Why didn't someone tell me I posted the wrong link.
This is what I meant to post:
Power shift altered course of NASCAR
France acquired four racetracks from Penske in watershed year of'99
BY BOB LIPPER
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER May 3, 2006
In 1998, the France family, which controls and profits enormously from NASCAR, trailed the opposition 9-8.
Archrival Bruton Smith and his Speedway Motorsports Inc. owned racetracks that staged nine Nextel Cup events at that time. Bill France Jr. and other family members, through their International Speedway Corp., owned five tracks -- Daytona, Talladega, Darlington, Watkins Glen and Phoenix -- on which eight races were held.
That was before the big bang.
A year later, the ruling France family had emerged as by far the sport's dominant force, with Richmond International Raceway a major component in that leap forward. RIR, in fact, was the cherry-on-top exclamation point to a year of seismic change in auto racing generally and NASCAR in particular.
The Frances always had managed NASCAR and, by extension, the rulebook and the calendar. But their rivalry with Smith -- and it persists to some degree -- could've tilted in favor of either party toward the turn of the century. There even were rumblings that Smith might form a breakaway association.
That was until several developments in 1999 altered the landscape forever.
In 1999, the France family lapped the field. It was an industry giant in 1998. It became a monster a year later.
Dollar signs and numbers reflect the explosion. Gross revenues for International Speedway Corp. -- publicly traded but 62 percent controlled by the France family, according to Fortune magazine were $188,968,000 in 1998. By 2000, the figure for ISC had mushroomed to $440,430,000 en route to 2005's reported gross of $740,129,000.
On another front, Bill France Jr. and his brother, James, were among those ranked at No.198 -- with a net worth of $1.6 billion apiece -- on Fortune's 2005 list of the 400 richest Americans (Smith wasn't far behind at No.207 and $1.5 billion).
Those staggering increases and amounts have as their starting point the deal the Frances cut with Roger Penske seven years ago.
Penske is known for his vast business empire and for owning the Dodges driven by Ryan Newman and Kurt Busch. Until May 1999, he also owned California Speedway, Michigan International Speedway, North Carolina Speedway and the largest share of Homestead-Miami Speedway. The four tracks then hosted six Cup races annually.
Bruton Smith says he approached Penske in 1998 with an offer to buy those facilities. He also attempted to buy RIR from Paul Sawyer. Smith was turned down on both counts. Bill France wasn't.
In May 1999, ISC took over California, Michigan and North Carolina from Penske, plus his share of Homestead (giving ISC 90 percent of that property; it later would acquire the remaining 10 percent). Meanwhile, ISC broke ground on tracks in Kansas and Illinois -- tracks that would come online in 2001.
Finally, ISC purchased RIR in December 1999, giving the France family control of 10 tracks that held 16 of the 34 races on the Cup schedule. The schedule since has grown to 36 races. Nineteen -- more than half are run on 12 tracks that ISC owns, with Martinsville Speedway replacing now-defunct North Carolina Speedway among its holdings in 2004.
RIR was no mere add-on to France's empire. The price was $215 million -- along with the $215 million Smith paid in 1998 for Las Vegas, the most money spent for a track purchase. RIR's proximity to Washington and the rest of the northeast, its history of sellouts, its action-track allure for television and the property's improvements under Sawyer made for an attractive addition to ISC's holdings.
"I think when you look at just the selling price of $215 million, you can see the France family saw the value of this racetrack," said RIR's president, Doug Fritz. "The France family and ISC looked at this facility as a crown jewel of racing."
Based on ticket sales alone, RIR generates more than $9 million in revenues for each of its two Cup races. ISC posted a net income of more than $159 million in 2005 the Frances also earn untold millions in licensing ventures, TV revenues, corporate sponsorships, etc. -- and while the company refuses to divulge profit margins for individual tracks, RIR rates high in the pecking order.
"We don't disclose figures per facility," said Lenny Santiago, manager of investments and corporate communications for ISC. "I can tell you [RIR] is one of our more successful facilities. It's a premium facility in our portfolio."
Those holdings grew from little but one man's vision. Bill France Sr. -- the Big Bill of racing legend had less than $100 in his wallet when he packed up his wife and son and headed south from his Washington-area origins in 1934 to pursue a career in auto racing. He settled in Daytona Beach, a speed-happy hotbed from racing's early-1900s beginnings on the hard-packed sand.
In time, France promoted races and explored ways to legitimize the sport in the form of a league that would hold a series of races leading to a championship. On Dec.12, 1947, at a meeting in Daytona's Streamline Hotel, NASCAR was born. It held its first sanctioned event on the beach/road course two months later.
The rest is history and runaway growth.
Today, NASCAR is armed with a new eight-year, $4.5 billion TV deal that begins in 2007, and ISC has hopes of building tracks in the New York and Seattle areas. The foundation for the surge was laid seven years ago.
"If you look at the sheer number of tracks that were added, that shows you the magnitude of how important 1999 was," Fritz said. "That was a very pivotal year for the company."
And for the balance of power in racing as a whole.
