CONCORD, N.C. -- It seems fitting that for the 50th running of the 600-mile stock-car race at the track he had built, Bruton Smith would take a look back.

Sunday's Coca-Cola 600 at what now is known as Lowe's Motor Speedway marks an important milestone -- one that seemed implausible for the first World 600 at the place initially named Charlotte Motor Speedway.

The night before the race, 800 tons of asphalt were removed and replaced in the track's four corners. The new asphalt was covered by 2,000 gallons of liquid rubber sealer, or "bear grease."

Smith recalled recently how he unsuccessfully attempted again and again to raise the $600,000 he thought he would need to build the 1.5-mile superspeedway back in the late 1950s.

"I would go into a bank and say, 'I need to borrow $600,000.' Well, in normal times, that would have been no problem. But they kept asking if we had a five-year operating plan. I heard that a few dozen times. And I was like, 'No, I don't.' They asked if I knew anyone who did. And I was like, 'No, I don't know that, either,'" Smith said.

"I look back on it now and they were so right. They did the proper thing. But it was amazing that there was no money available to be loaned for a mortgage or anything. That created a real problem."

It wasn't until Smith reorganized his company and took on a high-profile partner in driver Curtis Turner that the project finally took hold -- and ultimately took off, but not after a series of further fits and starts and monumental challenges.

"Fortunately, we learned that you could go into corporate reorganization. Ultimately we filed one -- and it was the first corporate reorganization ever filed in the state of North Carolina," Smith said. "Nobody knew anything about it, and I certainly didn't. Our lawyers knew less than I did. So it was a pain."

Smith eventually went through another kind of pain after aligning himself -- and construction of the track -- with the mercurial Turner, a hard-driving, hard-drinking character who had made a habit of winning races and the hearts of many young women who followed the sport. (Continued)