Running head: THE ECONOMIC IMPACT OF CHARLOTTE MOTOR SPEEDWAY

The Economic Impact of Charlotte Motor Speedway Karin E. Lord Rowan Cabarrus Community College

THE ECONOMIC IMPACT OF CHARLOTTE MOTOR SPEEDWAY In 1959 O. Bruton Smith, an Oakboro North Carolina native, designed and built what is

known today as Charlotte Motor Speedway. Together Bruton Smith and Curtis Tuner, one of the first NASCAR (The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing) drivers built their 1.5 mile superspeedway dream in Concord North Carolina on the outskirts of the Queen City and has brought race fans from around the world. This ever changing tourist attraction has not only provided the need for more jobs at CMS but has also required the help of local police officers, hotels, restaurants, and other tourist attractions to accommodate the thousands of people that come to town just to see the race. From the addition of the 40 unit, year-round living condominiums high above turn one in 1984 and the installation of the 1,200- fixture permanent MUSCO lighting system (Speedway History), which allowed for the first ever night race in NASCAR to the construction of the world's largest 16,000 square foot high definition television in 2011, Charlotte Motor Speedway has become "The Greatest Place to See the Race!" CMS is pretty impressive in itself just looking at its history, however the more astounding fact is the amount of jobs and money the speedway has provided for Cabarrus County over the years, not to mention the Dirt Track or the newly built ZMax Dragstrip. Large companies such as Coca-Cola, Sprint, Lowe's Home Improvement and Nationwide have rented the speedway to film television commercials and even to entertain employees and clients with fellowship, music and food. Movies such as "Stroker Ace" and "Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Rickey Bobby" were also major motion pictures that rented and filmed at Charlotte Motor Speedway. This made sure to grab tourists attention and give them just one more reason to come see a race in the beautiful Cabarrus County. It didn't stop there, once the world's largest HDTV was built it wasn't hard to show the race or even movies on the big screen.

THE ECONOMIC IMPACT OF CHARLOTTE MOTOR SPEEDWAY Owen Wilson, Bonnie Hunt, Paul Newman and Larry the Cable guy along with 30,000 fans came out to Charlotte Motor Speedway for the debut of the animated Disney/Pixar movie "CARS." (Speedway History) Racing teams like Brad Keselowski and Richard Petty are among the many racecar drivers that rent out the speedway for team testing. Three NASCAR Sprint Cup Series- the NASCAR Sprint All-Star race, the Coca-Cola

600 and the Bank of America 500- two NASCAR Nationwide Series and the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series are just a few of the main events held at Charlotte Motor Speedway. With 140,000 seats and 113 suites CMS has just over 5,000 people working each racing event. In the Smith tower alone there are 400 employees hard at work attending to the first class fans at Charlotte. (Charlotte Motor Speedway, 2013) During a single race weekend fans consume over 34,000 slices of pizza,13,500 feet of hot dogs, 9,500 gallons of water and soda, and 309,000 pounds of ice coupled with ticket prices and the cost of camping the speedway itself sees anywhere from $250 million to $270 million. Charlotte Motor Speedway isn't just known for the races, every spring and fall they host the Hornets Nest Council for the Food Lion AutoFairs in April and September. In October CMS hosts the Goodguys Southeastern Nationals every year. On any given day, for over 300 days every year Charlotte Motor Speedway is being utilized by an event or it has been rented out. In 2012 John Cox, President and CEO with the Cabarrus Regional Chamber of Commerce stated "Each one of the Cup races -- and we have three -- puts $100 million into our local economy... Most of that is in Concord, Cabarrus." (Johnson, 2013) A group led by Mr. Cox did a study 10 years ago that showed there were 100 vendors in Cabarrus County that worked in direct correlation with CMS. Different printing and graphic design shops, planning companies, hotels and fabricators are just a few types of business that worked directly with Charlotte Motor

THE ECONOMIC IMPACT OF CHARLOTTE MOTOR SPEEDWAY Speedway. In Cabarrus County alone NASCAR has generated over 19,000 jobs and hotels like Great Wolf Lodge are here as a result of the Speedway. Great Wolf Lodge is a 402 room hotel,

with a conference center for meetings or weddings and its most famous feature the 80,000 square foot indoor water park that stays 84 degrees year round. The Lodge employs over 500 pack members and has over 300 people working anytime there is a racing event. With added amenities like MagiQuest, miniature bowling, the arcade as well as Scooops and Elements Spa the lodge is a wonderful kind-friendly place for children and wives to stay and play, or get pampered while daddy goes out with his friends to watch the race. Great Wolf Lodge is located less than a mile away from the superspeedway and they offer a shuttle to take guests to and from the speedway during race week or on a race weekend. Rates at the lodge can range anywhere from $189.00 a night to upwards of $750.00 a night depending on the time you booked your reservation and the occupancy. As you can image the lodge has no lack of children or race fans during race week, some race teams have even stayed at the lodge with their children too. Devoted fans from all 50 states, even people from Switzerland and Australia have come to visit the 1.5 mile superspeedway and need a place to stay. With over 3,000 camping spots that are more often than not filled on race week if not two weeks before, Cabarrus County offers an astounding 2,700 hotel rooms. However, that's nowhere near enough rooms to accommodate all of the race fans so the love gets spread out to Salisbury, Harrisburg and Charlotte. Restaurants are also slam packed during a prime racing time, Concord is home to over 300 restaurants ranging from fast food to fine dining, it all depends on what you're in the mood for. With such a high demand for staff hotels and restaurants are forced to hire within Cabarrus County, this way during a peak race they can call their employees and they don't have to come from far away. As of July 2013 the unemployment rate was only 6.5% compared to Charlottes unemployment rate

