necessary to build another speedway elsewhere is nothing more than an idle threat, Smith replied Friday: "I can assure you that it is not. As a matter of fact, I've tried my best in the interviews that I've done to take the word 'threat' away because it's not a threat. It's just a business decision. So that's all it is.

"If we find this land to build, and it's a very suitable location, then of course I'll build. ... I'm very serious. I have two of my engineers right now who will come in and give me a report on that [very shortly]."

In an amusing and highly entertaining maneuver that happened to unfold earlier this week just as Smith was trying to sell tickets to the upcoming Bank of America 500 race at LMS, Smith went off on the small town that his track calls home.

At issue is a $60 million drag strip Smith wants to build on his property in Concord. In addition to the 165,000-seat speedway, Smith also owns a dirt track that seats 20,000 and much of the surrounding land, totaling more than 2,000 acres in all.

King Bruton thought he could add a drag strip to his sprawling complex without any trouble. But what he really has a problem with is what he says are misleading facts being presented by Concord city council officials.

Those officials balked when Smith started grading land for his new drag strip, and at a council meeting last Monday night they voted to change the zoning laws to specifically prohibit the building of such a facility. Concord Mayor Scott Padgett said that they had concerns about noise from the strip disturbing residents who live less than a mile from the proposed location for the new facility, and about the possibility of declining home values in that vicinity as a result.

This caused Smith to stomp his feet and wave his scepter angrily. He said the perception that he began grading the land for the drag strip without first letting Concord officials know what he was doing is ludicrous.

"That's an absolute lie. They absolutely knew what we were doing," Smith said. (Continued)