Feds Nab Former NASCAR Team Owner
General
On the "fitness" theme, remember those Bob Clark-owned, "Slender You" sponsored Oldsmobiles driven by Brad Teague and Joe Ruttman in the late 80s?
Forum Activity for @dave-fulton
General
Feds Nab Former NASCAR Team Owner
General
Remember Peak Performance Motorsports? Now I know among many other reasons why it was so easy for Wachovia Securities to lose so much of my invested IRA dollars they USED to hold. From today's Charlotte paper:
Former Peak Fitness execs charged in federal probe
Accused of commercial loan fraud and money laundering conspiracy.
By Ely Portillo elyportillo@charlotteobserver.com
Posted: Monday, Jul. 11, 2011
Two former executives of Charlotte-based Peak Fitness, which went bankrupt in 2009, have been charged by federal authorities who allege they fraudulently obtained loans from Wells Fargo and Wachovia. Former owner Jeffrey Stec and former chief financial officer Kenneth Hanley are charged with commercial loan fraud and money laundering conspiracy, according to court documents filed Monday. Peak Fitness, once one of the area's largest gyms, folded two years ago. The business was a victim, executives said, of the recession and leases signed at the height of the real estate bubble. Stec also owned Peak Performance Motorsports, which he used to compete in NASCAR events , the documents say. Prosecutors say they first applied for a fraudulent loan in 2007, shortly after Stec had sold Fitness Management Group, Peak Fitness' parent company. (He bought the company back the following year). The duo wanted to buy a $915,000 condo on Isle of Palms, S.C., in the Wild Dunes private resort area. But they didn't have enough cash on hand to qualify for the mortgage, prosecutors say, partly because of how much Stec had spent on his racing business . So, court documents say, they diverted money from a $590,000 commercial loan from Wachovia into Hanley's personal bank account. The money was only supposed to be used for buying a business property in Greenville, S.C. With $130,000 from the business in a personal account, Hanley applied and was approved for an $856,000 loan from Wells Fargo. Days later, the documents say, he transferred almost all of the money back to the business accounts. Stec was listed as a tenant-in-common at the Isle of Palms condo. However, the mortgage payments weren't kept up, and the condo was later sold in a short sale in lieu of foreclosure. Wells Fargo lost about $230,000, prosecutors say. According to the documents, Stec also obtained three more loans, worth a total of $3.8 million, from Wachovia in 2007 and 2008. Stec wasn't the owner of Fitness Management Group at the time, but represented himself as such and said the business would serve as guarantor of the loans. Prosecutors say Hanley supported a fraudulent loan application and "allowed Wachovia to believe erroneously that Stec still owned and could obligate FMG." The loans were supposed to be used for building or upgrading health clubs in Winston-Salem; Kingsport, Tenn.; and Danville, Va. But Stec "diverted the money to various purposes," the documents say. It doesn't specify what Stec spent the cash on, but does say that in the end Wachovia lost about $1.7 million. Stec's attorney declined to comment Monday. Hanley could not be reached. Peak Fitness declared bankruptcy in mid-2009. It had faced hundreds of complaints with the Better Business Bureau over its billing and membership practices. An investment company bought some of the clubs, equipment and memberships. That company opened ZX Fitness at eight Charlotte locations last year Read more: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2011/07/11/2446688/former-peak-fitness-execs-indicted.html#ixzz1Ru5SEgT3
updated by @dave-fulton: 03/14/17 01:34:12AM
Wanna Build a Race Track?
General
Why, Bobby, I bet Bruton would lease you his plans for that combination domed track / NFL Stadium he pitched before the Panthers came to Charlotte. You brought back a memory I hadn't thought about in a long time, and that was going to New Smyrna at night during Speedweeks during their annual World Series of Asphalt Stock Car Racing. I also remember it getting pretty windy and chilly there at night in the infield in February and huddling around those 55-gallon drums burning driftwood or whatever.
Kansas Speedway Reconstruction
General
Jay, I wouldn't argue with the points you make. Probably the only thing Bruton hasn't been guilty of in Atlanta was scheduling "The Winston" there on Mother's Day. That was in the Walter Nix / Mike Helton era. Then again, maybe Bruton did have something to with that deal... that fiasco pretty permanently cemented the event at CMS, very contrary to what RJ Reynolds had told the track promoters that the event would be a revolving one around the circuit. See how good your memory is: Bruton & Humpy put up U.S.Tobacco/Skoal signage at CMS. RJR boycotted CMS events. Next thing you know, we had a CMS Winston Media Center, no Skoal signage and a permanent Winston backed all star race at CMS, instead of all around the circuit as the promoters had been promised. Bruton got everything he wanted and RJR rolled over for him.
Kansas Speedway Reconstruction
General
I remember being snowed in at the College Park, GA Courtyard Marriott, which ran out of food, along with the MRN crew for several nights one March. The race went down the tubes and Atlanta Hartsfield cancelled all flights.
