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CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Bruton Smith didn’t make good on the opportunity to become a legendary race car driver.
So he did the next best thing. He became a promoter. He ran race tracks. And then he built and bought speedways. And then he improved those speedways. And then he improved them some more.
Folks noticed.
And pretty soon, everyone else was scrambling to catch up.
Smith, along with drivers Curtis Turner, Bobby Isaac, Terry Labonte and Jerry Cook, was inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame on Saturday. It was fitting – Smith had dealings of some sort with each of his fellow inductees through the years.
Higher powers got him out from behind the wheel. A savvy business sense put him on the road to success operating race tracks.
“I wanted to be a race driver,” Smith, 88, said during his induction speech inside the Crown Ballroom of the Charlotte Convention Center. “I had a real strong desire to do that so I bought a race car for $700 … that’s a lot of money then. …
“So I started driving, and I learned how to drive, and it was not as difficult as I thought it was. I thought, ‘OK, now I’ve got my career going.’
His father, he said, didn’t have an issue with his career choice at the time. His mother felt differently.
“He just said, ‘Be careful, boy.’ I was, but my mom had a problem with it,” Smith said, “And she said, ‘I wish you wouldn’t do that,’ and I heard that a dozen times, I guess, and my mother was a very religious person, and my mom started praying I would quit.
“Well, I knew then when she did that it was time for me to quit because I was not going to compete with that. That’s when I quit, and I went over on the other side, and I started promoting races.”
Today Speedway Motorsports, Inc., owns and operates eight tracks that host 12 of the 36 annual premier series points races on the NASCAR schedule. Charlotte Motor Speedway, built by Smith and Turner in 1959, also hosts the series’ annual all-star (non-points) event.
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CMS was the first facility to offer condominiums overlooking the track, and was the first intermediate track to feature lights, allowing races to be run at night.
Atlanta and Texas Motor Speedway, both SMI properties, also feature condominiums; there’s “Big Hoss,” the world’s largest HDTV screen along the backstretch at TMS and a 16,000-square-foot HD screen at CMS. Among the many features at Las Vegas Motor Speedway is the Neon Garage to get fans close to the action, while Bristol Motor Speedway officials are constructing the world’s largest outdoor, permanent, center-hung digital display.
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“I’ve told people before that he doesn’t do things to get awards,” son Marcus Smith said. “He doesn’t really relish a victory as much as he does a challenge, and that’s probably something in common with a lot of Hall of Famers, I would guess.
“He’s certainly someone who just relishes the challenge, loves the climb and when he achieves a goal, he quickly moves to the next opportunity and the next challenge.”
Saturday’s induction ceremony, delayed one day by Winter Storm Jonas, was the seventh since the Hall opened in 2010. Smith, who grew up east of Charlotte in tiny Oakboro, North Carolina is the third non-competitor (driver, owner, crew chief or engine builder) to be inducted. NASCAR founder William H.G. France and son Bill France Jr., were among those in the inaugural class.
“Bruton should have been in the Hall before now,” NASCAR team owner Rick Hendrick said earlier this week. “I remember him calling me one day, wanting me to buy a condo at the track. I said ‘Bruton if I buy a condo it’s going to be overlooking the ocean somewhere and not at a race track.’ About two years later, I paid more to get one.
“His mind is racing all the time; he’s done so much for the sport. He’s so brave to step out and try things that have never been tried before. It’s past time for him to go in the Hall.
“He’s a sharp guy. He helped build this sport and it’s well deserved.”
Fellow team owner Roger Penske called Smith “special,” and “someone who has brought so much to NASCAR.”
“When you think about the Charlotte Motor Speedway and Bristol, and tracks like New Hampshire and Sonoma and Atlanta, he’s been the best,” Penske said. “There’s no question. He set the bar.”
