tool name
closeBruton Smith promises to build
the 'Bellagio of drag racing'
NHRA moving into speedway neighborhood
DAVID POOLE
The Charlotte Observer
Friday, Jan. 25, 2008
What does 7,000 horsepower feel like?
Doug Herbert, who drives a Top Fuel dragster in the National Hot Rod Association's PowerAde Series, has a way to describe what it's like to go from zero to 100 mph in eight-tenths of a second and reach a speed of well over 300 mph after just a quarter mile.
"Imagine that you're sitting at a stoplight," said Herbert, whose team is based in Lincolnton, N.C. "Along comes a semi-truck and it rear ends you doing 100 mph. That's what it feels like. And it's fun!"
Herbert now has a date to circle on his calendar for a "home game" in drag racing's top series after Thursday's announcement of the NHRA Carolina Nationals on Sept. 11-14. The race will be held at a new $60 million facility being built adjacent to Lowe's Motor Speedway.
Speedway Motorsports Inc. chairman Bruton Smith said the drag strip will be the "Bellagio of drag racing," comparing it to a luxury hotel-casino complex in Las Vegas.
John Cox of the Cabarrus Regional Chamber of Commerce, said the addition of drag racing helps make Concord the "Disney World of racing" and 2007 NHRA Pro Stock champion Jeg Coughlin said the Charlotte region is becoming "the new motorsports Mecca of the United States."
Grading work is under way and construction will begin in February.
"We have all been waiting for this," Funny Car driver Ron Capps said. "Four of the best tracks on the NHRA circuit are going to be Bruton's tracks."
The NHRA runs at Speedway Motorsports Inc.-owned facilities in Las Vegas, Bristol, Tenn., and Sonoma, Calif.
"I think we will be able to help build this sport," Smith said. "It's growing and growing and we're becoming a bigger part of that. I like that. I like to grow things."
The road toward Thursday's announcement was not without bumps.
Shortly after Smith's intentions to build a track for drag racing became public last year, the city of Concord changed a zoning ordinance to halt grading work that had already started. Residents of nearby homes had expressed concerns about noise the new facility would bring.
Smith threatened to move the 1.5-mile oval track.
The day before Thanksgiving, however, Smith and officials from Concord and Cabarrus County reached a deal to keep the oval track where it is and allow the new project to go forward.
Smith couldn't resist alluding to that controversy.
"Do any of you have friends who built a house close to the speedway who didn't know there was a speedway here?" he said. "I've been wanting to ask that for a long time."
Wes Harris, who will lead the project for SMI, said the company is working with consultants to address the noise issue.
"If you live around here and you're used to the drone of our race cars, that's all it's going to be," Harris said.