Full Throttle

ISC has announced the signing of a new lease for the use of the land Daytona International Speedway sits on. The new agreement will “keep racing here through the year 2054 and raise the rent they pay for the famed speedway.”

The original lease called for a a yearly payment of $10,000 for use of the 447 acres of publicly owned land and extends the current one that paid the City $20,000 per year. Over the course of the new contract rent will average $750,000 and the payment in 2054 will be $1,090,000.

“I classify this as the greatest public-private partnership in America,” said Bill France Jr., International Speedway chairman. “We took land that had a value of $4,500 and developed it with the help of a lot of people in the area.”

My Two Cents: If the original land was appraised at $4,500 and rent was just over twice its value shouldn’t it follow logiclly that the current lease would follow that pattern? I find it hard impossible to believe, even at 1mil per annum in 2054, the land is only worth $2 million dollars. Twenty times that is probably the case.

Bill France Jr (A/K/A HWSBO) has the chutzpah to call this the “greatest public-private partnership in America?” If this is the “greatest” what’s the worst? The local politicians sellouts whores should be rounded up and horse-whipped for agreeing to this.

This may explain one thing. The Daytona 500 is one of only a couple events that hasn’t had the events name sold out to corporate sponsorship or is “Presented by…” Now we know why.

The “official,” and until now under the table, name of the February event is “The Daytona 500 Presented by the New Smyrna Beach Political Whores.”

International Speedway Corporation, Daytona, NASCAR, NEXTEL Cup, Bill France Jr., Auto Racing, Motorsports, Full Throttle