For the second time in the 2008 season, Kentucky Speedway has sold an event out.  Saturday’s IndyCar Series, “Meijers Indy 300 Presented by Pepsi and Edy’s” sold out all of the 66,089 grandstand seats and was offering standing-room-only tickets.  After all was said and done, total attendance for the race was 66,389 fans making it the most attended IndyCar Series event at Kentucky Speedway to date.

Back in June, the NASCAR Nationwide Series ran in front of a sold out crowd of 73,195.  This is the first time in the track’s history that it has hosted two sold-out events during a single season.

With 26 cars taking the green flag, Scott Dixon completed a last-lap pass of Helio Castroneves 500 feet before the finish line to grab the win for Chip Ganassi Racing.  Bringing his wins to six for the season ties the series record for wins in a season.  The victory at Kentucky gained Dixon 13 points which leaves him 78 points ahead of Castroneves in the series.  Castroneves is seeking his first series title.

The event marks the end of another successful and news packed season at Kentucky.  Bruton Smith’s Speedway Motorsports International announced back in May that it would be purchasing Kentucky Speeday.  That sale is scheduled to complete in October.

Well, I haven’t decided if this one’s good or bad yet.  This is especially close to my heart as I live in Kentucky so, this is my home track in essence.  Man, oh man….  Humpy retired yesterday and this was announced today, coincidence?  I can’t help but to think of North Wilkesboro and Rockingham when SMI purchased both of them.  We all know how well that one worked out for the pair of NC tracks.  North Wilkesboro sits in ruin and Rockingham was saved only last year from the dozers.  In the interest of being fair, I’ll reserve judgement until more info is known.  I’ll post the full press release below for your review. 

jc

Courtesy: Kentucky Speedway Media

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (May 22, 2008) – Speedway Motorsports, Inc. (NYSE:TRK) has agreed to purchase Kentucky Speedway from Kentucky Speedway, LLC. The agreement was announced today by O. Bruton Smith, founder, chairman and chief executive officer of Speedway Motorsports, Inc.  The acquisition is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2008.

Kentucky Speedway, which opened in 2000, hosts one NASCAR Nationwide Series event, one NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series event, one IndyCar Series event and other racing events each year.  The speedway is located in Sparta, Ky., approximately one-half hour south of Cincinnati, Ohio. The speedway is easily accessible via modern highways.

Located on approximately 820 acres, Kentucky Speedway features a 1.5-mile tri-oval speedway, with chair-back grandstand seating for 66,089 spectators, 50 luxury suites with seats for approximately 2,000, 100 private RV spaces, 200 reserved camping spaces and 1,000 unreserved camping spaces. Kentucky Speedway regularly hosts near capacity crowds for its Nationwide Series events.

“This is a wonderful opportunity for our company to grow into a new market in a modern speedway facility. We continue to be committed to investing in the motorsports industry,” said Smith.

Smith added that he has offered Jerry Carroll, who was instrumental in the development of Kentucky Speedway, the opportunity to remain involved in its future operations.

Kentucky Speedway will join an outstanding lineup of SMI facilities. The company also owns and operates Atlanta Motor Speedway; Bristol Motor Speedway in Bristol, Tenn.; Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, Calif.; Las Vegas Motor Speedway; Lowe’s Motor Speedway in Concord, N.C.; New Hampshire Motor Speedway, in Loudon, N.H.; and Texas Motor Speedway in Ft. Worth, Texas.

With this acquisition, the company will own race tracks in the West, Northeast, Midwest, Southeast and Southwest, including four of the nation’s top-10 metropolitan markets.

The breakdown includes: the sixth-largest market (Infineon/San Francisco); the fifth-largest market (Texas/Dallas-Ft. Worth); the seventh-largest market (New Hampshire/Boston); the ninth-largest market (Atlanta); the 24^th-largest market (Cincinnati); the 25^th-largest market (Lowe’s/Charlotte); the 41^st-largest market (Las Vegas); and the 92^nd-largest market (Bristol/Tri-Cities).