International Speedway Corporation

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International Speedway Corporation
legal form Corporation
ISIN US4603352018
founding 1953
Seat Daytona Beach , Florida
management James France (Chairman)
Lesa Kennedy ( CEO )
John Saunders (President)
Number of employees 840 (2013)
sales 612 640 000 US dollars (2013)
Branch Motorsport
Website www.iscmotorsports.com

The International Speedway Corporation ( ISC ) is an American company that owns and manages the NASCAR Sprint Cup and other racing series. It was founded by NASCAR founder Bill France in 1953 to operate the Daytona International Speedway and, after merging with Penske Motorsports in 1999, is one of the largest motorsport companies in North America. International Speedway Corporation played a significant but also controversial role in the development of NASCAR. Both companies worked closely together to build new racetracks and modernize older ones. However, because of this, they were also the target of various antitrust lawsuits from competing companies.

history

Bill France Racing

In 1953 Bill France Racing, Inc. (later Daytona International Speedway Corporation) was founded and in 1957 signed a land purchase contract for the construction of the Daytona International Speedway, one of the world's first super speedways. Ten years later, France decided to build another super speedway, this time on an area of ​​around 8 km² near Talladega , Alabama , which was to become NASCAR's fastest race track . Until the introduction of the Restricor Plates in 1988, these two Superspeedways were the fastest courses in NASCAR. In 1968 the company was renamed International Speedway Corporation to underline its far-reaching ambitions. 1970 saw the establishment of the Motor Racing Network, a network of radio stations that broadcast the NASCAR races. The first transmission was the 1970 Daytona 500 .

Transition phase

In the early 1980s, NASCAR's popularity grew not only among fans but also among sponsors. Companies such as Ford , General Motors , Winston and Gatorade decided to sponsor, so that the organization of car races became more and more profitable. In order to capitalize on this, the International Speedway Corporation pursued an expansion course by buying up already existing racetracks. In 1982 she bought one of the most popular and traditional racetracks, the Darlington Raceway , which has been in operation since 1950 , as well as the Tucson Raceway Park , an unpaved oval with a length of 0.375  miles (approx. 600 m) in Arizona , which was then paved. The following year, International Speedway Corporation partnered with Corning Glass Works to purchase the Watkins Glen International street course in New York State .

In 1987 Bill France Sr. resigned as president of the company and passed the reins to Jim France. Two years later, Americrown was incorporated into its own catering company.

Merger with Penske Motorsports

After the transition, the International Speedway Corporation was profitable, but most of NASCAR's races were still in the southern states and mostly in rural areas, while many of the United States' major cities such as Los Angeles , Detroit , Miami and Chicago were left out there was no suitable racetrack in their immediate vicinity. A solution to this problem was therefore sought towards the end of the 1990s. In 1997, the International Speedway Corporation and Penske Motorsports entered into a partnership with the owners of the Homestead-Miami Speedway, which was built in 1995 . In 1999 the merger with Penske Motorsports took place, which at that time owned the four racetracks Nazareth Speedway , North Carolina Speedway , Michigan International Speedway and the newly built California Speedway . Board chairman Bill France Jr. stated that the attractive markets were one of the main reasons for the merger. The new company continued to operate under the name International Speedway Corporation, while Roger Penske's son Gregory moved to the board. However, not all of the racetracks acquired through the merger fit into the corporate concept, so that a short time later the Nazareth Speedway was closed and the North Carolina Speedway was sold. Furthermore, the company held a 90% stake in Homesteadt-Miami Speedway after the merger, so that the remaining shareholders were paid out in order to become the sole owner of the racetrack.

In the same year, International Speedway Corporation and the owners of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway founded the Motorsports Alliance, the aim of which was to build the Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet , Illinois , a new racetrack in the immediate vicinity of Chicago. In addition, the smaller Route 66 Raceway was bought up. In 2007 the International Speedway Corporation paid off the other partners in order to obtain sole control of both racetracks.

In 2001, the company's trend towards modern racetracks continued with the construction of the Kansas Speedway near Kansas City , Kansas . In 2003 Lesa Kennedy took over the position of President of Jim France.

Todays situation

International Speedway Corporation owns 13 active racetracks that together host 19 out of a total of 36 races for the NASCAR Sprint Cup . Sprint Cup races are held on twelve of them, the 13th route is Route 66 Raceway, a racetrack for drag races . In addition to NASCAR races, the International Speedway Corporation's racetracks also host races from the IndyCar Series , Grand-Am , International Motor Sports Association , Sports Car Club of America , World Karting Association and American Motorcyclist Association . Other touring car racing series such as the IROC and the ARCA also use the race tracks.

