Bruton Smith

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Ollen Bruton Smith (* 1927 in Oakboro , North Carolina ) is a motorsport organizer and owner and CEO of Speedway Motorsports , Inc., which owns several NASCAR race tracks. Smith is one of the most powerful men in the US motor sports and for the year 2006 in the Forbes 400 list of richest Americans at number 278 with an estimated fortune of 1.4 billion US dollars out. In 2007 Smith was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame .

background

Bruton Smith saw his first car race at the age of eight. He bought his first racing car when he was 17. At the age of 18, he started racing in Midland , North Carolina. He claimed he could defeat NASCAR legends Buck Baker and Joe Weatherly . At his mother's request, he gave up racing.

Business activity

Speedway Motorsports

Smith built Charlotte Motor Speedway , now Lowe's Motor Speedway, in 1959 for $ 1.5 million with financial support from his wealthy brother-in-law. Well-known racing driver Curtis Turner helped promote the circuit. As the chapter drew to a close, a court appointed trustee first ran the affairs with unpaid help from Smith before regaining sole control a few years later. Smith is also the current Chief Executive Officer of Speedway Motorsports.

He later founded Speedway Motorsports, Inc. (SMI), which owns seven NASCAR circuits. These include Lowe's Motor Speedway near Charlotte , North Carolina, Atlanta Motor Speedway , Bristol Motor Speedway , Sears Point Raceway , Las Vegas Motor Speedway , New Hampshire Motor Speedway, and Texas Motor Speedway . In 1995 he stunned the motorsport world when he went public with his company. Speedway Motorsports, Inc. shares were the first of a motorsport company to list on the New York Stock Exchange . Smith is also the current Chief Executive Officer of Speedway Motorsports.

Lowe's Motor Speedway Controversy

A major controversy over Lowe's Motor Speedway arose in September / October 2007 when Smith presented plans to build a dragster racetrack near the existing speedway. Resistance arose from the population of Concord , North Caroline, fearing the construction would add further noise and traffic pollution. The City Council of Concord then changed the development plan for the affected region in order to prevent construction. On October 2, 2007, Smith requested that the changes be reversed or that the speedway be closed and rebuilt elsewhere within the Charlotte metropolitan area, which would have cost the city of Concord hundreds of millions of dollars. Smith said a $ 350 million project could be completed in just eleven months. Under pressure from North Carolina Mayor and Governor Michael Easley , the city council withdrew the change.

On November 26, 2007, Smith announced that Lowe's Motor Speedway would remain in its current location in Concord. His decision was in response to a city, county, and state offer valued at an estimated $ 80 million. As part of the offering, Speedway Boulevard , the access road to Lowe's Motor Speedway, will be renamed Bruton Smith Boulevard and expanded. Three other large road construction projects are also part of the offer.

Other business

  • Smith is also the founder of Sonic Automotive , a group of around 200 dealerships across the United States .
  • Smith was a partner in the Kannapolis Intimidators , a baseball team, along with Dale Earnhardt .

social commitment

Smith supports children's charity through his Speedway Children's Charities . He also donated $ 50 million to a monorail project near the original Charlotte Speedway , where NASCAR's first official race took place. The monorail project was one of the reasons why Charlotte was awarded the NASCAR Hall of Fame . It will link the Hall of Fame to Lowe's Motor Speedway.

criticism

Smith and Bob Bahre acquired half of the historic and fan-favorite North Wilkesboro Speedway in 1996 . Due to the age of the circuit, outdated facilities and relatively small audience capacity, Bahre and Smith decided to move the two races of the Winston Cup to Bahres New Hampshire International Speedway and Smiths Texas Motor Speedway . Smith earned criticism for this from tradition-conscious NASCAR fans. They accused him of changing NASCAR away from its origins in the smaller cities of North Carolina with its many short tracks in favor of larger racetracks with higher spectator capacity and thereby ignoring the history of NASCAR.

Award

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e Forbes 400: # 278 Ollen Bruton Smith
  2. ↑ a b c d e f Bruton Smith on Racing's Past, Present & Future ( Memento from February 6, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) (Interview with Bruton Smith)
  3. ↑ a b c d e f g Bruton Smith makes motorsports his playground
  4. ↑ a b Bruton Smith in the International Motorsports Hall of Fame ( Memento from October 10, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
  5. ↑ modbee.com November 4, 2007: When the stakes are high, Bruton Smith plays to win
  6. ^ Smith proposes monorail in NC Hall of Fame push
  7. ↑ reviewjournal.com June 17, 2011: Innovative Smith worthy of hall ( Memento from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive )

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Smith, Bruton
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Smith, Ollen Bruton
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American motorsport organizer and owner and CEO of Speedway Motorsports, Inc.
DATE OF BIRTH 1927
PLACE OF BIRTH Oakboro , North Carolina