CONCORD, N.C. — It took a little more than a week for the Concord (N.C.) City Council to go from voting against a drag strip at Lowe’s Motor Speedway to declaring its unanimous support of the $60 million project, which would bring the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series to the facility late next summer.
After the council voted against the strip, Speedway Motorsports, Inc. Chairman O. Bruton Smith blew his top and vowed to move the entire facility somewhere else.
Neighboring counties made plays to woo the track, while Smith claimed to be looking at parcels of land in other places in the Charlotte area.
In the end, the council held another meeting and not only approved the drag strip, but voted unanimously to ask the city to come up with tax incentives for Smith and SMI to build the facility, which will be located behind The Dirt Track @ Lowe’s Motor Speedway.
“Clearly this is an opportunity to demonstrate our good faith,” Councilman Hector Henry told the Charlotte Observer.
Smith called the move a “small step” toward solving the dispute.
The Observer reported incentives to the track, which already provides more than $169 million in economic impact to the area annually, could be worth up to $2.4 million.