Council says no to Charlotte Drag Strip (1 Viewer)

[Darryl]

I believe it might be said that Mr. Smith mostly gets his way on business decisions. To me this really looks vindictive, for good or bad, directed towards the city. He did cite instances of 'other' businesses leaving Concord for the same reasons. Appears that as it's sometimes said, 'If you MUCK with the bull, you get the horn in the Butt!' If Smith's in a bad mood this could get ugly for the city!

 

[jackass]

yeah i loved how he reffered to business that left Kannpolis (Cannon) over 5 years ago....lol

the Cup teams looking to get in to drag racing...might be the same ones that he said in the 90's would go with him if he started his own oval series....


he's still got to answer to current stock holders.....but he wil build the strip.. some how all the permits will get paid for..

Billy

 

[shawn fleischmann]

Concord will change their tunes soon, Bruton put Concord on the national map.

 

[.]

About how far apart are the two cities from each other?
Is Concord a suburb of Charlotte?
Same counties?
-not familiar with the area.....

 

[shawn fleischmann]

About how far apart are the two cities from each other?
Is Concord a suburb of Charlotte?
Same counties?
-not familiar with the area.....

Concord is about 15 minutes north east of Charlotte right off of I-85, I think that Charlotte is part of Mecklenburg county and Concord is in Cabarrus. I known the area pretty well from this summer when i was looking at colleges.

 

[none]

Re: here we go........

I seriously doubt Bruton Smith is considering relocating a $300 Million Oval track if they don't allow him to build a Dragstrip! Anyone care to bet on that???

I guess you never heard of Baseball and football stadiums. They get the tax payer to shell out the money. Everybody wants new. If Bruton is going to pay for it with his money then thats OK with me.

 

[hellfirejim]

Bruton was on tv and he said that if this can not get "RESOLVED" that he was all ready to build another track. He said that he had the plans in place and was only looking for more land in another county. He likened it to how football colluseiums were being torn down all over and new ones being built.

He definately has the money to do this and infact might welcome the change as the town was getting awful close to the track and that always brings whining of "oh the noise". Ya dumb sh%#, why did you buy a house within 5 miles of the track??? But you see tracks don't vote, homeowners do.....

In all accuality, I would not recommend the town push him because he can do as he said and create not only a new oval track [bigger and better], a drag strip but also a complex for more racing business and teams with a lot of surrounding land to buffer housing buildups. Makes a lot of sense.....

jim

 

[Toejam]

Joe, Bruton himself said He has NO PROBLEM with building a new track elsewhere and moving everything from the existing track, levelling the track and selling the realestate, in fact He said that he is looking forward to building a much nicer facility in a better location around Charlotte, I heard Him live today on the radio. Claire B. said "it sounded crazy" to do such a thing and He said "buisness is buisness, If thats what I need to do, I'll do it", He wants a first class drag strip in Charlotte, and He will get one. plus He said the new press rooms and luxury suites at the new circle track will be "first class, better than Texas, Bristol or Vegas" He is serious, He said "I'm in the racing buisness" also said some team owners in NASCAR have said they would be very interested in getting into drag racing but didn't discuss which ones.

Kenny, I bet the cost of rebuilding Lowes Motor speedway is probably 3-4fold what is was when it was built. That makes NO sense what so ever! How do you explain that to your stockholders? Never happen...

 

[none]

Kenny, I bet the cost of rebuilding Lowes Motor speedway is probably 3-4fold what is was when it was built. That makes NO sense what so ever! How do you explain that to your stockholders? Never happen...

Dude, Wake UP! Were I live the Giants & Jets are spending "of there own money" 660 Million each to built a new staduim and lets not talk about the billions that are being spent on the Mets & Yankees new staduims and that is with some tax money. Don't think for a monent that Smith is not going to get some tax brakes and input from the state for his newer bigger better race track. He can build it with state of the art boxes and more camping and seating. Look racers are always trying to go faster and track owners are always looking for more money streams. As a stock holder I would be glad that may company is make move that will in the end make more money. PS the old track can and will be broken down and the 100's of acres will be sold for houses and strip malls.... Isn't that what we all need is more strip malls...

 

[Rich]

Kenny, I bet the cost of rebuilding Lowes Motor speedway is probably 3-4fold what is was when it was built. That makes NO sense what so ever! How do you explain that to your stockholders? Never happen...

