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NASCAR HALL-OF-FAME INDUCTION CEREMONY

January 23, 2016

Marcus Smith

Charlotte, North Carolina

THE MODERATOR: I don't know if there's anyone who has meant more to the sport and helped the sport grow any more than Bruton Smith. Here representing his father is Marcus Smith, president and CEO of Speedway Motorsports and general manager of Charlotte Motor Speedway. As I told your dad the other night, Marcus, we're very thankful for the opportunity‑‑ all the great things he's done for the sport, the facilities that he's built and so forth. But just talk about the significance of your father going into the NASCAR Hall of Fame.
MARCUS SMITH: Sure. Thank you, Kerry. You know, at dinner the other night, we had dinner in the Hall of Honor on Wednesday night I think it was, Thursday night, and it was really special. We had at the table Darrell Waltrip was there, Mike Helton was there, Winston joined us, as well, and it was a lot of fun just to tell stories.
A few of the stories I had‑‑ I knew about, and a few of the stories I didn't know about, and I was telling Karen and others earlier today that my dad has so many stories, there are lots that I have not heard. When we go to dinner or we go to lunch, and if y'all were there with us, he'd have something that would spur on his memory of another story that I hadn't heard, and I just love it. Every once in a while I'll say, hey, you haven't told me that one.
So the other night he told a story of driving cars. Darrell asked him, Bruton, you drove races but did you ever win one? And he said, oh, yeah, I won a race, won a few of them, but my favorite one was such‑and‑such, and he told a story about driving hard and running a fellow race car driver kind of up in the marbles and winning the race. He told another story promoting a race and it only got to halfway and got halfway and normally halfway you call the race, but he decided it was only half of a race, so he got half of the trophy and took it to the shop and cut it in half and paid the driver half the purse and gave him half the trophy. Later came back and ran that race, and it worked out. Actually the same driver won the other half.
So we're just really proud of my dad. He loves his family and his friends and his work and the people that he works with are his friends. All of our general managers of each speedway were here today. People from Sonic Automotive, our sister company, friends from all around came in to be part of the weekend, and had a great time with it.

Q. Marcus, we've seen in this sport, like when Brian started doing more things for NASCAR in place of his father, he didn't do things the same way his father did. I don't know if he did everything his father would have done or liked him to do. When you started doing things in what would have been your father's role, did he ever come to you and say, I wouldn't have done that, or did you ever do anything that he got on to you for or maybe wasn't pleased with?
MARCUS SMITH: Great question. I'm sure. I'm sure he‑‑ he has a great way of suggesting things. Kind of like today when he said, my mom, when he was driving race cars, and he said my mom said, I wish you wouldn't do that. My dad is the same way. If he doesn't want you to do something, he'll say, well, I'm not sure if that's a good idea. He doesn't really say no, don't do that, he'll just suggest something else.
So for my dad, I guess there have been a few times when‑‑ and I honestly can't remember what it might be, where he said, well, I'm not sure I would have done that, here's what you might consider anyway.
But as a manager, he lets the managers of the business do their job, take risks, and really likes to be involved but not doing their job. He likes to watch and see how they do. If somebody does something or tries something that maybe it's not his idea, he's not the kind of person that would say, I don't like the results, but he is the kind of person who would say, I wouldn't have done it that way, but it worked out pretty good. And that's always encouraging.
And I think that's how he has developed such great managers over the years. So many people that have gone on to start their own business or be successful in other lines.

Q. It was mentioned in the film that your father or your company owns eight speedways or racetracks now. Nevertheless, there are states or countries in America, such a big continent, which are totally untouched by NASCAR racing or any kind of speedway racing, for example, North and South Dakota, Wyoming, Montana, Washington state. Is there any plans to go up there and build speedways?
MARCUS SMITH: Well, it's a great question. Not every state has NASCAR racing. There are a lot of states that would love to have a NASCAR facility, and if anybody would like us to build a speedway in their state that doesn't have one, just let us know. We're open to ideas.

