ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, January 23, 1996 TAG: 9601230084
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: KNIGHT-RIDDER NEWSPAPERS
BRUTON SMITH builds on a portfolio that includes Charlotte, Atlanta and a new Texas track, as well as pieces of North Wilkesboro and Rockingham.
Speedway Motorsports Inc., led by Charlotte businessman and motorsports mogul Bruton Smith, bought yet another speedway Monday night, purchasing Bristol (Tenn.) Raceway from track founder Larry Carrier.
The deal gives Speedway Motorsports ownership of three NASCAR Winston Cup Series tracks - Charlotte Motor Speedway, Atlanta Motor Speedway and the Bristol facility. The firm also owns 50 percent of North Wilkesboro Speedway and is building another major track, Texas Motor Speedway in Roanoke, Texas, with hopes of opening the facility in the fall.
Smith also owns about 26 percent of North Carolina Motor Speedway in Rockingham.
``I've reached a point in my career and life that I want to pursue other interests,'' Carrier said in a prepared statement explaining his decision to sell Bristol.
Said Smith: ``We have absolutely, unequivocally no plans to move a Winston Cup race from Bristol. As a matter of fact, we already have been looking at several possible areas of improving the speedway, including additional seats.''
Smith also said there would be no personnel changes at the track.
Mark Carrier, speaking for his father, confirmed the deal to The (Charlotte) Observer on Monday afternoon.
``Dad is selling the track to Bruton,'' said Mark, 25. ``Bruton takes over. Dad will phase out his association with the track within 30 days and then retire.
``Dad will be 74 this year. When Bruton came to him awhile back and asked about possibly buying the place, dad thought about it a few days and decided it was time for him to begin backing off and taking it easy.''
Financial details of the deal were not available.
Carrier opened the .533-mile raceway in 1961. He sold it in the early 1980s, but after three years reassumed ownership and turned the facility into the short-track showplace of motorsports, adding high-rise grandstands in every spot possible until seating capacity reached about 70,000.
Bristol's August night race on the Winston Cup schedule has sold out months ahead for the past few years. The track's spring race in April usually has been run to standing-room-only crowds.
Many fans rate the Bristol events their favorites on the schedule because the track's steepest-in-NASCAR banked turns of 36 degrees produce sizzling speeds fora short layout. Mark Martin set the track record in qualifying in August with a lap of 125.093 mph in a Ford.
The Bristol facility also includes a boxing arena. Mark Carrier, a heavyweight who has a bout scheduled for the summer to be televised on ESPN, said Smith also bought the arena, but Larry Carrier has a five-year lease to continue promoting fights with an option for a five-year extension.
Carolyn Carrier, Larry's daughter, is public relations director for the Bobby Allison Motorsports team that fields Fords for driver Derrike Cope. As a girl, she stood on a soft drink crate in the track's early days so she could see over a counter to sell tickets.
``This is an emotional thing for the whole family, of course,'' she told The Observer. ``Dad is OK with it, and the family feels good about it. Dad put more than 30 years of his life into that raceway and made it special, and now he's going out of it on top. He can sit back and enjoy the fruits of his labors. He has built what I think is one of the sport's best tracks.''
LENGTH: Medium: 69 lines KEYWORDS: AUTO RACINGby CNB