Appeals court rules against Kentucky Speedway

[dpkimmel2001]

Maybe they need to build a casino?

A federal appeals court has rejected claims by a Kentucky track that NASCAR violates federal antitrust laws by keeping it off the premier racing circuit. The decision issued Friday by a three-judge panel from the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals ends, for now, Kentucky Speedway's legal efforts at forcing NASCAR to bring a Sprint Cup race to the northern Kentucky track. The panel said Kentucky Speedway failed to prove NASCAR and International Speedway Corp., worked together to with other tracks to keep the Kentucky track from getting a Sprint Cup race. Kentucky Speedway sued NASCAR in 2005 after being rejected multiple times for a top level race. The race track, about halfway between Louisville and Cincinnati, has drawn huge crowds to some of its other races.

 

[Sirius01_8]

The ruling was based on the fact that NASCAR had more money.

 

[dpkimmel2001]

So yet another twist..... It seems that it is a former minority owner suing the majority owner, Jerry Carroll, for stopping the appeal against NASCAR. Those guys sound like the 3, or should I say, 4 Stooges. This story seems far from over and those Kentucky fans are going to be the biggest losers in all of this. Good article on this mess here..... Former Kentucky Speedway owners want to continue legal fight

Former Kentucky Speedway owners want to continue legal fight

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A former minority owner of Kentucky Speedway is suing the racetrack's one-time majority owner, seeking to have a judge declare he can't drop an antitrust suit in a move that would keep the litigation alive. A group of four trusts operated by Duchossois Group Chairman Richard Duchossois of Illinois filed suit Tuesday against speedway founder Jerry Carroll, saying Carroll doesn't have the legal right to stop an appeal of the suit against NASCAR.

The lawsuit against Carroll, filed in federal court in Covington, comes a day after Duchossois asked the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals to reconsider it's rejection of the antitrust litigation. The appellate court earlier this month threw out the lawsuit.

Brian Goldwasser of Cincinnati, the attorney for the trusts, did not return a message seeking comment. Carroll declined comment on the lawsuit Tuesday.

The tangled litigation traces back to 2005, when Carroll and the minority owners sued NASCAR and International Speedway Corp., claiming the two companies conspired to monopolize Sprint Cup races and cut the 1.5-mile oval at the Sparta-based Kentucky Speedway out of the loop.

Carroll and his minority partners estimated damages from the suit at between $100 million and $400 million dollars should they win.

A federal judge in Covington dismissed the lawsuit in 2007 and, in December, a three-judge panel from the 6th Circuit followed suit, saying multiple factors likely weigh on NASCAR's decisions about whether to grant Kentucky Speedway or any track a Sprint Cup race.

Carroll, who sold the track to ISC in 2008, said immediately that the decision wouldn't be appealed further, prompting the lawsuit by Duchossois.

In the suit, Duchossois says the operating agreement between Carroll and his partners required approval by 75 percent of the ownership to dispose of any asset -- in this case, the lawsuit. Because the minority partners -- Duchossois and the estate of Jerry Lindahl -- owned more than 40 percent of the race track and voted against dropping the suit, Carroll had no authority to end the litigation, Duchossois said in the suit.

In the rehearing petition filed with the appeals court, the race track says a rehearing is necessary because, "the panel's decision conflicts with established antitrust law in four fundamental respects." It also claims the panel made other, "fundamental legal errors of antitrust analysis."

The track, about halfway between Louisville and Cincinnati, has drawn huge crowds to some of its other races. The NASCAR Nationwide series race last year drew more than 70,000 people.

The speedway's former owners claim NASCAR had conspired to leave the Sparta track and others out of the Sprint Cup -- formerly known as the Nextel Cup -- series despite their superior amenities. The speedway had asked that ISC be ordered to sell some of the tracks it owns that host Sprint Cup races and that the speedway be awarded more than $200 million in damages.

ISC-owned tracks host 55 percent of all Sprint Cup races. The rest are facilities owned by other companies, including Speedway Motorsports Inc., the only company besides ISC that hosts more than one Sprint Cup race.

Attorneys for NASCAR and ISC argued that the speedway had insufficient evidence to prove NASCAR and ISC worked together with other tracks to keep the Kentucky track from obtaining a race in the Sprint Cup series.

Kentucky Speedway has taken several steps to lure a Sprint Cup race, including getting an interstate highway widened near the track and adding a new exit. The track, with a capacity of just over 66,000 fans, has said it's prepared to add 20,000 to 35,000 seats if it attracted a Sprint Cup race.

 

[semipenguin]

I couldn't change the channel fast enough yesterday afternoon when all the talk was about this lawsuit :worried:

Enough of it already. We get it. Nascar good. Former Kentucky Speedway owners bad. Let's get on with talking about more pressing issues.

Thank you!
Posted via Mobile Device

 

[dpkimmel2001]

I couldn't change the channel fast enough yesterday afternoon when all the talk was about this lawsuit :worried:

You may want to think about staying away from it today too.

As far as topics go, we could get the the more pressing issues like, oh, I don't know. Maybe the top 35 elimination, or eliminating the Chase, Bud Shootout, etc..... There's not much news coming out of NASCAR these days to comment on.

 

[semipenguin]

Regardless of what topic we have to talk about, or the lack there of, there is always a time to talk about this past season & the one ahead.

