Former NASCAR star Darrell Waltrip promised the original owners of Kentucky Speedway that if they built the 11/2-mile track tucked in the northern Kentucky hills right, NASCAR would trip over itself trying to give the circuit a Cup race.
More than a decade, a bitter court case, a well-timed sale and some sweet talking from one of the sport's most powerful figures later, but Waltrip was right. Finally.
NASCAR's top series will debut at the track on July 9, 2011, part of a new 2011 Cup schedule designed to goose the series' sagging attendance figures and provide it with some needed buzz.
Kansas said earlier yesterday it will host a second race next year, getting the second Cup date previously held by Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif., which announced it's one race in 2011 will be March 27. Phoenix International Raceway is moving one of its races into the second week of the year, which had previously been filled by the California track.
The full Cup schedule is expected to be completed by Aug. 18.
"Ideally whenever you go into a new market, you want to find a date that's going to work the best," said Steve O'Donnell, the NASCAR vice president of racing operations. "So that took cooperation from all the tracks to be able to free up this date."
Kentucky is the first new venue to join the Cup schedule since Chicago and Kansas were added in 2001.
"We hit the big time," said Waltrip, who grew up in western Kentucky. "Ka-ching."
The announcement ended a decade-long pursuit of a Cup date for the original owners, who grew so angry by NASCAR's perceived reluctance to award the track a Cup race that they filed an antitrust lawsuit against NASCAR and International Speedway Corp. in 2005, saying that it had an unfair monopoly on the sport.
The lawsuit ended earlier this year, clearing the way for new owner Speedway Motorsports Inc., to juggle its track lineup to hand Kentucky the Cup date it has coveted for so long.
Former owner Jerry Carroll, whose group sold the track to SMI in 2008, gave all the credit to SMI owner Bruton Smith.
"Without Bruton we wouldn't have a race," Carroll said. "In all candor, we couldn't get a race done. We could build the facility, we could have the dream but you had to be in that inner circle to make something happen."
Smith has been adamant about getting Kentucky a Cup race since SMI took over, giving the track an extensive makeover in preparation for bringing stock car's elite drivers.
The state chipped in too, promising generous tax breaks to the track if SMI could secure a Cup date. The speedway already hosts annual visits from NASCAR's Nationwide and Truck Series and IndyCar. The Nationwide race, a stand-alone event held in June previously, will be coupled with the Cup race next year.
Smith plans to put the money to work, saying SMI will invest $90 million to $100 million to get the venue Cup ready. That includes expanding capacity to around 120,000, adding a dozen elevators and clearing out 200 acres for camping.
When asked if he could click everything off his ambitious checklist in the next 11 months, Smith didn't hesitate.
"All of it," he said. "Every bit of it."
Track officials estimate the race could generate up to $150 million a year in economic impact. A much-needed infusion for a state crippled by the recession.
"Start your engines," said Gov. Steve Beshear, "because here we go."
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