Historical Motorsports Stories writes:

"How A Lawsuit Changed The NASCAR Schedule"

Posted by nascarman on March 21, 2019

Viewed 8458 times Tweet In 2002, a man from Texas filed a lawsuit against NASCAR that ended up radically changing the Cup Series. What started out as a way to get Texas Motor Speedway a second race ended up closing two other tracks. It was a truly bizarre and ugly way of changing the Cup schedule.





(Rusty Jarrett/Getty Images)



In February 2002, a lawsuit was filed against NASCAR by a minority shareholder of Speedway Motorsports Inc., the track-owning company headed by Bruton Smith. Francis Ferko owned a small amount of stock in SMI and was a Texas-native who claimed that NASCAR promised Texas Motor Speedway a second Cup race but failed to deliver. Furthermore, because the France family has a controlling interest in both NASCAR and ISC, it's unlikely they would grant an additional race to a track they don't own, thus making them a monopoly on stock car racing.



To represent him in the suit for a second race, Ferko was able to get incredibly famous attorneys. Only seven years after leading the defense team in the O.J. Simpson murder trial, Johnnie Cochran's lawfirm was retained to fight NASCAR's alleged monopoly. Heading the suit was Cochran's partner, Sam Cherry.



"The big picture really looks like, and smacks of, anti-trust." Cochran said at the time. "(Breaking up NASCAR/ISC) is the logical end result, and we have the legal counsel to do it. In addition, we have the resolve."



The lawsuit quickly evolved into something much more than getting an extra race at Texas, the cost of damages to SMI were believed to be huge. In his represention of Ferko, Cherry claimed that NASCAR may be forced to pay damages of nearly $1 billion. He argued that NASCAR's refusal to give Texas a second race had kept SMI's stock price down.



In their defense, NASCAR hired their own high-profile attorney: David Boies. Two years earlier, Boies represented Al Gore in his suit brought to the Supreme Court seeking a recount of Florida election ballots in the 2000 Presidential Election.



In October 2002, SMI issued a public statement. While they were not involved in the suit, they agreed completely with Ferko's allegations. They claimed that in 1996, NASCAR wanted to expand the markets they were in and encouraged SMI to buy North Wilkesboro Speedway. If they bought the old short track and built Texas Motor Speedway, a North Wilkesboro race date would be transferred to Texas and an additional second date would be created. SMI also claimed that between 1996 and 1998, Bill France Jr. guaranteed that Texas Motor Speedway would host a second Cup event no later than 1999.



Upon SMI's statement, NASCAR issued one as well:



"It comes as no surprise that, in its recent filing, Speedway Motorsports Inc. (SMI), has admitted what most suspected, that this suit is only about SMI's near-sighted desire to get a second NASCAR Winston Cup date at one of its tracks and to thereby increase its own profits without regard for the rest of the industry. SMI doesn't seek to better the sport but only to enrich itself at the expense of the sport and its fans."



Because NASCAR felt SMI was directly involved in the suit, they filed a motion to have SMI named as a plaintiff instead of Ferko. SMI objected with the claim that they didn't know Ferko and didn't want to harm their relationship with NASCAR by having a lawsuit against them. The motion was denied and the case would continue to be Ferko v. NASCAR. Still, Bruton Smith loved the fact that this stranger was trying to get his track a second race.



"He's my hero," Smith said of Ferko in April 2003. "I haven't met him, but I like him."



From an observer's standpoint, the suit was going poorly for NASCAR. Their motion to have the suit dismissed was denied. Their motion to name SMI as the plaintiff instead of Ferko was denied. Their motion for a summary judgement without having to go to trial was denied. They had a serious lawsuit on their hand and the money was adding up. With everything that went into the lawsuit, ISC claimed they would spend over $1 million in their defense.



With how big this lawsuit was turning into, it wouldn't be ready for trial until the Summer of 2004. Before it entered a courtroom, a judge ordered that settlement talks between SMI and ISC take place. Publicly, Brian France said in February 2004 that he hoped the case would go to trial.



"It's moving through the court system, and my preference is to try it in the courtroom," France said. "I won't say I'm anxious to do that, but a lot of the facts have come in through the discovery process. Witnesses have weighed in. I think we should try the case and get it over with." Despite his vocal desire to go to trial, sources claimed that Brian France was eager to settle instead.



After nearly two months of talks, on April 21st, newspapers reported that a settlement had been reached:



Texas Motor Speedway would get a second date. ISC would sell Rockingham Speedway to SMI for $100.4 million and the track's only Cup event would be transferred to Texas. ISC would take the money they got from selling Rockingham and purchase Martinsville Speedway for $192 million. With their new investments, ISC would close Nazareth Speedway and sell it. Finally, one of the two races at ISC's Darlington Raceway would be transferred to SMI's Phoenix Raceway.





(Streeter Lecka/GettyImages)



As for the mysterious man who fought NASCAR, Ferko came to regret the lawsuit. The publicity cost Ferko his job and he had to move. He also regretted the fact that Rockingham lost its race because of him.



"I surely didn't want Rockingham to lose a date. I just wanted (NASCAR) to add a date to the schedule," Ferko said in 2009. "The settlement took the race out of Rockingham, and that's heritage. But I think that was NASCAR's goal all along."



"The ultimate outcome was Texas got its race, but I was disappointed with how it occurred. I would have liked to have gone to trial."





----------

Follow me on Twitter @nascarman_rr for more articles and other old pictures. Or email me at nascarman_rr@yahoo.com Opinions expressed in blogs are those of the individual bloggers and do not necessarily represent the views of racing-reference.info.