nyse trk industry motorsports founded 1994 headquarters concord north carolina at charlotte motor speedway key people bruton smith founder and ceo marcus g. smith president and coo products motorsport venues legends cars revenue 570 million usd number of employees 793 full time website www.speedwaymotorsports.com speedway motorsports inc. smi is an american corporation that owns and manages racing facilities that host nascar indycar series nhra world of outlaws and other motor racing series . the company s headquarters are located at charlotte motor speedway in the suburbs of charlotte nc . smi owns nine racing facilities with a combined seating capacity of approximately 885 000 . in addition to operating racetracks smi owns performance racing network prn u.s. legends cars international and co owns motorsports authentics . contents 1 history 2 facilities owned 3 notable purchases 3.1 north wilkesboro speedway 3.2 north carolina speedway 3.3 new hampshire motor speedway 3.4 kentucky speedway 4 principal subsidiaries 5 principle competitors 6 references 7 external links history edit speedway motorsports didn t officially incorporate until 1994 . bruton smith began building smi in the 1950s when he worked as a race promoter and eventually built charlotte motor speedway in 1959 . smith left the racing business in the early 1960s to pursue other business ventures . he became very successful and by 1975 had owned majority shares in cms and took over as ceo . a year later he appointed h.a. humpy wheeler as general manager . smith began to expand cms adding additional grandstands and facilities including condominiums a first for a sports facility . in 1990 smith began to acquire additional speedway properties beginning with atlanta motor speedway . as he did with charlotte smith began expanding seating and facilities at atlanta . in 1992 lights were added to cms making it one of the first speedways to offer night racing and the company developed the legends car racing circuit now called u.s. legend cars international . smith incorporated speedway motorsports in december 1994 and in february 24th 1995 took the company public by offering shares of stock debuting at 18 per share . 1 in 1996 smi began to quickly expand acquiring two additional facilities ; bristol motor speedway and sonoma raceway . a year later the company finished construction of the 250 million 150 000 seat texas motor speedway . between 1993 and 1998 smi had increased its total seating capacity from 176 000 to 551 000 . in 1999 smi outbid rival international speedway corporation isc to purchase las vegas motor speedway . smith had outbid isc by 15 million to make a total 215 million purchase . that same year smi sold the naming rights of its flagship charlotte motor speedway to lowe s a 35 million deal that would last until 2009 . 1 until 1999 speedway motorsports was the top track owner in the motorsports industry . that year international speedway corporation then the second largest track owner acquired penske motorsports then the third largest track owner . the 623 million deal propelled isc to the top track owner and smi fell to second . smith then turned his attention towards securing two nascar dates at each of his facilities . 1 as of 2011 only four smi owned tracks hold two nascar dates . smi purchased north wilkesboro speedway and new hampshire motor speedway in 2007 and in 2008 purchased kentucky speedway . today smi owns nine racing facilities eight of which are used to host major racing series including nascar indycar and nhra . as of december 31 2009 the combined total permanent seating capacity was approximately 885 000 . 2 in 2011 smi owned tracks will host 12 of the 36 nascar sprint cup series races including three chase races plus the sprint all star race . in addition to speedway properties smi also owns performance racing network a radio network that broadcasts all nascar races at smi owned tracks . smi also equally owns motorsports authentics a joint venture formed with international speedway corporation to produce market and sell licensed motorsports merchandise . 