A Curious Divorce: Wheeler's abrupt departure may be part of bigger problems for NASCAR

CONCORD -- Humpy Wheeler's abrupt resignation … Bruton Smith's surprise purchase of Kentucky Speedway … and stunned silence from NASCAR execs. No wonder. Does anyone know what's going on around here?

Things keep getting curiouser and curiouser.

At first it appeared that Wheeler -- after more than 30 years as Smith's right-hand man on most every racing issue, though thick and thin -- had suddenly been forced out for reasons still not known. Then Smith said he and Wheeler had first started discussing an "exit" strategy for Wheeler last fall, which would keep Wheeler on the payroll for another 10 years at $150,000 a year, plus give him 151,000 stock options (at the moment worth about $4 million).

That's not a bad parachute.

But why would these two long-tight business buddies so abruptly split?

Wheeler has talked of how difficult it is to promote NASCAR races these days, not just with the sagging economy in general but with the follow-the-leader race car. And Wheeler has apparently not been impressed by some of Smith's more dramatic moves the past several months.

The key behind-the-scenes moves by Smith over that time have included:

□ A $340 million purchase of New Hampshire Speedway from Bob Bahre, a premium purchase price, of about $170 million per Cup date there. That would appear to be a major overpayment, but then Bahre turned down an even bigger offer of $360 million.

□ A major leap in the NHRA world, with plans to build a state-of-the-art $60 million dragstrip here next to Lowe's Motor Speedway, with its debut races in September -- and now two winning females, Ashley Force and Melanie Troxel, to promote.

□ That dragstrip proposal led to a brief but furious political debate with some local politicians, who objected, leading Smith to threaten to tear down this track and turn the property into condos, and to build a brand new track somewhere south of here, possible over the South Carolina border. How serious Smith actually was, well, that may never be known.

□ A proposal to swap California Speedway's Labor Day weekend race with Atlanta's late October Cup week. Neither track has had great attendance lately.

□ And now the purchase, for about $60 million to $70 million, of Kentucky Speedway, which is on rural farmland 40 miles south of Cincinnati, with Smith's explicit vow to have a Sprint Cup date at that Kentucky track, in front of a crowd of 120,000 (after Smith builds another 50,000 seats), in 2009.

Meanwhile the France family -- the NASCAR side and the International Speedway Corp. side -- was apparently winning an antitrust suit filed by Kentucky Speedway a few years ago complaining about NASCAR being unwilling to give it a lucrative Cup date. But Kentucky has filed an appeal, so that black cloud is still hanging over things, even though it would have appeared that the case was all but over.

Now suddenly -- and there appears to be a lot of suddenness in all this -- Smith buys the Kentucky track -- its physical assets -- while owner Jerry Carroll is still apparently keeping that antitrust case in play.

So far from Smith's buy-in closing that legal chapter, it could signal a new angle of attack.

But Smith makes it clear that he has no plans for any rival racing series, that he is a NASCAR man all the way.

Clouds on the horizon

The scorecard: The France family has 12 NASCAR Cup tour tracks, with 19 Cup races (20 including the Daytona Shootout), and Smith has eight NASCAR Cup tour tracks, with 12 Cup weekends (13 including the All-Star race). Dover has two Cup dates, Pocono has two Cup dates, and Indianapolis has one Cup date.

These track owners divide 65 percent of the TV billions among themselves.

That's what we know. What we don't know would fill a volume:

First, why buy Kentucky Speedway? Cincinnati is a nice market, but nothing particularly impressive -- New York, Seattle-Portland, Montreal, Mexico City and Denver are all more crucial in any marketing campaign than an area already well served by Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Bristol Motor Speedway, Chicagolands Speedway and Michigan International Speedway, all within about a 200-mile radius of Cincinnati.

Second, why promise a Cup date to Kentucky immediately, and why put that out front so swiftly? That is certain to trigger things in Daytona, and it apparently has. Cup dates are considered by the Frances as something under their control -- although the North Wilkesboro Speedway split about 12 years ago was an odd exception.