Q. Have you checked with Pepsi on the status of their deal at Bristol Motor Speedway?
MARCUS SMITH: That was just a misspoken item. It used to be Coke in Bristol, and in the heat of things it's just a little bit misspoken.

Q. Things are still good?
MARCUS SMITH: Yeah, I'm guessing they would extend some grace there.

Q. We haven't really had a chance to ask your father much about this honor because of his battle over the last year. How do you think it set in with him tonight? It seemed like he really relished it, and do you think as it got closer he started to realize what the magnitude of it was?
MARCUS SMITH: Yes. That's a great question, and he‑‑ he was diagnosed in May with lymphoma, and in early December we found after a process of treatment through the summer and the fall that he was cancer free. Very thankful for that and grateful that we can look back on it, and learned a lot through that process.
But for him, this honor has been overshadowed certainly by the battle with cancer, but as we got to this week, and I know for me, it got much more real, and I know for him it did, as well, and it was probably most evident on Thursday night at our dinner in the Hall of Honor with the other Hall of Fame members and their guests where things really started to settle in, and you realized, wow, this is really happening and it really is special.
And I could tell, and he and I talked in the car on the way home that evening about what it meant to him and how he really enjoyed it and appreciated it.
Yesterday having the ceremony delayed one day was an opportunity to think about it and talk about it even more with friends and family. It certainly is a special honor for my dad.
If Winston were here, the one thing I would ask him is, I was thinking the spire would look great in his entry hall at the house. I don't know if we get one of those. Do you, Kerry?
KERRY THARP: I'm not sure. I'll let Winston check on that for you. I'm not sure.
MARCUS SMITH: But he is really appreciative, and I've told people before that he doesn't do things to get awards. He doesn't really relish a victory as much as he does a challenge, and that's probably something in common with a lot of the Hall of Famers I would guess. He's certainly someone who just relishes the challenge, loves the climb, and when he achieves a goal, he quickly moves to the next opportunity and the next challenge.
But in any case, he really has enjoyed this time, and I'm sure right now is really enjoying talking to friends and family about it.

Q. You talked about the other night and talking to your dad about it yesterday. Was there anything that you saw today during the ceremony that made you know that it was important to him, especially because, again, there were times where he was like almost a take‑it‑or‑leave‑it as far as this place goes?
MARCUS SMITH: Right. Well, that is in the really distant past for him. He hasn't felt that way for months. But it was special today for him to see friends and to see Ned Jarrett, to see Junior Johnson and so many of the other Hall of Famers, Darrell Waltrip and he are close. He really just enjoyed the time, enjoyed speaking with long‑time friends that he hasn't seen in a long time.
We were sitting in a chair backstage prior to him going on, and I was refreshing him on what we were going to do. Said, I'm going to walk you out, and Keselowski is going to say a few words about you and then DW is going to come and introduce you, and then it's your chance to talk, and he said, okay, I'll just be a few minutes, maybe two or three minutes. And I said, okay, that's what I figured. That's what I told him.
I even had a bet with‑‑ I guess I mentioned that from the stage. I did have a bet. I didn't think he'd go longer than six minutes. I bet a dollar, and I lost it.
I could tell when he took the microphone that he was excited and that he was ready to tell some stories, and that's great. I wish you all could all go to dinner with us one night or a lunch and just ask him some questions. Next time we get him in front of the microphone, ask him about his first race he ever promoted. Ask him about the first race he ever went to. Ask him about building other speedways other than the ones that you know of now. He's done so much. He drove pace cars for Bill France. He was just talking earlier about being at Daytona on opening day and riding around the property with Big Bill France and seeing a backup of traffic at the tunnel in Turn 4, and he said‑‑ Bill said, what do you think we ought to do about this, and my dad said, we ought to get out and help direct traffic; let's go.
He's done so much in the sport, and I think when you really look at it, he's done so much in every decade that he has been a part of it. It's really phenomenal.
THE MODERATOR: Marcus, congratulations to you and your family. Certainly congratulations to your father, and we certainly appreciate everything that the Smith family does and continues to do for NASCAR. Thank you very much.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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