GLADEVILLE – It appears increasingly likely that Speedway Motorsports Inc. (SMI) will assume operation of Nashville’s Fairgrounds Speedway, with a goal of running top-tier NASCAR races.
If so, what impact will it have on Nashville Superspeedway, which earlier this year launched a successful re-opening after a decade’s shutdown?
Specifically, if Fairgrounds Speedway lands a premier NASCAR Cup race, would it conflict with the Superspeedway’s Cup race which drew a packed house of approximately 40,000 in June?
No, says Michael Tatoian, CEO of Superspeedway owner Dover Motorsports.
“Each facility would offer two completely difference racing experiences,” he says, referring to the vast difference between superspeedway racing and short-track racing.
“The Nashville/Middle Tennessee market is full of sports fans, including motorsports fans, and if any market could handle both successfully, its Nashville.”
Terrell Davis, publisher of Middle Tennessee Racing News, agrees there would be sufficient support for both tracks.
“Fans from several states would attend NASCAR races at both the Fairgrounds and the Superspeedway,” he says. “The tracks are so different they would compliment each other, and fans would flock to both.”
Davis points out that Fairgrounds Speedway hosted two annual Cup races until 1984, and both always sold out.
SMI, which owns several of the top racetracks in the country, has bid for a long-term lease for the Metro-owned Fairgrounds facility. It reportedly has offered Metro $1 million a year in rent, with plans to invest millions more in upgrades and expansion.
If it gets the track SMI intends to pursue NASCAR truck, Xfinity and Cup races – the same series hosted by the Superspeedway – in addition to continuing local-division racing.
Local drivers are all for it.
“I’d like to see NASCAR back at the Fairgrounds,” says Mt. Juliet’s Bennie Hamlett, one of the track’s most veteran racers. “It would be great for the sport. It would generate a lot of excitement and attention for all the divisions.”
“I’m for it,” says Lebanon’s Scott Fetcho, a former Fairgrounds racer whose son Dylan Fetcho is the defending track champion. “I want what’s best for our racing, and I believe it (a SMI takeover) would be best.”
“I think it’s the only hope for the track – and for local racing — to survive,” says Mt. Juliet driver William Hale.
Dover originally planned to hold local-division racing. But a short rack, like a planned drag strip, was never built as NSS struggled with poor attendance during its initial 10-year run without a Cup race.
Tatoian explains why the short track and drag strip are no longer possible on the heavily-developed site:
“There are now a couple gazillion square feet of distribution centers on the locations we originally contemplated in 2000.”
The Superspeedway has three years remaining on its Cup contract with NASCAR. Presumably, considering the track’s successful debut, its Cup contract will be extended, along with its truck and Xfinity races.
NASCAR made no secret it was eager to return to the booming Nashville-area sports market and was delighted with the Superspeedway’s successful opener. That suggests it would likely grant races to both tracks, doubling its exposure.
“If they keep the race dates far enough apart, fans will flock to both,” Davis says. “It will be a win-win for both tracks.”