LMS track president Smith found true calling

He is known mostly as one of Bruton Smith's sons who happened to go into the family racing business.

But the truth is that Marcus Smith, now president of Lowe's Motor Speedway, very nearly avoided going into racing many years ago. Marcus talked about that and other subjects as the track his father owns and he runs prepares to host this Saturday's NASCAR Banking 500.

Q: Could you talk about how a conversation with renowned evangelist Franklin Graham many years ago guided you toward a career in racing, when you had been considering other life pursuits?

Smith: I was working at the speedway in Charlotte in my summers between school [years] and Franklin was the chaplain for Motor Racing Outreach. We had the chance to chat one-on-one and he asked me what I was going to do with my life. I told him that maybe I was interested maybe in medicine -- which I was at the time -- but I didn't do all that well in chemistry when I started out at [the University of North] Carolina, so that kind of put a damper on that. So I told him also maybe the ministry, and then also maybe this racing thing.

When I told him that, he said, 'Wow. Look at this place. You would be talking to so many people all the time. This would be a neat place for anybody to work at.' And he went on to talk a little bit about incorporating your faith into your everyday life -- which I hadn't really thought about before, to tell you the truth.

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I don't know if a lot of people think about that, about having your faith outside of church on Sundays. But he kind of outlined it for me and made it seem simple. That was really an inspiration for me and really made a difference on how I chose to focus the next few years. It helped me feel really good about going to work at the speedway.

Q: So you basically went up just to say hello and then ended up in this potentially life-altering conversation?

Smith: It wasn't life saving, but it definitely did give me a shove in the direction toward where I'm at today, and feeling really good about living my life with my Christian faith as the No. 1 priority -- yet still being comfortable in a job that's not involved in the ministry directly. He talked about living your life as a Christian wherever you are. That's your mission field. You don't have to be in Zimbabwe or preaching in the church to be used by God.

Q: Did you and Franklin speak to each other at all about the dynamics of possibly being overshadowed in your chosen fields by your legendary fathers?

Smith: You know we really didn't talk about that. I know his story because he's an incredible guy with world-wide recognition and impact. ... It made all the sense in the world to me that this was a guy who was sort of the black sheep in his family, and he came back -- kind of like the prodigal son, if you will. I obviously was impressed with his accomplishments and how he lived his life and made his own path.

Q: Have you spoken to him much since that day?

Smith: What was so neat was that last May it sort of came full circle, with him coming back to the speedway. Our [initial] conversation took place about 15 years ago. I hadn't seen him since, but I sent him a note and invited him to come to the Coca-Cola 600 and say the [pre-race] prayer and give chapel before the race with Motor Racing Outreach. He accepted and it was a really, really special thing for me to kind of have that full-circle event happen.

Learning on the job

Marcus Smith, president and chief operating officer of Lowe's Motor Speedway, explained recently how he has added another description to his string of titles -- that of student.

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Q: Is Franklin a race fan?

Smith: He's a really big race fan. His dad is, too. My dad and I had a chance to go and meet Billy Graham at his home up in the North Carolina mountains not too long ago with another friend. And he told us he watches the races every weekend, so that was kind of cool.

But Franklin is a real adventurist. He gets out and flies his own airplanes, rides motorcycles. This guy is always living on the edge and has some pretty neat stories.

Q: Do they have favorite drivers they follow?

Smith: I'm sure they do. Actually, Franklin participated with Kyle [Petty] on the charity ride this year. I thought that was pretty cool, and I had no idea about that until I chatted with [Franklin] in May.

Q: Speaking of fans, could you talk about some of the fan initiatives you've launched recently in an effort to bring them closer to the action at Lowe's Motor Speedway?

Smith: From a broad base, the No. 1 focus for me is really delivering on the promise that our sport has made to the fans -- to be the most fan-friendly sport in the world, and to allow real, meaningful access for our fans in special areas to see their favorite athletes. I don't think any other sport has made that pledge to their fans, so they don't really owe it and I don't see it happening anywhere else in the world of sports. So we're not trying to keep up with anybody; it's really about making good on that promise to fans. For me, that's a huge passion and it mostly involves just doing what we say we're going to do.

Q: Such as?

Smith: Having things like when we have our press conferences, we invite fans to come in. Everybody who has bought tickets with us is invited to come in. We take reservations and the first 20 or 30 or 40, however we have room for, get to come out and hang out at the press conference with us. Afterward they usually get pictures and autographs.

It's such an amazing thing to be able to meet these fans when they drive in from hundreds of miles away in some cases, literally, just to participate in a press conference one afternoon with their favorite race car drivers. It's really inspiring and humbling at the same time that our fans are so passionate about our sport.

We're doing more things this coming weekend. We have a new program called the Victory Lane Club, which is for all fans that buy tickets to each of the three Sprint Cup weekends at Lowe's Motor Speedway. They've all been invited to come join my dad and I, along with a couple of other folks, in the Nationwide Series garage for a brunch that morning [of the Cup event]. We'll have pancakes and bacon and eggs, and we'll chit-chat with our Victory Lane Club. They get special access because of their loyalty to the speedway.

And we've got all sorts of other things going on that we're rolling out for this weekend. We've got more music concerts than we've ever had before -- we've got country, rock, contemporary Christian music all happening at the track before the race on Saturday. Everybody who has a ticket is invited and welcome, and will have access to the infield as well as outside the gates to take part in these events.

Q: Have you found that what Franklin offered you as advice many years ago has served you well, that you can use your current position to reach people and share your strong faith?

Smith: Well, you know, I would say what I've found is that if you're a Christian you can live your life -- and your life is kind of the Bible that folks will read before they ever ask you about your faith. No Christian is perfect; we're all far from it. It's during the tough times when folks are watching most closely to see how you're handling things.

I'm not running the speedway as a ministry per se. I'm just living my life, and if folks have questions, I have opportunities occasionally to share my story with people and it sometimes helps them out. If they ask, I enjoy telling them about it.