Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Speedway Motorsports Inc. Shareholders v. Nextel's NASCAR

From: Marcelrf <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 22 Mar 2004 20:14:32 -0500

Speedway Motorsports Inc. Shareholders v. Nextel's NASCAR

Posted on Mon, Mar. 22, 2004

Settlement possible in Ferko case

Agreement could send second dates to Texas, Las
Vegas

By DAVID POOLE

The Charlotte Observer

Settlement negotiations in a lawsuit over a second Nextel Cup date for
Texas Motor Speedway have potentially major
ramifications for two tracks in the Carolinas, The Observer has learned.

A source close to talks in a suit against NASCAR by two Speedway
Motorsports Inc. shareholders
said Monday a settlement could result in International Speedway Corp.
selling both North Carolina
Speedway in Rockingham and Darlington Raceway to SMI.

If such a deal were made, two of three remaining Cup dates from
Rockingham and Darlington
would move – one to Texas Motor Speedway and the other to Las Vegas
Motor Speedway, giving
those SMI-owned tracks two dates each per season.

The other date would alternate between Rockingham and Darlington, with
the Nextel Cup, Busch
and Truck series racing at Rockingham one year then at Darlington the
next.

"I am aware of the (settlement) talks," SMI chairman Bruton Smith said
Monday. "I think that they
have been going on for about two months, and they're further down the
road than they ever
have been. But there will have to be a written agreement among all of
the attorneys before
there's any done deal."

Smith said that in his mind any settlement of the suit would have to
include a second Cup date for
Texas. "That's certainly the key to it, that's why it was filed," he
said.

Smith said, however, he doesn't consider the NASCAR Nextel All-Star
Challenge at Lowe's Motor
Speedway to be a bargaining chip in the settlement talks.

"The all-star race needs to stay where it is," Smith said. "Everyone
connected with the sport
should stand back and say, 'Thank goodness we have the biggest all-star
event of all sports.'
Then we should just settle in and see if we can make it bigger."

With races at SMI-owned Bristol Motor Speedway and Texas scheduled for
the next two
weekends, increased speculation about the lawsuit filed in Texas by SMI
shareholders Francis
Ferko and Rusty Vaughn seems inevitable.

The Dallas Morning News reported Sunday that its sources said the "sides
are close to reaching
an out-of-court settlement."

NASCAR spokesman Jim Hunter told the Dallas newspaper "there are some
things on the table,"
and "the process is in place," while Sam Cherry, Vaughn's attorney said,
"All I can tell you is we
are comfortable with where things are headed."

The lawsuit, filed two years ago by Ferko and later joined by Vaughn,
seeks damages from
NASCAR for reneging on a promise to give the Texas track a Cup race date
to accompany one
moved to the track after Smith bought 50 percent interest in a track in
North Wilkesboro. It also
alleges that NASCAR's relationship with ISC violates federal antitrust
regulations.

NASCAR denies that a second Cup date has ever been promised to Texas and
that SMI has
benefited from the manner in which NASCAR has run the sport.

Officials with both companies have given depositions in the case, which
is currently scheduled for
trial in July in Sherman, Texas.

Smith said he also would love to have a second date for his track in Las
Vegas.

"Las Vegas truly is the entertainment capital," Smith said. "And Rusty
Wallace said he sold more
souvenirs on Friday and Saturday at Las Vegas than he did in two weeks
in Daytona. I just wish
that NASCAR had promised me a (second) date out there like they did in
Texas."

Smith said lawyers for the SMI shareholders who're plaintiffs in the
Texas suit know any
settlement that doesn't protect current events at SMI tracks would be
unacceptable.

"There are so many attorneys involved in this, they've got to be
reminded that we don't want to
lose any of dates we have now," Smith said. "We can't wake up and have
date in Texas and all of
a sudden find out that we've lost a date some place else. That's not
going to work."

That includes the all-star event, he said.

"The sport is lucky to have it, and it didn't come easily," Smith said
of the event formerly called The
Winston, which will be held here May 22 for the 19th time in its 20-year
history. "We've built and
built it over the years. We've got it, it's here and that's where it
should remain.

"You don't pick up and move something with that much history. You
wouldn't talk about moving
the Daytona 500 to another speedway, would you? That doesn't sound
right. We all should be
happy with what we have here. I think the city of Charlotte should be
exceptionally pleased and
join with us to make sure we have things happening downtown and going on
elsewhere while
we're all enjoying that event."

http://www.thatsracin.com/mld/thatsracin/8250823.htm
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