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February 8, 2007

How Do You Spell Anti-Trust?
Try N-A-S-C-A-R
By Dennis Michelsen

Can anyone explain to me how NASCAR gets away with breaking every law in the books when it comes to moves that appear to challenge anti-trust laws? Time and time again we hear that NASCAR owns the dates not the racetracks. Then we see International Speedway Corporation build a new track! Like magic NASCAR finds a date for these new tracks. But let a facility pop up that is not owned by ISC and they can't get a race date! This sort of crap makes me sick. Businesses are not supposed to be able to get away with stuff like this. But once again ISC makes plans for a new track in Washington State and they have PROMISED the Washington legislature two dates to support the track! What about Kentucky Speedway?

Dates Don't Lie
Take a look at the newest tracks that have popped up as the NASCAR craze took over the country. The places that got NASCAR Nextel Cup dates all have one thing in common. They are owned in part or whole by ISC; whose majority owner is the France family. Kentucky Speedway, Pikes Peak International Raceway, and Nashville Super Speedway have been built during the same time period. None of these tracks has been able to get a NASCAR Nextel Cup date and one of those tracks, Pikes Peak, has gone out of business! These tracks have all been successful at drawing nice crowds for Busch and Craftsman Truck series events but curiously none of them has a Cup date yet. They all share one thing in common, the lack of France family ownership! How this is allowed to happen is beyond me. Some enterprising member of congress from the Commonwealth of Kentucky should have the Justice Department look into the practices of NASCAR and ISC. The two entities share offices and exchange personnel all the time. The dates don't lie…NASCAR is ISC and ISC is NASCAR! Gee, do you think if Kentucky Speedway sold a 33% ownership to ISC they would be able to get a NASCAR Nextel Cup date?

Washington State Bill Doesn't Lie
The bill authorizing the creation of a speedway development board has been presented to the state legislature in Washington. Reading through a bill with over 300 sections will challenge even the greatest insomniac but it was important reading to see just what it said. In this official government document we find out that they are proposing new bonds to finance the track, taxes to cover the bonds, exemptions from environmental rules, and a myriad of other things. Why would they commit to such a huge bond offering for a brand new racetrack? It is right there in black and white in the bill…two major race weekends and NASCAR is mentioned specifically! An ISC spokesperson said in the local newspapers that they would promise the senators and house members in Washington State two Nextel Cup weekends if this bill passed. Granted these races will probably be moved from other ISC tracks, but why doesn't Kentucky Speedway get to play?

PART VI-Sec. 601 of HB 2062-2007-8
The lessee shall host at least two major motorsports event weekends annually if the sales and use tax credit under section 401 of this act is in effect and the lessee is not prevented from doing so by a force majeure event. The lessee and its parent company shall use their good faith best efforts to secure as one of the two major motorsports event weekends hosted annually at the facility a NASCAR Nextel Cup event or an event in NASCAR's then-comparable successor premier national series beginning in the initial year of operation of the facility.

Editor's Note: The entire bill can be read at the following link: http://www.leg.wa.gov/pub/billinfo/2007-08/Pdf/Bills/House%20Bills/2062.pdf

What's Wrong With Kentucky Speedway?
OK compare the racing at Kentucky Speedway with that at Kansas Speedway and the Chicagoland Speedway. Which track offers better racing? My vote would go to the Kentucky Speedway, which also packs in some nice crowds for lesser racing series. So what is wrong with Kentucky Speedway? Do they lack the infrastructure or seating to support a NASCAR Nextel Cup date? Well to thousands of satisfied fans they appear to have everything you need to put on an entertaining race and they appear capable of hosting a Nextel Cup event! Wait a minute there is one thing they do seem to lack…a France family member on the Board of Directors! This kind of ruling class behavior might work in a third world country with a King with a ring to kiss, but in the United States we aren't supposed to tolerate such crap! Can you imagine if the NFL handed out dates for the Superbowl based on teams with the connections to the decision makers? They would be laughed out of court and handed a fine that would rival the gross national product of some countries! But when it comes to NASCAR all this crap is tolerated. Oh sure from time to time someone might threaten a lawsuit but heaven help them if it gets in front of a court in the Daytona Beach area! Poor Kentucky Speedway, they should have been smart enough to adopt someone with the last name of France!

Bye Bye Martinsville
If you love Martinsville Speedway you better send a donation to the environmentalists in Washington State to fight the new racetrack being built! ISC sucked storied Martinsville up not for its classic ties to the NASCAR racing of old but rather as a sacrificial lamb to steal a date from when it was convenient. The tree huggers are about the only folks that might be able to slow the ISC destructive express from having their way with Martinsville. Isn't that a bit ironic that to save NASCAR history we have to find a way to tie this whole Washington State track thing into a campaign to save the spotted gray billed one legged blind owl? I thought maybe close to sixty years of history would be good enough reason to keep Martinsville alive! Instead of Grandfather clocks perhaps the new tradition at the replacement track in Washington State will involve a clock made from a petrified apple core or a replica of the Space Needle! Since this bill working its way through the legislature exempts many of the environmental concerns from affecting the building of the new racetrack, the tree huggers better beat this bill right now. Otherwise ISC will start closing down Martinsville Speedway one date at a time!

This latest development of ISC officials promising dates if Washington State builds a new track disgusts me! Whatever happened to fairness? Before anyone else gets a race date it is time to give one to the deserving owners at Kentucky Speedway! Unfortunately NASCAR and ISC are the same thing and do not have ownership in Kentucky Speedway! Can you imagine Major League Baseball giving Milwaukee the All Star Game every year? That would be challenged in court five minutes after it was announced! But I guess congress and the courts and everyone else is afraid to mess with NASCAR brass and all that clout those NASCAR Dads represent at the voting booth! How do you spell Anti-Trust? Try N-A-S-C-A-R…according to my official NASCAR spell checker that spelling for the word works just fine!