Third, how is Smith going to deliver that Cup date to Kentucky? If he moves a current Cup date from any of his tracks (or from any other Cup tracks, such as Pocono, which he might purchase in the future), then doesn't that effectively prove the Kentucky legal argument that NASCAR is too "clubby" in the way it handles Cup dates? Yet NASCAR has already told Smith that if he, for example, wants a second Cup date in Las Vegas (which he does), then he is free to move a Cup date from one of his other tracks, say Atlanta or Loudon, N.H. Could that be considered a solid legal position for Smith to unilaterally move a Cup date to Kentucky, without NASCAR's explicit pre-approval?

Fourth, have the Frances been caught unaware by any or all of this? If so, why? It all recalls how Smith angered the late Billy France Jr. by outmaneuvering him to purchase the Sonoma-San Francisco track and also outmaneuvering him to purchase the Las Vegas track. And the fact that Las Vegas Motor Speedway consistently draws sellout crowds of 160,000 each spring, while the Frances' California Speedway, barely three hours south of Los Angeles, struggles to draw 70,000 for its two races, probably doesn't sit well in Daytona. And why the Frances and Smith have not come to terms on co-promoting the L.A.-las Vegas market, which would logically benefit both, and also benefit the sport, is unclear.

One logical move the Frances could make now would be to hire Wheeler -- easily the best pure promoter the sport of racing, no matter what the venue, NASCAR has ever seen -- to help Gillian Zucker promote California Speedway races. If the legendary Wheeler can't help make the Los Angeles market work for NASCAR, nobody can. That's the very next move Jim France, Brian France and Lesa France Kennedy should make.

Fifth, if NASCAR officials don't get this winged car running any better on the tour's many intermediate-sized tracks, well, given this economic climate, things aren't looking very pretty for promoters and marketers. The car hasn't cut costs for team owners; it has dramatically escalated costs, with teams -- unable to test on the right tracks with the right tires -- forced to buy expensive seven-post computer test rigs. That, in turn, is forcing teams out of the sport. And with sponsorship already tight, companies looking to get into auto racing are going to go with firmly established, winning teams, and even some of this sport's bed-rock operations, such as Petty Enterprises and the Wood brothers, are struggling for sponsorship.

And, the big one – why are Smith and Wheeler splitting?

What's next?

"That's huge," Jeff Gordon said shaking his head. "To not really hear anything about it and for that to come out like that….

"I've never thought of this sport or Lowe's Motor Speedway without Humpy Wheeler.

"He's constantly pushing the envelope. All the creativity and excitement and entertainment he's brought is definitely going to be his legacy. He's set a high bar, for sure.

"I remember back when I was a rookie -- and he used us rookies quite a bit -- and we did ‘human bowling' up there near the Speedway Club one time.

"Probably the one that stands out the most was when we did a stagecoach thing -- a Western theme, like bank robbers, and we were shooting little cap guns. I would have never done that today, but back then it was pretty comical."

Well, there certainly seems to be little comical about what's going on here right now. Are all these moves by Smith part of a new round of the long-running Smith vs. NASCAR battle? It clearly seems that the two sides aren't on the same page.

How might Smith get a Cup race to Kentucky Speedway?

□ NASCAR could simply expand the Sprint Cup tour and add a 37th race.

That's not likely, though, since teams have long since maxed out with the current seemingly endless schedule.

□ Smith could take a race from one of his tracks, Loudon or Atlanta, for example, and move it. Or he could take the All-Star race from Charlotte and move it; after all, Smith has three major NASCAR weekends at Lowe's Motor Speedway, and when was the last sellout for any of them? (Who really "owns" that All-Star weekend anyway: Smith, NASCAR or its sponsor, Sprint?)

□ Smith could buy, say, Pocono, and "harvest" its two Cup dates, moving one to Las Vegas and the other to Kentucky. The Mattiollis, who built the Pocono track in 1969 on land about 90 minutes from Manhattan, have steadfastly declined even to talk about selling. But Loudon's $340 million price point could change that dynamic, because that purchase price, in effect, sets the value of two Cup weekends at $340 million; an incentive to cash in, from several angles. When the NASCAR tour hits Pocono in two weeks, the Mattiollis might be persuaded to discuss some of these things.

And then where might Dover International Speedway fit into this? That is one of the sport's few remaining independent operations.

So just what is going on here? What is Smith doing? What will NASCAR do? What will Wheeler do?

And now many fans will be here for tonight's Coca-Cola 600?

■ Mike Mulhern can be reached at mmulhern@wsjournal.com.