Smith says city, county owe him for $2.8 million

Escalating a standoff over government incentives, Lowe's Motor Speedway owner Bruton Smith is demanding that Concord and Cabarrus County reimburse him for $2.8 million worth of improvements around the Concord track.

The 81-year-old billionaire is quarreling with local officials over the $80 million incentives package they promised him last Thanksgiving.

The deal centered on extensive road improvements around the track; it had Smith handling the improvements, then being repaid by the city and county.

The governments want the bulk of the payments spread over up to 40 years. Smith insists the money is due within three to five years.

This is the second consecutive year that tensions between the two groups have loomed over this weekend's NASCAR Sprint Cup Bank of America 500 race at the speedway.

In a letter hand-delivered to the city and county Sept. 25, Jim Guess, a project manager for Smith's Speedway Motorsports Inc., said the company had spent nearly $1.4 million on transportation infrastructure design and another nearly $1.4 million on sound mitigation at Smith's new drag strip. More at Charlotte Observer