Vegas No Gamble for Nascar

It's the perfect marriage of the glossiest, most colorful and loudest American sport and the city that pumps out glitter and glam 24/7.

Las Vegas Motor Speedway opened in 1996, and Cup racing hit town two years later. For a city that doesn't think neon really is bright enough, it has been a perfect partnership. The racing wasn't sensational in the early years -- a new track configuration has helped -- but there obviously are other things to sell in Las Vegas. The shortlist: food, fun, frolic, even the Hoover Dam.

And what's that they say? "What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas." In particular, your money.

Stepping into this fertile environment with all the bloom and bluster he typically commands was Bruton Smith, whose Speedway Motorsports Inc. empire absorbed the track in 1998. Quickly it became another of Smith's playthings. He toys with racetracks like an 8-year-old zaps aliens in a video game. No one is safe. Any mountain can be moved (see the Bristol Motor Speedway file). Any resistance can be overcome (check out Lowe's Motor Speedway, where Smith met initial opposition in adding a dragstrip but eventually had Concord, N.C., officials lining up to shine his shoes).

Smith owns several of the most impressive tracks on NASCAR's schedule, but Las Vegas is where he hopes to leave his most impressive imprint. Already he has dropped $100 million into a well-planned and widely accepted renovation of the facility, a project that includes the Neon Garage, a Vegas-worthy infield spread that gives fans an up-close look at garage activities and offers them the opportunity to spend whatever money they haven't lost in the casinos. It's similar to other infield fan zones, except that it's elevated to fit both the Smith and Vegas style. Simply put, it's bombastic.

Having massaged both the racing and fan experience venues in Las Vegas, Smith has two other goals for his "Western Division." He wants to bring another Cup race to the desert, and he wants NASCAR to move its season-ending awards banquet -- it has been held in New York City since 1981 -- to Vegas. Both ideas make sense. The second racing date is likely to happen, but the NASCAR higher-ups love New York and it will take a lot to pry the banquet away from the folks in Gotham.

Smith, of course, has a lot. He is a billionaire, and his money doesn't just talk, it screams.

Last year, he bought New Hampshire International Speedway (quickly renaming it New Hampshire Motor Speedway to fit his other motorsports holdings) for $340 million, chump change in the Smith portfolio. It is widely assumed that, sooner or later (probably sooner), he will move one of New Hampshire's two Cup dates to Las Vegas. That would be logical and business-smart.