Thursday, November 8, 2007

Concord: Cruisin' for a Bruton?

So the City of Concord has laid down with the dogs and is now itching it's fleas! Concord said NO to a dragstrip that Bruton Smith, owner of Lowes Motor Speedway in Concord, started to build across the street from LMS. Now Bruton has said he doesn't need Concord and is entertaining the idea of removing the speedway from Concord. This would cost the City of Concord millions in tax dollars and a crushed dream of becoming the epicenter of the motorsports world. But what is this all about anyway? Will Bruton really move? Is it a bluff just to get more tax incentives out of Concord? Is Bruton just a billionaire Diva with no more loyalty then Paris Hilton's dog? Will he really risk becoming the most hated man in motorsports by turning his back on the home of racing in order to flip a few (million) bucks? Is Concord sucking up to Bruton just making you squint your eyes and grit your teeth with rage? Should Concord call on the Franz Family (the Royal Family of NASCAR) for help? Is NASCAR dead? Has it become so big that it's roots have been kicked out of the track because you can't through chicken bones or 24oz cans of Budweiser anymore? Do you care? Do I care? I don't even know anymore. Let's hear it!

1 comment:

Craven and Company Realtors said...

This was just posted on Charlotte.com:

Thanksgiving deadline for speedway?

CONCORD --
Cabarrus County officials expects to hear by Thanksgiving whether billionaire Bruton Smith really will move Lowe's Motor Speedway out of Concord.

Smith has threatened to spend $350 million to move the track elsewhere in the Charlotte region following a dispute with Concord City Council over his plans to build a drag strip at the speedway. The city council has since retreated from its opposition to the drag strip, and also wants Smith to proceed with plans for extensive renovations at the track.

One of the many ideas being floated to keep Smith in town is to have the speedway area become part of a new tax increment financing district.

Such a designation, fairly new to North Carolina, lets governments issue bonds without voter approval to pay for some public projects within a specific district, such as infrastructure improvements. New tax revenue generated from the district is used toward paying the bond debt.

The track is a big moneymaker, and last year accounted for $169 million in tourism spending in Cabarrus County.

Smith was not immediately available for comment today.