A A 1 tj i0! 4 4- I i '-a A': TW' ruton Smith has weathered broken partnerships bitter lawsuits IRS fines and more in building his racing empire He does what it takes to get what he wants and he care what anyone thinks about that ml ILLUSTRATION BY AL PHILLIPSStaff RISK AT EVERY TURN By DAVID MILDENBERG Staff Writer Legendary driver Curtis Turner huddled with his partners at the Barringer Hotel on North Tryon Street laying out plans to build Charlotte Motor Speedway It was May 8 1959 and stock-car racing was sweeping the South A young man knocked on the door hoping to join the team Turner and his partners knew him well a 32-year-old maverick dirt-track promoter whose day job was selling used cars Get lost Turner told him Fine said the young man wounded but cocky build my own track Thirty-six years later he owns Charlotte Motor Speedway stock-car showcase track He has another speedway in Atlanta a fortune topping $400 million four car dealerships and backing from the third-largest bank No one underestimates Bruton Smith anymore This week speedway will be roaring in preparation for next UAW-GM Quality 500 Smith will savor every moment He has put his financial life on the line many times to get here is the only person I know who would have had the guts to borrow the money it took to build (Charlotte Motor Speedway) to the status it is today" said Richard Howard who ran the track for a decade before Smith took control in 1975 was his dream and I think it really took someone like him to make it Wealth made Smith an insider in polite Charlotte society are a lot of people in the old-money Myers Park-Eastover part of Charlotte who think Bruton is white trash" says Patrick Daugherty one of Charlotte attorneys has never paid any attention to those The money has not come easily or without controversy Smith has overcome a string of broken Please see Smithpage 1 4A.