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Las Vegas Motor Speedway Chief Chris Powell Retires After More Than Quarter-Century Of Growing Raceway Into Leading Speedway Facility

 


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By Alan Snel, LVSportsBiz.com Publisher-Writer

LAS VEGAS, Nevada — After 26 years of running Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Chris Powell is calling it quits.

The Speedway announced Tuesday that Powell, the raceway’s longtime president and general manager, is retiring.

Before T-Mobile Arena and Allegiant Stadium there was Las Vegas Motor Speedway off Interstate 15 north of town and it was Powell who helmed the efforts by Speedway Motorsports to grow the venue and its sprawling site into one of the country’s top car racing destinations.

Under Powell, Las Vegas Motor Speedway added a second annual NASCAR event, built The Strip at LVMS for drag racing and hosted the popular Electric Daisy Carnival.

Powell’s retirement is effective March 31, two weeks after the Pennzoil 400 NASCAR race weekend March 14-16.

A successor will be named in the coming weeks.

Powell is married to wife Missy and the couple has five sons.

Las Vegas Motor Speedway chief Chris Powell.

“Our success through the years has not been about one person, but rather the incredible commitment displayed by my teammates through the years,” Powell said. “Their attention to detail has made me so proud, and I could spend years thanking each one of them for their unending efforts. I’m certain my successor will receive the same kind of support.

“I’ve been so fortunate to work for two outstanding leaders in the late Bruton Smith and his son, Marcus. Bruton made an indelible mark on motorsports, and Marcus is following suit by taking our company to new heights. I’ll be forever indebted to the Smith family for allowing me to oversee one of the great sports venues.”


 

Alan Snel: Alan Snel brings decades of sports-business reporting experience to LVSportsBiz.com. Snel covered the business side of sports for the South Florida (Fort Lauderdale) Sun-Sentinel, the Tampa Tribune and Las Vegas Review-Journal. As a city hall beat reporter, Snel also covered stadium deals in Denver and Seattle. In 2000, Snel launched a sport-business website for FoxSports.com called FoxSportsBiz.com. After reporting sports-business for the RJ, Snel wrote hard-hitting stories on the Raiders stadium for the Desert Companion magazine in Las Vegas and The Nevada Independent. Snel is also one of the top bicycle advocates in the country.
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