What about talk of the frindge teams? Who's going to be in or out of the chase or top 35? Who's coming up? Who's going down.

Who's going to knock JJ off the top spot?

Lawsuits? No thank you.
Posted via Mobile Device

 

[DexterMorgan]

"Enough of it already. We get it. Nascar good. Former Kentucky Speedway owners bad. Let's get on with talking about more pressing issues"

I sent an email about this and I didnt get a response. But listening on Monday about this lawsuit nonsense, you have Dave Moody, an ISC employee, just blasting the ever living hell out of the Kentucky Speedway formers owners, and it struck me that this is exactly what is wrong with this channel. Completely biased. Completely insulting. Completed bought. Makes me sick. I cant imagine what the shills of the morning drive are saying about it.

 

[dpkimmel2001]

Like it or not, it's news. Agree with hosts or not, it's simply an opinion. I agree with their thoughts on this completely. Many of you disagree completely. Everyone knows how this works with the exception of those four, former owners. Trying to get a date awarded through the court system is a wrong move. Trying to get restitution for a race that was never promised in the first place, another wrong move. The fans that would have been flocking to that speedway are the biggest losers in this mess. Just when things were leaning in the favor of the fans all of this starts again. Think about it for even a second. If they were to ever have been awarded a date by the court system, how many of these type of lawsuits would we be talking about today? Everyone with a backhoe and paving machine would be out there building a track to have their own date on the schedule. They simply made a bad business decision.

 

[semipenguin]

I only listened to the last two hours of TMD this morning, but they did a very good job talking about the issue with DW and then they moved on. DW did a great job explaining what was going on. No need to bash the previous owner of Kentucky Speedway.

Moody seems to like to go on, and on, and on. The callers get worked up and call in and start bashing the lawsuit.

Today they had on a reporter from the Cincinnati newspaper. I changed the channel. Listened to 1st Wave until Derek & Romaine came on

 

[mghtx]

Maybe the top 35 elimination

Amen and Amen! The only reason I care about this lawsuit is that it would DESTROY nascar to lose. Plus it would have far reaching implications across all of sports and other industries as well. Nascar simply CAN NOT lose this case. And I don't think they will.

Man, I'm SO pumped up about this weekend with the NFL season. It's totally up in the air as to how it's gonna play out. We know who the big teams are but even they can be knocked out and who knows who is gonna be in the super bowl?

I just wish nascar could figure a way out to make the end of their season as exciting. I still, on a basic fundamental level, do not like the chase. But I don't have the answer.

And just like last year, I'll say it again. The very LAST thing nascar needs is the 48 to win again. I recently heard local people on the radio here in TN and they were blasting nascar. I wouldn't have heard that (in TN) 10 yrs ago.

 

[dpkimmel2001]

Panel denies Kentucky Speedway suit rehearing: The appeal involving Kentucky Speedway’s founding owners suffered another defeat Thursday when a three-judge panel for the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals denied a petition for a rehearing. The same panel in December upheld a lower court’s summary judgment ruling for NASCAR and International Speedway Corp. in the antitrust lawsuit. “The panel has further reviewed the petition for rehearing and concludes that the issues raised in the petition were fully considered upon the original submission and decision of the case,” Thursday’s order reads. The only remaining option for the former owners is to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to review the decision.

The lawsuit was asinine to begin with and would have been a huge blow to the sport had it gone in their favor. Bad business decision to build it followed by yet another bad decision to file the lawsuit. Had they not have made the second one, there may have already been a Cup date at that track. Biggest losers, fans in that area and fans of that track. I'm not either of those people. Personally, I don't want to see it added to the schedule as another 1.5 mile track. There are way too many of those now IMO.

 

[semipenguin]

Unless they take away a race from New Hampshire, they are going to have to take a race from a 1.5mi track to give Kentucky a race, so it really doesn't matter :worried:

 

[Dave Moody]

...you have Dave Moody, an ISC employee, just blasting the ever living hell out of the Kentucky Speedway formers owners, and it struck me that this is exactly what is wrong with this channel. Completely biased. Completely insulting. Completed bought. Makes me sick. I cant imagine what the shills of the morning drive are saying about it.

Dexter, you're entitled to your opinion on this (and any other) topic. But it occurs to me that the only person doing any insulting here is you.

You allege that my opinion on the Kentucky Speedway lawsuit stems from my well-documented status as an ISC employee. How do you explain the fact that Bruton Smith (Chairman and CEO of rival Speedway Motorsports, Inc.) has the EXACT SAME OPINION? Is he "completely biased, completely insulting, completely bought " by ISC as well? And if not, is it possible that I am simply expressing my honest opinion as a fan of this sport, and not playing the role of corporate hitman?

Bruton Smith has appeared on Sirius Speedway three times in the last three months. Former Charlotte Motor Speedway President Humpy Wheeler will sit down with me for a Sirius Speedway Legends interview on tomorrow's show. The Presidents of every single SMI track appear on my show whenever asked, and do so willingly. If I were the ISC hatchetman you say I am, how could that possibly happen?

Dexter, I have treated you with unfailing respect over the years, even when we have disagreed on various issues. I did so on the other board, despite the fact that you were frequently insulting to both me and my fellow hosts, in addition to being derogatory and negative on virtually every possible topic. I never once called you names, insulted your intelligence, accused you of being "bought and paid for" or defamed you in any way.

I wish you would show me the same respect.