Marcus Smith (businessman)

He has also directed numerous changes in an attempt to reverse declining attendance at some racetracks, including holding the NASCAR Cup Series' first ever dirt race since 1970 at the Bristol Motor Speedway, ordering the reconfiguration of the Atlanta Motor Speedway to produce pack racing, and by holding a "roval" race at the Charlotte Motor Speedway.

In contrast to his father, Speed Sport writer Keith Waltz considers Marcus to be "not as boisterous or flamboyant".

Marcus has drawn praise for a focus on fan experience and interaction and for revitalizing the North Wilkesboro Speedway, one of NASCAR's founding tracks.

However, his tenure has seen continued decline at SMI racetracks despite numerous changes formulated to increase attendance, along with criticism from drivers and media outlets for repaves of certain tracks.

Marcus Graham Smith (born April 11, 1973) is an American businessman.

He is best known as the chief executive officer (CEO) of Speedway Motorsports, Inc. (SMI), an organization that owns or operates 11 racetracks across the United States.

Smith was born in Charlotte, North Carolina, on April 11, 1973, to Ollen Bruton Smith (1927–2022) and Bonnie Jean Harris (1947–2023).

He is the second-oldest of five children.

According to Bruton, his middle name was given as "Graham" to honor Reverend Billy Graham, a famous Southern Baptist evangelist from the Charlotte area.

Smith attended Charlotte Country Day School, where he was a wrestler.

In his off time during high school, he worked as a volunteer at the Charlotte Motor Speedway, doing numerous jobs, including grass maintenance, painting walls, and picking up trash.

By the summer of 1992, Smith committed to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) to train as a doctor from 1992 to 1996.

However, according to the university, UNC stated that Smith did not earn a degree and dropped out.

According to Marcus, after dropping out of college, he joined the Charlotte Motor Speedway's sales and marketing team as a first-year sales associate, mainly selling souvenir program advertisements and contingency decals for cars.

While working at Charlotte Motor Speedway, he frequently came into contact with the track's general manager, Humpy Wheeler, who he later stated on an episode of The Dale Jr. Download that he was "phenomenally impactful" to him.

He did not see his father often as his office was located at the nearby Town and Country Ford dealership, owned by Bruton.

Marcus initially struggled at the job; within the first six months, he struggled to cover his expenses.

When he called Bruton to request a raise, Bruton stated that he could have a raise, and "all you have to do is sell more and you can earn more money".

To Marcus, the statement took "a load off my shoulders", as he wanted to "earn [the money]", and did not "want something given to me that I didn't earn or don't deserve".

He later was promoted to the manager of new business development of the speedway in 1999.

By 1999, he became the speedway's manager of new business development.

In 2004, he was reassigned to the track's parent company, SMI, to become their head of sales and marketing.

Four years later, Smith was promoted to become the president of SMI and was also put in charge to run the Charlotte Motor Speedway, replacing longtime promoter Humpy Wheeler in a controversial transition.

On February 19, 2004, he was reassigned to the Charlotte Motor Speedway's parent company, Speedway Motorsports, Inc. (SMI) to serve as the company's executive vice president of sales and marketing.

In addition, he was also added to the company's board of directors.

By February 2005, he was claimed by the News & Record's Dustin Long as in position to replace Bruton when Bruton retired.

Marcus was also stated to "communicate better with NASCAR's leader", Bill France Jr., who at the time had gotten into a fierce lawsuit with Bruton over a second NASCAR Cup Series race date at the Texas Motor Speedway, deepening the rivalry between the Smith and France families.

In August of that year, he partnered with the France family's International Speedway Corporation (ISC) for the two companies to buy out Action Performance, a motorsports merchandise company with Smith and Lesa France Kennedy serving on the company's board of directors.

On May 21, 2008, Humpy Wheeler announced his departure from the speedway that was later revealed to be due to internal disagreements with Bruton Smith over the last several years, a decision that was seen as a surprise within the NASCAR landscape.

By the next day, The Charlotte Observer reported that Smith had become the favorite to replace Wheeler.

On May 28, Bruton officially announced that Marcus had been promoted to take over for Wheeler.

Along with this, Marcus was also promoted within SMI to become the company's president and chief operating officer (COO).

Within his first year, SMI, mainly due to the consequences of the Great Recession, oversaw a sharp decline in revenue and the company's stock price.

Smith, being the heir of his father, Bruton Smith, had previously worked for SMI at various positions within the organization before being officially promoted to becoming CEO in 2015.

Smith was born and raised in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Initially wanting to train to become a doctor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, he later dropped out and joined his father's company, working at the Charlotte Motor Speedway's marketing team as a sales associate.

In 2015, Smith was promoted to become the SMI's CEO, essentially taking over control of the company from his father.

Under his leadership at SMI, Smith oversaw numerous changes within the company.

In 2019, he took SMI off of the New York Stock Exchange, turning the company into a private company.

Throughout 2021 and 2022, with monetary assistance from COVID-19 relief grants from North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper, he made efforts to revitalize the North Wilkesboro Speedway, which had been left desolate since the late 1990s when his father bought partial control of the track along with Bob Bahre.