Bruton Smith plants foot firmly in mouth

Bruton Smith, whose Speedway Motorsports Inc., owns Kentucky Speedway and seven other racetracks across the country, said the IndyCar Series race here in 2010 will be held Saturday night, Sept. 4. But while Smith is "absolutely thrilled" with the date change, he is no fan of many recent decisions made by IndyCar officials, including one to schedule more road and street circuits (nine) than oval tracks (eight).

"A mistake that will bite them in the rear eventually," he said prior to Saturday's Meijer Indy 300. "I don't know who is making those decisions, but they will find it's not the proper decision, in my very humble opinion."

"I think he's smarter than that," he said.

IndyCar spokesman John Griffin said George not only was involved in the building of the schedule, he embraces it as a byproduct of unification.

Smith was specifically against IndyCar's decision not to pursue a race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, another SMI track, in favor of considering a plan to stage an event on a temporary circuit around Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass.

"When you consider running a race in a parking lot, what did the president (of the United States) say about stupidity?" Smith said.

Smith, who guaranteed a packed grandstand at next year's Kentucky race on Labor Day weekend, said he supported the decision of Las Vegas Motor Speedway president Chris Powell not to seek an IndyCar race.

"Chris was not too hot on that, (so) we're not pushing and shoving on that one," he said. "The man on the firing line has to be totally involved to make it successful."

So essentially it comes down to Bruton Smith putting his foot in his mouth yet again. The IRL wants to race at his Vegas oval and Smith does not make it happen, so first he says the IRL should be more about oval racing yet he only supports that notion when it suits him – such as at his New Hampshire track which is a flat oval that produces boring races and draws flies for the Indy Car. Then he criticizes the IRL for hooking up with the powerful Gillette family in Boston to run a race around the New England Patriots stadium starting in 2012 instead of returning to Smith's New Hampshire track that failed for CART and later failed for IndyCar.