Bruton Smith Named Tribute Recipient for 2012 North Carolina Motorsports Industry Awards – David Poole To Be Honored - Speedway Digest

The North Carolina Motorsports Association (NCMA) announced Bruton Smith as the 2012 Achievement in Motorsports Tribute Award recipient for the Sixth Annual North Carolina Motorsports Industry Awards presented by Senn Dunn Insurance. The announcement took place at the NCMA’s annual membership luncheon today at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

In addition to Smith, the late David Poole, long-time Charlotte Observer motorsports writer, will be honored with the Media Recognition Award. The event will also recognize seven industry organizations (listed below) for their 2011 accomplishments and positive impacts on the Motorsports Industry in North Carolina. All the recipients will be honored at the awards banquet Monday, January 16 at the Embassy Suites in Concord, N.C.

Growing up on a modest farm near Oakboro, N.C., O. Bruton Smith parlayed his love for “building things” into a business empire, focusing on the motorsports and automotive industries. Today, his companies provide hundreds of full-time North Carolina jobs and opportunities for racing fans, competitors and businesses. Smith founded Speedway Motorsports Inc. by consolidating his motorsports holdings in December 1994, and in February 1995, he made it the first motorsports company to trade on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE:TRK).

Currently Speedway Motorsports Inc. owns and operates eight premier motorsports facilities: Atlanta Motor Speedway, Bristol Motor Speedway, Charlotte Motor Speedway, Kentucky Speedway, Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Infineon Raceway, New Hampshire Motor Speedway and Texas Motor Speedway. Speedway Motorsports also provides souvenir merchandising services through its SMI Properties subsidiary, and manufactures and distributes smaller-scale, modified racing cars through U.S. Legend Cars International. In August of 2008, utilizing 1,876 workers and a combined 636,000 man hours, the first-ever, four-lane drag strip was opened on the grounds of Charlotte

Motor Speedway. In 2010, zMAX Dragway hosted the inaugural Four-Wide Nationals, a ground-breaking event for the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA).

Always interested in cars, Smith promoted various racing events during the 1950s, featuring the burgeoning National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR). Though a rough era for the sport, Smith was one of the first truly professional promoters who paid good purses, tended to the needs of the fans and found unique ways to promote events staged at the speedways he leased around North Carolina. His dedication to enhancing the race fan’s experience continues to today with CMS adding the world’s largest HDTV to its backstretch during the 2011 season.

Smith is also very active in philanthropic activities, including Speedway Children’s Charities which he founded in 1982. The non-profit organization has grown to include chapters at each of the Speedway Motorsports facilities and has distributed more than $40 million to agencies that provide educational, medical and social support to children.

In April 2007, Smith was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame and he became a member of the National Motorsports Press Association Hall of Fame in January 2006. In January, Smith will join Benny Parsons, Richard Petty, Richard Childress, Dale Earnhardt Sr. and Junior Johnson as the sixth recipient of the North Carolina Achievement in Motorsports Tribute Award.

2012 North Carolina Motorsports Industry Awards:

• Bruton Smith, Achievement in Motorsports Tribute Award

• David Poole, Media Recognition Award (Posthumously)

• G-Force Racing Gear

• Industrial Hard Carbon

• JRi Shocks

• Lake Norman Elementary School Pit Crew

• NASCAR Whelen All-American Series

• Racing Electronics

Richmond County Tourism Authority

NCMA PR