1on1: SMI’s Smith talks up business of selling tickets (NASCAR.com)
August 31, 2010
One fact of life you can be sure of is that a conversation with Bruton Smith will never be dull.
The chairman and CEO of Speedway Motorsports Inc., which owns eight tracks that host NASCAR races, entertained a small group of reporters recently at Bristol Motor Speedway. Smith shed some light on behind-the-scenes negotiations that took place prior to the announcement of NASCAR’s revamped 2011 schedule.
Included in the changes for 2011 was the dropping of the spring Cup Series race at SMI’s Atlanta Motor Speedway in favor of adding a Cup race at Kentucky Speedway. Smith also agreed to give up the first event in the 10-race Chase for the Sprint Cup, which now will be held at Chicagoland Speedway, which is owned by International Speedway Corp., instead of New Hampshire Motor Speedway, which SMI owns.
Smith: We didn’t give it up. It was a trade.
Q: Why did you give up the first race in the Chase?
Q: So now you have the second race in the Chase at New Hampshire. Is that as good a spot on the schedule?
Smith: I really don’t believe that sells tickets for us, so I really don’t care. I mean, if we can take an event and an event is worthwhile, then we can sell the tickets. We like to sell tickets. That’s what we’re in this business for.
Q: So are you opposed to the Chase system?
Smith: I’m not saying that. I’m talking about selling tickets. It’s great for the media. I like what y’all are doing with the Chase. It generates an awful lot of publicity. But for me personally, if I was running a speedway today, I would not care one way or the other [about having the first race in the Chase].
Q: What about the last race in the Chase? Would you like to have that like you once did in Atlanta?
Smith: If the last race of the season was in Atlanta or Las Vegas, that would be fabulous. We could sell a lot of tickets for that. We brought 180,000 people to Atlanta for the last race [1987 through 1998 before the last race was moved to Homestead Speedway outside Miami, Fla.]. We did that year after year after year. Now that works. We sold everything we had. If we had had more seats, we would have drawn a bigger crowd. That was the biggest crowd we had, when we had the last race of the year in Atlanta.
Q: What about having the last race of the year in Las Vegas?
Smith: NASCAR hasn’t given me a date; they’re never going to give me a date. That would be a God-send. If God would tell them to do it, maybe—but that’s probably what it would take.
Look, you can’t add any more dates to the schedule. I agree with them on that. I think our schedule is enough. If you can’t add another date, am I gonna ask them to give up a date at one of their tracks and bring it to one of mine? I don’t think so. I’d be very thankful if they did.
But here again, I like Brian. We get along. …
Q: Why the switch from the spring race in Atlanta to Kentucky?
Smith: Weather, weather, weather. And I’ve talked with the governor down there [in Georgia] repeatedly. I’ve been down there on two occasions and we asked for some little things, and we really thought we were going to get them. But we didn’t.
The governor and the lieutenant governor and the speaker of the house [in Georgia], they all flew up to Charlotte and we had a meeting for two hours and 15 minutes. It was a great love fest. I really enjoyed it—plus the governor brought me a necktie. I thought that was great.
Q: What happened with the governor of Georgia? Did he promise something he failed to deliver?
Smith: He did not promise. He kept saying they didn’t have any money, they didn’t have any money. We wanted certain things and they didn’t work out. I don’t think that he thought we would move a race. …
Q: What specifically were you asking for?
Smith: I’d rather not say. You can call the governor and he might tell you.
Q: So he called your bluff, or you called his bluff?
Smith: I wouldn’t say it like that. That sounds like a poker game. I don’t think anybody called anybody’s bluff. We had a two hour and 15-minute love fest and he told me how much he loved me. The lieutenant governor and speaker all said how much they loved me and loved the speedway. … I was very clear that I had not made my decision before that meeting. That meeting did not end until 6:15—and I didn’t make my decision until 6:20.
Q: How many seats are you really going to add at Kentucky, which currently seats 66,000?
Smith: Fifty thousand additional seats.
Q: Why add so many seats there in this economy, when it appears so many tracks are struggling to fill their seats and even you’ve admitted that race fans are hurting because of the economy?
Smith: Because of the race fans. We need at least 120,000 seats to accommodate what is there, in that market.
Q: Why not make sure the supply and demand is in balance there first?
Smith: You are right. That way, after we get the 120 [thousand], we can build on that.
Q: But don’t you have too many seats right now at some of your other tracks, like Charlotte and Texas?
Smith: No, no. I don’t ever say I built too many. …
Q: But you’ve taken seats out at those facilities, haven’t you?
Smith: For more money. See we’re making more money down there [in Texas] with the RVs [camping in a special lot overlooking the backstretch] than we were with the seats [that were removed]. It’s sold out. We have more income from that [in Texas and Charlotte] than we did from the seats.
Q: Would you consider moving any of your other races around?
Smith: Oh, no. We’re pleased with everything else as it is. We scared [a sellout] at Bristol, came very close. Loudon [New Hampshire Motor Speedway] should be a sellout. I think 120,000 in Kentucky should give us something to build on there. You were asking earlier about seats, weren’t you?
Related: • AMS’ Labor Day race becomes four-day spectacle | Video • Texas Motor Speedway to play host to night race in 2011 • Finally, Kentucky gets its long-awaited Cup date • 2011 Cup Series Schedule
