Smith Prepared To Leave His Past In Concord

The owner of Lowe’s Motor Speedway, Bruton Smith, tells Eyewitness News his fight to build a drag strip is just the latest battle in a decades-long disagreement with the city of Concord.

Even though the city’s zoning board is set to review and likely reverse their earlier position and clear the way for a drag strip near the speedway, it’s clear that Smith is still not satisfied. He said he’s prepared to move the speedway and not look back.

On Tuesday he told Eyewitness News the decision makes business sense. The land is now worth seven to eight times as much as it was when he started. He also said he’s prepared to spend more than $350 million to build a new speedway, but that’s not that much when you consider he was prepared to spend $200 million anyway in improvements to the existing speedway.

Most surprisingly, Smith said he could leave Concord and not leave his heart behind. He called building the speedway more than 40 years ago "one of the worst periods of my life," and said even with all he’s built, he’s never felt any appreciation from Concord whatsoever.

Eyewitness News took those comments to Concord's mayor, Scott Padgett, who said they can’t allow personal feelings to get into the battle over the property.

It appears the resolution revolves around the Concord City Council's meeting on Friday, Oct. 26. Smith said he won't do anything before then, but he is clearly sending the message to Concord that he is ready to leave it all behind.

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