I believe Lowes Motor Speedway was originally built around 1960. Of course there's been many of add-ons and major improvements made to the facility since then. But people in the Seattle region have seen something similar happen. The Kingdome was built in the mid-1970's and opened in 1976. A little more than 20+ years later the building was demolished and two stadiums built in its' place.

 

[none]

I believe Lowes Motor Speedway was originally built around 1960. Of course there's been many of add-ons and major improvements made to the facility since then. But people in the Seattle region have seen something similar happen. The Kingdome was built in the mid-1970's and opened in 1976. A little more than 20+ years later the building was demolished and two stadiums built in its' place.

If I am not correct the tax fools in Washington were still pay off the 25 year bond as the building was knocked down.

 

[davey]

He also mentioned that when stick and ball teams need new stadiums they often need to appeal to the city, state, tax payers, etc. to get the necessary funding. He then said "I don't have that problem". Too funny.

Lowes Speedway is 47 years old, albeit with many upgrades. I fully expect him to move and I don't think "what will the stockholders think?" would even enter his mind. He made his money, reported at $1.4 to $1.6 BILLION by being aggressive not by being a wimp. If he moves he'll be worth even more in the long run.

 

[none]

and if he doesn't, that will probably mean the Concordians made many, many concessions......and we will have a facility for the dreaded 24th

 

[davey]

He said on "Nascar Now" or whatever show was on SPEED last night the he didn't care if they reversed their decision or not. Too late. He said he has made up his mind to move. Could be posturing but I wouldn't doubt that he moves.

 

[Brian]

I'm not an attorney, I'll just play one of this message board. I've got a little experience with small town politics and real estate development. Concord is about to get into big trouble. When a town changes directions on zoning and such it has been proven that this is essentially seizure of the property. That is a big no no according the Constitution. Many a city has lost a huge judgment for this kind of thing. You don't hear about them because the terms usually dictate that the winner can't say anything.

 

[Rich]

If I am not correct the tax fools in Washington were still pay off the 25 year bond as the building was knocked down.

I believe you're right about that. The Kingdome had some problems with the roof which as I recall required around $70 Million in repairs. Money was still owed on the building when it was demolished. To add insult to injury, voters turned down the proposals to build those stadiums but we ended up with them anyway. At the time I had been a Seattle Seahawks season ticket holder for thirteen years and a season ticket for the Mariners for ten. The entire episode left such a sour taste in my mouth that I gave up my tickets for both teams and no longer follow football or baseball. Since that time I have never stepped foot in the baseball stadium and have only been to one game at the football stadium (as a guest of my brother).

During the past couple of years NASCAR came to our state hat in hand asking the legislature to help fund a new track. That effort finally died last spring when the legislature refused to go along with the plan. Whatever one thinks of Bruton Smith, he at least seems to be willing to use his own money to fund his projects. The same can be said for our local NHRA facility, Pacific Raceways, where the owners are spending $135 Million of their own money to renovate the facility.

 

[Toejam]

I believe Lowes Motor Speedway was originally built around 1960. Of course there's been many of add-ons and major improvements made to the facility since then. But people in the Seattle region have seen something similar happen. The Kingdome was built in the mid-1970's and opened in 1976. A little more than 20+ years later the building was demolished and two stadiums built in its' place.

Rich that's different, those Facilities in Sea-Tac were taxpayer funded.

 

[sharkman]

Kenny, I bet the cost of rebuilding Lowes Motor speedway is probably 3-4fold what is was when it was built. That makes NO sense what so ever! How do you explain that to your stockholders? Never happen...

Joe, the stockholders have nothing to do with building a new motorsports complex, if Bruton wants to build it and sell the existing track then he can do it. He owns SMI and is CEO, it's no different than when Trane built a new manufacturing plant in Mexico and moved the existing operation there from Tyler, we as stockholders had no say so or vote on the move, it was buisness as usual.

 

[art]

One thing no has mentioned in this saga, When he builds his new track, it will have an airport built to handle business jets. There won't be any complaints from encroaching home owners, as the FAA runs the airports. See E-town. Though limited in some scheduling, the noise factor is over ridden by the airport.
Art

 

[murdock]

On the John Boy and Billy (radio) Show this morning, Major General (Ret.) Tom Sadler, an employee of Bruton Smith, said that "Bruton ain't afraid to take on lightning". Well put.

Murdock.