The company also owns the Motor Racing Network, which broadcasts the NASCAR races, the catering company Americrown, which operates the food stalls at the racetracks, and the Daytona 500 Experience , a tourist attraction at Daytona International Speedway. Since 2005 there has been a partnership with Speedway Motorsports, Inc. under the name Motorsports Authentics, a company that sells souvenirs and collectibles related to NASCAR.

Although the International Speedway Corporation is run by the France family, it is independent from NASCAR. Around 35% of the shares are owned by the family, the rest is traded on the stock exchange. The company's headquarters are in Daytona Beach , Florida , across from Daytona International Speedway.

Racetracks

Surname place length Seats opening Purchase date
Auto Club Speedway ( California Speedway ) Fontana , California 2,029 miles 92,000 1997 1999
Chicagoland Speedway Joliet , Illinois 1.5 miles 75,000 2001 2007
Darlington Raceway Darlington , South Carolina 1,366 miles 63,000 1950 1982
Daytona International Speedway Daytona Beach , Florida 2.5 miles 168,000 1959 1959
Homestead Miami Speedway Homestead , Florida 1.5 miles 65,000 1995 1999
Kansas Speedway Kansas City , Kansas 1.5 miles 81,687 2001 2001
Martinsville Speedway Martinsville , Virginia 0.526 miles 65,000 1947 2004
Michigan International Speedway Brooklyn , Michigan 2.0 miles 137.243 1968 1999
Phoenix International Raceway Avondale , Arizona 1.0 miles 76,812 1964 1997
Richmond International Raceway Richmond , Virginia 0.75 miles 107.097 1946 1999
Route 66 Raceway Joliet , Illinois 0.25 miles (dragstrip) 30,000 1998 2007
Talladega Superspeedway Talladega , Alabama 2.66 miles 143.231 1969 1969
Watkins Glen International Watkins Glen , New York 2.45 mile road course 41,000 1948 1997

Former / inactive racetracks

Surname place length Seats opening Purchase date Last event
Nazareth Speedway Nazareth , Pennsylvania 0.946 miles 37,424 1966 1999 2004
North Carolina Speedway Rockingham , North Carolina 1,017 miles 60.122 1965 1999 2004
Pikes Peak International Raceway Fountain , Colorado 1.0 miles 62,000 1997 2005 2005
Tucson Raceway Park Tucson , Arizona 0.375 miles k. A. 1968 1982 2002
Remarks
  1. ↑ Lists the year in which the company owned more than 50% of the respective route.
  2. ↑ International Speedway Corporation discontinued the event at Nazareth Speedway in 2004 and the track is for sale.
  3. ↑ International Speedway Corporation sold the North Carolina Speedway to Speedway Motorsports, Inc. as a result of the Ferko lawsuit , which in turn resold the track to former racing driver Andy Hillenburg . Hillenburg changed the name of the track to Rockingham Speedway and plans to establish several touring car races on the speedway.
  4. ↑ International Speedway Corporation closed the Pikes Peak International Raceway shortly after the purchase. The NASCAR Nationwide Series race has been moved to Martinsville. The track is for sale, with the International Speedway Corporation insisting that it will not be sold to anyone planning to race on it in front of spectators. In 2008 the track was sold and reopened by the new owner, with the focus now on local racing series, amateur motorsport and test drives for NASCAR.
  5. ↑ International Speedway Corporation sold Tucson Raceway Park to David Deery, the track's manager, in 2002.

Future expansion

Both the International Speedway Corporation and NASCAR have publicly announced plans to expand into regions with the appropriate growth potential, primarily the Pacific Northwest and New York City . The International Speedway Corporation said that a corresponding racetrack would go into operation in 2011 at the earliest.

Pacific Northwest

Marysville

In 2003 the International Speedway Corporation began looking for suitable locations for racetracks in Washington and Oregon . One possible location was near Marysville in Snohomish County north of Seattle . Although there was occasional resistance from the residents, the local economy and the majority of residents favored the plan to build a race track, as they hoped that it would boost the economy and create new jobs. In contrast to the planned route in New York, the construction of the route should be financed by taxpayers' money, similar to those of the other sports facilities in the region. The circuit would have remained publicly owned and leased to the International Speedway Corporation. In November 2004, local politicians and the International Speedway Corporation announced that they would not pursue the plan because the cost of building it was too high.

