Ollen Bruton Smith—the founder and executive chairman of Speedway Motorsports and Speedway Children’s Charities—has passed away at 95.
Smith founded Speedway Motorsports in December 1994, and in February 1995, he made it the first motorsports company to trade on the New York Stock Exchange. Today the company owns and operates 11 motorsports entertainment facilities: Atlanta Motor Speedway, Bristol Motor Speedway, Charlotte Motor Speedway, Las Vegas Motor Speedway, New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Sonoma Raceway, Texas Motor Speedway, Dover Motor Speedway, Nashville Superspeedway, North Wilkesboro Speedway, and Kentucky Speedway.
Speedway Motorsports also owns and operates subsidiaries SMI Properties, U.S. Legend Cars International, Performance Racing Network, and zMAX Micro Lubricants.
A member of the NASCAR and International Motorsports Halls of Fame, Smith also founded Speedway Children’s Charities in 1982 in memory of his son, Bruton Cameron Smith, who passed away at a young age. Chapters work with organizations to offer support for issues ranging from learning disabilities and broken homes to hunger and childhood cancer.
In 1997, Smith founded Charlotte, North Carolina-based Sonic Automotive, a Fortune 300 automotive retailer company with over 160 retail dealerships in over 23 states, representing 25 automotive brands.
