Naming Rights May Part of Texas MS Plans

FORT WORTH-DALLAS (Feb. 10, 1999) - Texas Motor Speedway is still Texas Motor Speedway -- at least for now.

Speedway Motorsports, Inc. (NYSE: TRK), which owns Texas and five other speedways in Atlanta; Charlotte; Las Vegas; Bristol, Tenn.; and Sonoma, Calif., announced yesterday it had sold the naming rights for Charlotte Motor Speedway to Lowe's Companies, Inc., the second-largest home improvement retailer in the country. The 10-year, $35 million deal is the first of its kind in motorsports, but most certainly won't be the last.

"We are definitely interested in, and are pursuing, a similar deal for Texas," said speedway general manager Eddie Gossage. "I'm sure the Charlotte deal will have a domino effect on the motorsports community -- it will open the door for others."

Speculation continues to mount as to which speedway might be next to land a corporate sponsor. Although Texas Motor Speedway doesn't have one particular prospect in mind for such a deal, there have already been discussions on the subject.

"We would like to see it happen," said Gossage. "I've actually talked with a company right here in Fort Worth. Certainly, a company would have to have a significant budget for this level of sponsorship, but as we become more successful, more people will want be part of what we're doing."

Although plans do call for Lowe's to work with each of the six SMI speedways to market their race events, it will not affect existing agreements at Texas Motor Speedway with companies such as True Value Hardware.