CONCORD, N.C.
NASCAR is in the crisis of its life.   The sanctioning body is facing two major lawsuits, which interestingly do have some relationship to the other.
If NASCAR loses either of these lawsuits, it might be the ripple needed to bring down the mightiest stronghold in professional sports.
NASCAR is suing AT&T for $100 million in damages, contending its 10-year, $750-million contract with Nextel as the title sponsor of the Cup series allows Cingular to remain in the sport as the sponsor of the No. 31 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet driven by Jeff Burton but prohibits the change in branding.
Recently, AT&T acquired Cingular, and in May a court ruled that AT&T could apply its logo on the car,
Now, NASCAR, in a move to make a statement about how vigilant it will be in protecting its partners, has countersued AT&T.
While that issue is transpiring, Kentucky Speedway is suing NASCAR for monopolizing the sport because NASCAR won’t give that speedway a NASCAR Nextel Cup date.
In an uprising of its board of directors, Marathon Partners, which holds 500,000 shares of stock in the publicly traded Dover (Del.) Motorsports company, has said in a letter that the company should be sold by means of competitive auction.
The letter read, “Industry giants, International Speedway Corp. (ISC) and Speedway Motorsports, Inc. (SMI), dominate the business.  The marketing clout, sponsorship base, infrastructure and management resources of these entities exceed that of Dover Motorsports to such an extent as to put the company at a permanent competitive disadvantage.
“Furthermore, NASCAR, the sanctioning body responsible for creating the racing schedules, is controlled by the same family that controls International Speedway. It is very clear to us that the days of the independent operator are largely over. We believe it is inevitable that Dover Motorsports participates as a seller in the consolidation of track ownership.”
Dover Motorsports owns Dover Int’l Speedway, Nashville Superspeedway, Gateway Int’l Raceway and Memphis Motorsports Park. It has two Cup dates at Dover, but has been unable to land Cup dates for the other tracks, which currently host NASCAR Busch Series races.
Kentucky has a Busch Series and Craftsman Truck Series race, too. It also hosts the Indy Racing League and the ARCA RE/Max Series.
Being so close to Cincinnati, the Kentucky track usually has good crowds. The recent Busch Series race there was sold out.
Kentucky’s contention in suing NASCAR basically is just what Dover’s board of directors has explained.
Kentucky is charging that NASCAR and ISC are a monopoly.
Now, I’ll bet you, if you lay a list of officers of NASCAR and a list of ISC officers in front of any judge in the country, they can’t and won’t say the two companies are not related.
Both NASCAR and ISC are controlled by the France family. NASCAR is responsible for regulating the schedule of which ISC has 12 tracks with 19 of the season’s 36 races.
SMI, headed by Bruton Smith, owns six tracks with 10 Nextel Cup dates. Now that’s 29 of the season’s races and 18 of the 22 tracks.
If I was Denis McGlynn, president and CEO of Dover Motorsports, I’d be arranging a loan for Kentucky Speedway to help in its legal defense and I’d be willing to loan Kentucky Speedway any and all lawyers available at Dover.
Now, Kentucky Speedway just might not need this help. It has managed, so far, to keep all the court proceedings in Kentucky, which is a big plus. NASCAR has tried a lot of moves to get the case moved to a Florida court but has had no success, a ploy it has used in previous suits.
Don’t you just know if Kentucky wins its lawsuit, every track in the country that wants a Nextel Cup date is going to be waiting.
AT&T can’t be far behind.
NASCAR is at the crossroads of a crisis.