THE ECONOMIC IMPACT OF CHARLOTTE MOTOR SPEEDWAY of 8.5%. Concords low unemployment rate can be contributed to the speedway and other major tourist attractions. Covering just under 2,000 acres Charlotte Motor Speedways tax value is about $294 million according to an evaluation in 2012. This evaluation means that CMS has a tax bill of $2.1 million. (Bell, 2013) Cabarrus County says that Charlotte Motor Speedway is one of its top

ten tax payers along with the Great Wolf Lodge, Concord Regional Airport and Embassy Suites. However according to a University of North Carolina at Charlotte (UNCC) study done in 2005 the total economic impact on Cabarrus County is upwards of $4.7 billion. Taxes aren't the only thing that is helping to keep the County's head above water, the speedway uses as many local vendors as possible for their marketing and in 2005 $462 million (Knox, 2012) was spent on their marketing alone. Local NASCAR teams also take time and do their own marketing and that same year race teams spend $1.8 billion. (Knox, 2012) Charlotte Motor Speedway doesn't just benefit the surrounding business and Cabarrus County's economy as a whole. The Speedway allows churches, school theater groups and school football teams to come out and "work" so that their school can make money- or whichever group they work for. Students from all over the county volunteer at different races throughout the year and in return their school group or organization gets paid, the students and young people that volunteer are actually allowed to use the hours worked at the speedway as community service hours needed as well since they were also doing work for their community. It's a win-win for everyone! The Speedway continues to give back even further than that, in 2011 alone CMS was able to raise over $400,000 for Autism Speaks, the world's leading autism science and advocacy organization that is dedicated to funding research into the causes, prevention, treatments and a cure for autism. Every year the Speedway hosts the "Walk Now For Autism Speaks" event and

THE ECONOMIC IMPACT OF CHARLOTTE MOTOR SPEEDWAY each year the amount of money raised to find a cure for autism is greatly increased by the numerous amount of people that attend this life changing event.

Since 1961 constant renovations and additions have improved the look of CMS and made it even more inviting for race fans. The addition of Speedway Christmas, a light display with over 30 million lights and an infield Christmas village, even those that are not whole-hearted fans of racing come to enjoy CMS. From school bus races and NASCAR races to car shows as well as light displays and charity and Corporate events Charlotte Motor Speedway is a place for everyone to visit. The Speedway alone has helped create thousands of jobs in house, as well as in the surrounding restaurants and hotels and has given back to the local churches and schools. Having the Speedway here in Cabarrus County has been a weekend getaway for newlyweds, a bonding adventure for fathers and their sons, a night of thrills and high speed and a financial blessing to surrounding businesses. Racing is very much alive in Cabarrus County, and our economy thrives off of the race seasons, not to mention the added events throughout the year. Charlotte Motor Speedway has events 343 days out of the year, with a little something for everyone to enjoy. Whether race fans come to see the Bank of America 500, the only night race in the Sprint Cup Series or to the Coca-Cola 600 to show their support for our Military they know they are where racing lives when they hear "Start. Your. Engines!" The economic impact of CMS has been extremely beneficial to Cabarrus County for many years and has continued to expand the outreach of financial support along the way. Charlotte Motor Speedway has been a home away from home for face fans for over 50 years, great southern hospitality, a nice facility, a wide range of business opportunities, an assortment of events and an incredible sport keeps people coming back to Cabarrus County year after year. Motorsport is a $6 billion industry in North Carolina, and

THE ECONOMIC IMPACT OF CHARLOTTE MOTOR SPEEDWAY Charlotte Motor Speedway has proved that they are, in fact, The Greatest Place To See The Race!

THE ECONOMIC IMPACT OF CHARLOTTE MOTOR SPEEDWAY References Charlotte Motor Speedway. (N/A) History. Charlotte Motor Speedway. Retrieved from http://www.charlottemotorspeedway.com/media/history Friedman, T. L., (2007, July 24) The World Is Flat, 3.0 A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century. New York, NY: Picador Knox, M., (2012, May 22) Speedway sees uptick in attendance and spending. Independent Tribune. Retrieved from http://www.cabarrusedc.com

Charlotte Motor Speedway. (2013, May 12) Eyes of The World Are on Charlotte During The 10 Greatest Days in Racing; Hundreds of Thousands of Fans Bring Millions in Economic Impact. Retrieved from http://charlottemotorspeedway.com/media/news Bell, A., (2013, May 22) Charlotte Motor Speedway owner Bruton Smith blasts Cabarrus politicians, taxes. Charlotte Observer. Retrieved from http://charlotteobserver.com Martin, E., (2013, August) Wheeling & Dealing: Cars made Bruton Smith very rich. No wonder he seems to believe "it's my way or the highway." Business North Carolina. Retrieved from http://www.businessnc.com/articles Johnson, L., (2013, September 27) Cabarrus travel, tourism leaders discuss growth with U.S. Rep. Hudson. Cabarrus News. Retrieved from http://charlotteobserver.com