Bruton: CMS Race Move Not a 'Done Deal'

By Ron Lemasters Jr.

Speedway Motorsports' Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board, O. Bruton Smith, took exception to some of the media coverage of his bombshell about moving the fall Bank of America 500 race from Charlotte to Las Vegas.

So much so that he issued the following clarification.

"The 'done deal' report by WBTV regarding moving a race is false," Smith wrote. "No final decision has been made regarding any race date move, and I have not discussed this with NASCAR. 

"Instead of what 'could' happen, let's set the facts straight about what has happened. We've invested $100 million in the Charlotte Motor Speedway complex in the past six years to make it even better for the fans. We've expanded our fan zone, added pit road suites and built the world's largest HDTV for every fan to enjoy. We've put more people to work with these projects and we've added more events to the calendar to bring in more tourists and fans. And we've done this during the worst economy since the Great Depression. 

"We've done this without asking for a handout from the government, like we've seen from so many other sports facilities, teams or franchises, and yet at the same time property values are falling during the recession, our Cabarrus County taxes have doubled since 2005. 

"We absolutely love the fans that come to Charlotte Motor Speedway. It's frustrating to think about the future and consider that the local government doesn't share the same excitement about Charlotte Motor Speedway that our fans do. The Cabarrus County politicians may say nice things to the media, but raising taxes does not support the tourism business, the area economy or companies trying to grow."

As was reported here yesterday, the talk of moving Charlotte's fall race to Las Vegas was the opening salvo of another attempt to get Cabarrus County government on board with Smith's plans and to pay him the money he says he is owed from a prior deal.

We'll see how this plays out over the coming months, and there's no way it will happen before 2014. NASCAR's schedule is usually finalized in August or September.