Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, September 3, 1995 TAG: 9509060051
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C-7 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB ZELLER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: DARLINGTON, S.C. LENGTH: Long
NASCAR's presence on Wall Street received a big boost in February when Speedway Motorsports, Inc., went public, and 21-year-old David Smith bought the first share in a ceremony at the New York Stock Exchange.
Smith is the son of Charlotte businessman Bruton Smith, whose company owns the tracks in Charlotte and Atlanta, has chunks of North Wilkesboro and Rockingham and is building the new track in Texas.
But for all the hoopla over the new stock offering, as soon as it came out, it was left in the dust by the other big speedway company in NASCAR racing, the France family's International Speedway Corp.
International Speedway Corp. (ISC) owns or controls the tracks at Daytona, Talladega, Watkins Glen and Darlington Raceway, which will stage the 45th annual Southern 500 today.
ISC stock has shot through the roof this year - more than doubling in value in eight months in one of the most remarkable financial performances in motorsports history.
On Jan.11, it closed at 1031/2. By March, it was above 130. And as of close of business Friday, it was being offered at $218 per share.
That's $218 for a share of stock that originally was offered at $1 a share and fell to 50 cents about 25 years ago. Then, it was barely worth the paper it was printed on.
``It's just amazed me,'' said Sam Nelson, a broker at Morgan Keegan brokerage in Birmingham, Ala., who has handled ISC stock for more than 30 years. ``I can't believe it. Call Bill France. He can't believe it.''
``It's gone up,'' said France, the president of NASCAR and chairman of ISC. France downplayed ISC's stock growth, stating: ``We don't have very much to be traded, and the low amount creates more volatility.''
Then he added: ``I'm not a stock market expert. We're in the racing business.''
Nelson, who is 53, is a stock expert, particularly on ISC stock.
Nelson is known as a market maker for the stock, which means he specializes in trading it.
About 60 percent of the 2,289,248 shares of ISC stock is controlled by France and members of his family. So the France family fortune in ISC stock, at least on paper, has grown by a staggering $140 million this year.
The value of the France family holdings, estimated at 1.37 million shares, has grown from about $141 million in January to some $285 million today.
Those shares that are left to be traded on the open market are not traded very often.
Last Thursday, for instance, only 100 shares were traded. On Friday, none were traded. Other days, a few thousand will switch hands, Nelson said. ``Sometimes the stock won't trade for several days,'' he said.
``It just doesn't trade that much. A lot of people who've got it are not interested in selling what they've got,'' he said.
Because it is so thinly traded, ISC stock is not reported on major exchanges. In fact, the News-Journal in Daytona Beach, Fla., where NASCAR and ISC are headquartered, calls Nelson daily for ISC quotes.
``I fooled around with this stock back in the '60s when you could have bought it for half a dollar a share,'' said Nelson.
``Back in the '60s, when I first started foolin' with it, it was about 2 or 21/2 [dollars] a share,'' he said. ``We got involved when they started building that track at Talladega. Some folks jumped on it and ran it all the way up to 6 or 7.
``Then this track out there just about broke 'em. The stock came right on down - lowered that glide path down to the level of a manhole cover. It was about 50 cents. And then gradually it rose.''
In the late '70s, Nelson bought some stock from a customer at $7.05 a share. The man was delighted because he made four dollars a share. By the 1980s, ISC stock was in the 20s.
``I thought people buying it for 20-25. ... I thought they were out of their ever-lovin' minds,'' Nelson said. ``Shows you how smart I am.''
Nelson, by the way, has no interest in auto racing. He's never seen a NASCAR race and doesn't follow the sport - he could care less.
``Closest I ever come to an auto race was I almost got run over by a race car in the 1950s,'' he said.
``I was at the state fairgrounds, walking outside the track by the hog barns and this thing came through the old wooden fence and almost killed me. It was an old jalopy. Almost ran me over.''
Because ISC stock took off at the same time Speedway Motorsports was introduced, Nelson presumes the new offering had a lot to do with ISC's success.
But while Speedway Motorsports made a gradual rise from its opening price of $18 a share and is now hovering around 25, ISC has continued to skyrocket.
``They complement one another,'' said Nelson. ``I think what caused a lot of interest in International Speedway was that people previously hadn't known about it, but when the track in North Carolina went public, they looked around and said, `What other tracks are there?'''
Nelson thinks the stability of the company - and France's strong controlling hand - is the reason for the tremendous growth.
``I tell you, the folks that run that thing are smart people,'' he said. ``Any business where you've got a man people can depend on all the way around - it's going to be successful.''
Keywords:
AUTO RACING
by CNB