That was an awful weekend.
Kansas Speedway Reconstruction
General
Then, again, we could just put a "real" racetrack like Rockingham or Wilkesboro back on the schedule and admit that regardless of the marketing effort and desire of NASCAR sponsors to be in Southern California at Ontario/Riverside/Fontana or in the Kansas heartlandwe've never been able to draw flies there compared to some of our "forgotten" venues andeven ifwe did draw, the racing was usually boring. I used to love going to Riverside, but the locals hardly knew we were in town.
Kansas Speedway Reconstruction
General
I don't think there has been any discussion on this topic and if so, I apologize for starting a new thread. I'm guessing we were just too preoccupied this past week for the Kentucky Speedway debacles and the IRP shaft to notice the big plans for Kansas. Now that the casino dollars are set to roll in, ISC is finally admitting that they built a real cookie cutter dog with that boring place. I've posted the Kansas City Star story below and I'm a little miffed that either Richmond or Darlington's spring date will be stolen for Kansas this next season. Let's hope they have some success with the reconstruction. An infield road course will be added and the track practically redesigned it sounds like.
Kansas Speedway to undergo track repaving and reconfiguration in 2012
By RANDY COVITZ The Kansas City Star
Kansas Speedway will have a whole new look in its second decade of racing. The track, which opened in 2001, will undergo a massive renovation project next year that will include repaving the existing track surface, reconfiguring and re-banking the 1.5 mile tri-oval and adding a new infield road course for the GrandAm.Sports Car Series. The changes will begin immediately following the 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup STP 400 next spring and completed in time for the Sprint Cup Hollywood Casino 400 in October 2012. The 2012 schedule has not been set by NASCAR, but Kansas Speedway president Pat Warren said the STP 400 will be in early spring in order to provide as much time necessary to get the paving project finished. This years spring race weekend was June 4-5, but the 2012 dates will likely be either April 28-29 or May 5-6, dates formerly held by fellow International Speedway Corporation tracks Richmond and Darlington. The life span for a track surface is usually about 20 years, but Warren said the recent harsh winters made repaving after only 11 years a must. Weve had the worst weather in the country as it relates to asphalt, said Warren. All you have to do is look around at the highways and streets in our city to understand that. Its even worse when youve got a high-performance asphalt track that doesnt have any opportunity in the winter for cars or anything to warm it up. Warren said the reconfiguration of the track, including variable banking, will create better side-by-side racing. The current corners at Kansas Speedway are a flat 15 degrees, but the new track will start at 18 degrees and increase up to 20 degrees in the turns. In addition to the turns, the front stretch, back stretch and pit road will all be reconstructed. That will allow the cars to run different lines around the track at different degrees of banking, which increases better side-by-side racing, Warren said. You might have one lane thats 18 degrees, and one lane thats 18.5. So the two cars could run next to each other even though one is running higher and therefore a further distance around the track, its also got more bank and can carry more speed. Iowa Speedway, which hosts NASCAR Nationwide and Camping World World Trucks Series events as well as IZOD IndyCar events; and Homestead in Miami, site of the final NASCAR weekend of the season, have similar banking. They want to make it more of what weve seen at Homestead or what weve seen at the progressive-banked tracks which I agree with, NASCAR Sprint Cup driver Kurt Busch said of repaving Kansas Speedway after winning the pole at the June race. Youve got to keep it within reason though to make sure the track has the right amount of banking if IndyCar ever wants to come back here. That way youre not just tailoring it to the big heavy stock cars. Other drivers said the track has never been better. Dont pave it, trucks series champion Todd Bodine said after his third-place finish in June. Why are they talking about paving it? When it was first built, we couldnt run wide open and now, even in the trucks, were out there sliding around, and youre driving the heck out of it every lap. Thats why see you great racing here. Yeah, its got a couple of bumps and its wore out, but thats what makes it fun. It separates good trucks from bad ones and good cars from bad ones and good drivers. It makes it fun. Anybody can go fast on fresh pavement. Warren agreed that some drivers like tracks as they age, and if we just re-paved what we have now, it would really create a challenge as it relates to the quality of the racing. But going back in with the variable banking will really help because you wont have the issues we had in the first couple of years we were open when we really had a one-groove race track. Kansas Speedway is expected to start hosting GrandAm Sports Car Series road course races in 2013 as part of a promise ISC made to the state of Kansas when it was awarded the Hollywood Casino that will open in spring 2012. ISC Design and Development will oversee the repaving and road course projects. Warren declined to reveal the cost of the project other than to say its significant. It cost about $20 million to repave Daytona International Speedway a 2.5-mile track last year.
updated by @dave-fulton: 12/05/16 04:02:07PM
Two Faced Watkins Glen Ad
General
Jim, You are surely right on David's last win coming for Hoss Ellington in 1980 Darlington spring race. Thanks for the correction.
