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RIP Bruton Smith

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by TigerVols, Jun 22, 2022.

  1. TigerVols

    TigerVols Well-Known Member

  2. Slacker

    Slacker Well-Known Member

    RIP Bruton Smih

    Bruton, cool. ... Smih, not so much.

     
    Last edited: Jun 22, 2022
  3. TigerVols

    TigerVols Well-Known Member

    Holy crap a double fail on my part. I exit in shame.
     
    2muchcoffeeman likes this.
  4. Regan MacNeil

    Regan MacNeil Well-Known Member

    He was still alive?
     
  5. dixiehack

    dixiehack Well-Known Member

    2muchcoffeeman likes this.
  6. BTExpress

    BTExpress Well-Known Member

    Drove the street bearing his name and passed by his house (not on same street) dozens of times when we lived in Charlotte. Traveling on Bruton Smith Blvd., you turn at Fireball Roberts Road to get to the Cracker Barrel in Concord. :)
     
    maumann likes this.
  7. Sam Mills 51

    Sam Mills 51 Well-Known Member

    On one hand, a bit much and his big-money threats were occasionally excessive.

    On the other hand, one of the few who could keep the Frances from ruling with even more of an iron fist ... and those traits I question probably came in handy in this situation.

    RIP good sir and Thank You.
     
    2muchcoffeeman and maumann like this.
  8. maumann

    maumann Well-Known Member

    I was my typically wordy self on the NASCAR thread, but Bruton and Humpy Wheeler basically defined "fan experience" for stock car promotion. Most tracks had bleacher seats, few restrooms and little in the way of food choices until Speedway Motorsports upgraded Charlotte, and then all their other tracks, to a level never seen before in NASCAR.

    They put the fans first, which sounds so simple but wasn't really a priority for decades.

    First to install Musco lighting. First to build luxury condos. First to incorporate track naming rights. First to sell common stock on Wall Street. And the pre-race "shows" were legendary.
     
  9. Driftwood

    Driftwood Well-Known Member

    The three Ts: tickets, traffic, and toilets.

    I never did get a grasp on why Bruton and Humpy broke up the band. I always suspected it to be Marcus getting rid of a potential rival.
     
    wicked, 2muchcoffeeman and maumann like this.
  10. maumann

    maumann Well-Known Member

    Yeah, I never got a satisfactory answer from either one. Humpy, never one to mince words, basically told me he wouldn't talk about it and had moved on. My guess is he got a nice settlement to keep quiet.
     
    Driftwood likes this.
  11. wicked

    wicked Well-Known Member

    It’s a shame that Humpy apparently has/had a non-compete clause, because the first thing I would’ve done if I ran ISC then was call and offer a bajillion dollars. Perhaps they did, but I doubt it, and perhaps he didn’t take it. I know he’s older, but he still seems sharp.

    I also wonder what the old-timers like Higgins would’ve wrote for today.
     
    maumann and Driftwood like this.
  12. playthrough

    playthrough Moderator Staff Member

    First to create a four-lane drag strip (Charlotte). Why? Because they thought it might be really effing cool, and they were right.
     
    Driftwood and maumann like this.
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