Bremerton

After the abandoned plan to build a line in Marysville, the International Speedway Corporation favored a location near Bremerton in Kitsap County on the opposite side of Puget Sound near Seattle. Although the construction was to be funded in part by public funds, similar to Marysville, it would have come not directly from tax revenue but from tax-funded fixed-income securities . As in Marysville, the circuit would have remained publicly owned and leased to the International Speedway Corporation for three races a year. The International Speedway Corporation's proposal initially met with reluctance from local lawmakers and residents, so the company promised to come up with a better proposal in spring 2007.

In March 2007, Larry Seaquist of the Washington House of Representatives caused controversy when he was quoted as saying, “These people are not the kind of people you would want living next door to you. They'd be the ones with the junky cars in the front yard and would try to slip around the law. " (" These people are the ones you don't want to live next door. They are the ones with the junk cars in the front yard and who try to circumvent the law. ”) While it was initially assumed that Seaquist initially intended to attack NASCAR fans with this statement, he later claimed that this statement was addressed to the International Speedway Corporation.

In April 2007, the plan to build the racetrack was also abandoned due to a lack of support.

New York City

In 2004, the International Speedway Corporation purchased approximately 2.4 km² on Staten Island to build a 0.8 mile (1.3 km) race track that could hold 80,000 spectators and the skyline New York in the background. However, the plans to build it met fierce opposition from the population of Staten Island. At a public meeting in April 2006, the police had to stop the event prematurely due to security concerns as they feared riots. In December 2006, the International Speedway Corporation abandoned the plans for the project.

Colorado

On February 13, 2007, the International Speedway Corporation announced that it would build a racetrack in Colorado . The 75,000-seat facility is to be built in Adams County east of Denver . In addition, the financing will also come from a combination of public and private funds.

Antitrust lawsuits

Ferko process

Main article: Ferko process

In 2002, Francis Ferko, one of the shareholders of Speedway Motorsports, Inc. sued NASCAR and the International Speedway Corporation for antitrust violations and breach of contract for not giving Texas Motor Speedway a second race in the Winston Cup , despite an agreement between them NASCAR and Speedway Motorsports, Inc. are said to have existed. Although Brian France , CEO of NASCAR, initially announced that he wanted to take the case to court, the parties concerned reached an out-of-court settlement in April 2004. The content of the agreement was that the Texas Motor Speedway was awarded a second race, which had previously been held on the North Carolina Speedway , and Speedway Motorsports, Inc. in return bought the Speedway for 100 million US dollars from the International Speedway Corporation.

Kentucky Speedway

In 2005, Kentucky Speedway filed a similar lawsuit against International Speedway Corporation and NASCAR, alleging that these companies were violating antitrust laws by not awarding Kentucky Speedway a race in the Nextel Cup . In particular, the lawsuit highlighted the close ties between NASCAR, the International Speedway Corporation and the France family. NASCAR tried to dismiss the lawsuit as unlawful because the operators of the speedway were not interested in preventing the alleged anti-competitive behavior, but rather wanting to capitalize on the Ferko process. However, this application was rejected by the court. An application to transfer the procedure from Kentucky to Florida was also denied. The International Speedway Corporation itself argued that it was not involved in the case because it was not at all active in Kentucky. The Kentucky Speedway attorneys contradicted this statement because the International Speedway Corporation also conducts business over the Internet and is therefore jointly responsible.

After the owners of Kentucky Speedway originally wanted to force NASCAR to hold a Nextel Cup race on their circuit, they changed their lawsuit in 2007, according to which the France family should sell either NASCAR or the International Speedway Corporation. In addition, NASCAR should develop objective standards according to which decisions about the award of races would be made.

