With the world of live sports shut down fully because of the COVID-19 global pandemic, Speedway Motorsports Inc. – which owns a number of major racing venues across the country – announced major staffing cuts across the board Wednesday.
Speedway Motorsports Inc. owns New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
Other Speedway Motorsports Inc. properties include Charlotte Motor Speedway, Texas Motor Speedway, Bristol Motor Speedway, Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Atlanta Motor Speedway, Kentucky Speedway and Sonoma Raceway.
A statement released Wednesday by SMI read: “The extraordinary circumstances presented by this pandemic and the subsequent shutdown of the economy have had a significant impact on our business. Since the beginning of the shutdown four weeks ago, we have kept our entire team on full pay while our properties remained dormant. In that time, it has become clear that we must be a more nimble, more efficient organization. As such, we have made the difficult decision to restructure our business and eliminate many duplicate positions.
“Unfortunately, part of this restructuring includes eliminating approximately 180 positions across all departments at our speedways and subsidiaries. Approximately 100 additional employees have been furloughed. These decisions were not easy. Our company is providing a severance package to each person affected by job eliminations.
“Speedway Motorsports remains committed to providing the very best entertainment experience to all who come through our gates when America’s fight against this pandemic is behind us. This reorganization positions us to move forward at that time and well into the future. In the meantime, our staff will continue to maintain our facilities in preparation for the event days ahead and support our community with outreach efforts during this time of need.”
According to multiple sources about 14 employees were cut at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. NHMS executive vice president and general manager David McGrath declined to comment on Wednesday morning.
New Hampshire Motor Speedway is scheduled to host their NASCAR Cup Series Foxwoods Resort Casino 301 weekend July 17-19. That weekend is scheduled to include the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour Nor’Easter 100 on July 18.
The track’s other major event is Full Throttle Weekend Sept. 11-12, which includes the Whelen Modified Tour Musket 200 on Sept. 12.
The inaugural ACT/PASS Northeast Classic, originally scheduled for April 17-18 at NHMS has been tentatively postponed to May 8-9.
Wait, the TrumpPandemic plan which includes trillions of dollars was supposed to make sure this kinda of thing didn’t happen. It was called something like the Payroll Protection Plan. Companies were going to be given billions and billions in forgivable “loans” as long as they did not cut employees.
WHAT’S GOING ON?????? Is the Trump Administration lying to us again?
Most of that money will end up in the hands of people and companies who don’t need it. Trump fired the people who were supposed to be oversight for this. I’d be willing to bet he’s making money off of this whole thing. I’m waiting for him to blame Obama and Hillary for his screw up.
How has had this turned into Trump bashing? The PPP has many facets to it. One main part of it is returning people to jobs for employers under 500.
Further more show some humanity GREAT people lost their source of income.
We are all in this together let’s show some unity and support!
I’m keeping a list…. companies that are treating the employees like fungible assets are going to be on my boycott list. Companies that are hacking and whacking employees are filling that list.
In order to get these emergency funds, the companies are supposed to keep all their employees.
Let’s see the companies show the loyal employees some support.
Without oversight tracking the money is going to be hard. Trump firing the inspector general makes the whole deal look shady.
@darealgoodfella you obviously didn’t read or hear my statement! It’s all about the community showing support to the people who lost their jobs!
End of the day people need support to make America great again!
Just received another phone call. My friends girlfriend calling to inform me of his death. She had spoken to him Friday night, he seemed fine. Saturday morning he called 911 about 10 am. Around midnight Saturday he was in critical condition and intubated. This morning shortly after 9 am he went into cardiac arrest. He was pronounced at 9:51 am.
Like I said this guy was in great health, ran 5 miles every day. He was one of those who never got sick. Covid hit him hard and fast. He died alone, not even having said goodbye.
Please be extra careful, take steps to protect yourself. I don’t want anyone to end up like him. There’s no coming back from dead.
Hope your all safe, strong and sane. God bless.
Rob P.,
Sorry for your loss. Way too many stories like this going around. Terrifying.
Rob P sorry for your loss! This is a devastating virus it attacks in so many ways! Stay healthy
So Sorry To Hear That Rob
Yes, indeed Shawn, thank you. I hope sharing this may save a life somehow.
Oh dear, sorry to hear, Rob.
Leese, you need to understand that the owners of this country need to treat their workers with more respect. Instead, employees are cut when needed to make more profit. Employees are expected to sacrifice for the company, but the company does not reciprocate.
During these times, companies have to support the employees that made fortunes for the owners.
Darealgoodfellas,
Now you are talking about huge business that should be able to help their employees. With your earlier reference was to PPP which is small business. Two different worlds. Also with all the extra stimulus programs with unemployment some people make more money staying home. Small employers depend on their employees and during this pandemic it’s hard when the state is paying them more to stay home. I hope that we all come out of this better and stronger.
First off thanks everyone , I hope sharing this painful moment might save someone. As far as reopening the economy goes, it’s going to be a long process. Right now we don’t even have the testing capacity that’s going to be needed to safely reopen. I can see some small manufacturing companies might be able to go back to work, those where their employees are stationed far apart. Maybe some retail shops, with social distancing, and limits on the number of shoppers allowed in at one time. As far as sports venues, I truly believe we stand a good chance of not having a racing season this year, as well as baseball, football too. We might be lucky enough to see proffesional racing organizations run races without spectators, maybe baseball and football games as well. As far as the elections in November, hopefully we’ll be able to have a near normal election day. Small towns and county’s could probably get away with in person voting, but the more densely populated areas will most likely be mail in.
It would be very interesting to see how many people in Wisconsin were infected when they were forced to have in person voting. Right now we’re in wait and see mode. Everybody stay safe strong and sane. Continue using common sense. We will get through this.
Dareal… read about Coca-Cola CEO James Quincey. Excerpt from a financial publication I read:
“Quincey told CNBC that in order to avoid losing skilled employees, Coke will not be restructuring to lay off employees in the midst of this crisis. That could mean more short-term financial pain for the company, if it continues paying workers who may be confined to their homes by government decree and cannot actually work.
In the long term, however, demonstrating loyalty to employees could pay off for Coca-Cola, and ensure that once this crisis passes, the company has the employees — and the loyalty of those employees — needed to take full advantage of the rebound from”
This article is from March 24th. There are companies taking a compassionate approach. It’ll be interesting to see if this pays off for them in the long run. It is currently stunting the gains that they could be seeing. It’s definitely a long term play and they might be a big enough company to absorb the short term pain
RaceDayNH, that’s good news, thanks for sharing, I did not see that. REI is also doing similar. They are doing all they can to generate revenue through online sales, and avoid layoffs. They are furloughing people, but the people will keep health insurance and benefits.
Other companies are doing salary reduction, furloughs, etc. to avoid hacking their workforce. These companies are on the top of my list to patronize.
Trump 2020
There is a 99 year old military veteran in England. He wanted to raise $2000 by walking 100 laps around his garden, before April 30th, his 100th birthday. Donations poured in to the sum of over 15 million dollars. He walked the last 20 laps today. I find this story to be inspirational