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Speedway drops lawsuit over incentives

http://66.225.205.104/JR20100602a.mp3

The owner of Speedway Motorsports has dropped his lawsuit against Cabarrus County and the City of Concord over tax incentives. Racetrack mogul Bruton Smith has been threatening a lawsuit almost since the day he got a copy of the incentives proposal from Concord and Cabarrus County. He believed he had a verbal agreement that was quite different from what he saw on paper. "The lawyers - some of the lawyers that worked for me - said this was fraud they were attempting to do,"said Smith back in 2008 when Concord and Cabarrus County presented a formal incentives package. They offered to reimburse Speedway Motorsports for about $80 million in road improvements Smith planned to make around Charlotte Motor Speedway. The catch was the city and county wanted to pay the money over 40 years. Smith believed the plan was to pay the money in three or four years. Last fall, Speedway Motorsports sued Concord and Cabarrus County for breach of contract. The company has now dropped that lawsuit. Speedway Motorsports' attorney Jared Gardner says they are negotiating with state and local officials over the incentives. Dismissing the lawsuit may make it easier to find a resolution. However, Gardner points out Speedway Motorsports can re-file the lawsuit if the incentives dispute doesn't work out.