2 facilities owned edit track location facility acreage main layout seating capacity year opened acquired date major series atlanta motor speedway hampton ga 820 1.54 miles 2.48 km quad oval 111 000 1960 1990 nascar bristol motor speedway bristol tn 670 0.533 miles 0.858 km oval 160 000 1961 1996 nascar nhra charlotte motor speedway concord nc 1 310 1.5 miles 2.4 km quad oval 135 000 1960 1975 nascar nhra woo kentucky speedway sparta ky 820 1.5 miles 2.4 km tri oval 107 000 2000 may 22 2008 nascar las vegas motor speedway las vegas nv 1 030 1.5 miles 2.4 km d shaped oval 131 000 1996 1999 nascar nhra woo new hampshire motor speedway loudon nh 1 180 1.058 miles 1.703 km oval 88 000 1990 november 2 2007 nascar north wilkesboro speedway north wilkesboro nc 0.625 miles 1.006 km oval 40 000 1947 n a sonoma raceway sonoma ca 1 600 1.99 miles 3.20 km road course 47 000 1968 1996 nascar indycar nhra texas motor speedway fort worth tx 1 490 1.5 miles 2.4 km quad oval 181 655 1996 1995 built nascar indycar some facilities include multiple layouts and multiple tracks including dirt ovals and dragways notable purchases edit smi has a history of purchasing tracks to obtain nascar race dates . the company s purchases and closures of the tracks in order to obtain a second nascar date for texas motor speedway led to the ferko lawsuit . north wilkesboro speedway edit in 1996 the company purchased half interest in north wilkesboro speedway in north wilkesboro north carolina along with bob bahre of new hampshire international speedway now new hampshire motor speedway . smi moved one of north wilkesboro speedway s dates to texas motor speedway and bob bahre moved the second date to his facility . on november 2 2007 smi purchased nhis and part of the purchase resulted in smi gaining full ownership of north wilkesboro speedway . 3 north carolina speedway edit in 2004 as a result of the ferko lawsuit smi gained ownership of the north carolina speedway in rockingham north carolina . smi closed north carolina speedway and moved the track s final race date to texas motor speedway . on october 2 2007 smi sold north carolina speedway at auction . the track was purchased by indiana andy hillenburg for 4.4 million and renamed rockingham speedway . new hampshire motor speedway edit on november 2 2007 smi announced the purchase of new hampshire international speedway from bob bahre and renamed the facility new hampshire motor speedway . this has led to speculation that smi would move one of new hampshire s dates to las vegas motor speedway and or swap the date with the fall race at texas motor speedway tms has expressed an interest in moving the fall race away from the first weekend in november which is also the opening weekend of deer hunting season in texas . as of the 2016 nascar schedule the dates remain the same . 3 kentucky speedway edit on may 22 2008 smi announced it had purchased kentucky speedway from kentucky speedway llc . it was purchased from joie chitwood . the track had been trying to secure a nascar sprint cup race for several years . 4 smi was finally victorious in their pursuit with kentucky speedway receiving its inaugural sprint cup race on july 9 2011 . 5 it appears this came at the expense of smi owned atlanta motor speedway which dropped from two races to one on the 2011 sprint cup schedule . 6 principal subsidiaries edit tracks atlanta motor speedway inc. bristol motor speedway inc. charlotte motor speedway inc. las vegas motor speedway llc spr acquisition corporation d b a sears point raceway texas motor speedway inc. other speedway systems llc d b a finish line events 600 racing inc. inex corporation the speedway club inc. oil chem research corporation speedway funding corporation sonoma funding corporation principle competitors edit international speedway corporation dover motorsports incorporated references edit a b c history of speedway motorsports inc. . reference for businesses . retrieved 27 november 2010 . a b company description . speedway motorsports . retrieved 27 november 2010 . a b smi purchasing new hampshire speedway . freelibrary . retrieved 27 november 2010 . speedway motorsports agrees to purchase kentucky speedway . may 22 2008 . retrieved 27 november 2010 . sprint cup series to visit kentucky speedway in 2011 . kentucky speedway . august 10 2010 . retrieved 27 november 2010 . atlanta motor speedway announces schedule for 2011 nascar season . august 5 2010 . retrieved 27 november 2010 . external links edit official website company profile v t e current nascar sprint cup series race venues isc auto club chicagoland darlington daytona homestead kansas martinsville michigan phoenix richmond talladega watkins glen smi atlanta bristol charlotte kentucky las vegas new hampshire sonoma texas other dover indianapolis pocono retrieved from https 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