In January 2008, the court dismissed the lawsuit because plaintiffs had not adequately presented their case.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b International Speedway Corporation 2013 Annual Report
  2. ↑ a b c d e f g About ISC: History . In: iscmotorsports.com . Archived from the original on March 20, 2007. Retrieved December 23, 2006.
  3. ^ A b c d International Speedway Corporation . In: Encyclopedia of Company Histories . Retrieved January 5, 2007.
  4. ↑ a b c Jeff Wilson: Fan wishes he hadn't filed suit . In: Dallas-Fort Worth Star-Telegram . Archived from the original on July 8, 2006. Retrieved December 28, 2006.
  5. ↑ a b Speedway says it was jilted in NASCAR conspiracy . In: ESPN.com . January 27, 2006. Retrieved December 20, 2006.
  6. ↑ a b c d About ISC: Timeline . In: iscmotorsports.com . Archived from the original on July 8, 2008. Retrieved December 23, 2006.
  7. ^ Homestead-Miami Speedway . In: RacingOne.com . Archived from the original on September 27, 2007. Retrieved January 11, 2007.
  8. ^ A b c Penske Motorsports and International Speedway Corporation to Merge . In: Speedcenter . May 10, 1999. Archived from the original on March 11, 2000. Retrieved January 9, 2007.
  9. ^ International Speedway Buys Raceway . In: abcmoney.co.uk . February 8, 2007. Archived from the original on July 22, 2011. Retrieved on December 12, 2007.
  10. ↑ a b 2007 Nextel Cup Schedule . In: NASCAR.com . Retrieved December 23, 2006.
  11. ↑ Motorsports Authentics completes merger with Action Performance . In: American Venture Magazine . December 12, 2005. Archived from the original on May 8, 2006. Retrieved January 8, 2007.
  12. ^ Matthew Benjamin: Life in the Fast Lane . In: US News and World Report . November 22, 2004. Retrieved January 17, 2007.
  13. ↑ ISC Reports Record Results in 2005 . In: TruckSeries.com . January 27, 2006. Retrieved December 28, 2006.
  14. ^ Settlement Reached In Ferko / Vaughn Litigation, North Carolina To Be Sold . In: The Auto Channel . May 14, 2004. Retrieved December 28, 2006.
  15. ↑ Racing lives in Rockingham . In: Roanoke Times . October 3, 2007. Archived from the original on October 25, 2012. Retrieved on December 10, 2007.
  16. ↑ Jim Benton: Benton: Denver still might appeal to NASCAR . In: Rocky Mountain News . November 22, 2005. Archived from the original on April 9, 2016. Retrieved January 4, 2011.
  17. ↑ Pikes Peak Raceway sale complete
  18. ^ Phoenix man seeking takeover of TRP lease . In: Arizona Daily Star . May 25, 2006. Archived from the original on September 26, 2007. Retrieved January 5, 2007.
  19. ^ ISC now targets 2011 for New York, Northwest . In: SceneDaily.com . July 7, 2006. Retrieved December 20, 2006.
  20. ↑ a b c Washington site chosen for NASCAR racetrack . In: NASCAR.com . June 24, 2005. Retrieved December 20, 2006.
  21. ↑ NASCAR deal's off . In: HeraldNet . November 23, 2004. Retrieved December 12, 2007.
  22. ↑ Christopher Dunagan: Commissioners Question ISC's Speedway Deal . In: Kitsap Sun . May 24, 2006. Archived from the original on November 14, 2006. Retrieved on December 20, 2006.
  23. ↑ Is state's NASCAR bid off track ?: Proposed speedway faces funding resistance . In: The Olympian . May 26, 2006. Retrieved December 27, 2006.
  24. ^ A b Seaquist opposes ISC track deal, not NASCAR . In: NASCAR.com . March 5, 2007. Retrieved March 16, 2007.
  25. ↑ Jennifer Byrd: Developers drop proposal for Washington track . In: ThatsRacin.com . April 4, 2007. Archived from the original on June 17, 2011. Retrieved on December 12, 2007.
  26. ↑ Jenna Fryer: ISC pulls up stakes, nothing proposed Staten Island track for NASCAR . In: USA Today . December 4, 2006. Retrieved December 20, 2006.
  27. ↑ Alan Fire: Plan for Nascar Speedway Is Scrapped on Staten Island . In: New York Times . December 5, 2006. Retrieved December 20, 2006.
  28. ^ Daytona Owner Considers Building Track . In: abcmoney.co.uk . February 13, 2007. Archived from the original on July 22, 2011. Retrieved on February 14, 2007.
  29. ↑ Track's suit centers around antitrust laws . In: ESPN.com . July 13, 2005. Retrieved December 20, 2006.
  30. ^ Patrick Crowley: First lap in trial goes to speedway . In: Cincinnati Enquirer . December 15, 2005. Archived from the original on December 30, 2005. Retrieved January 4, 2011.
  31. ↑ Jeffrey McMurray: NASCAR asks judge to dismiss suit by Kentucky Speedway . In: Yahoo! Sports . January 12, 2006. Archived from the original on March 5, 2006. Retrieved January 4, 2011.
  32. ↑ Kentucky Speedway's lawsuit with ISC dismissed