Ferko v. National Ass'n for Stock Car Auto Racing, Inc.

Ferko v. National Association of Stock Car Racing

Ferko, et al. v. National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, Inc., et al., commonly known as the Ferko lawsuit, was an American lawsuit between plaintiff Francis Ferko, a resident of Plano, Texas, and a minor shareholder of the then publicly traded Speedway Motorsports, Inc. (SMI), and defendants NASCAR and International Speedway Corporation (ISC), which are both owned by the France family. Ferko filed a derivative suit that contended NASCAR and ISC violated an implied agreement with SMI to provide a second NEXTEL Cup race per racing season upon completion of Texas Motor Speedway, and violated antitrust laws by preventing SMI from obtaining one. The suit was filed in February 2002 and was settled in May 2004.

Ferko was represented by The Cochran Firm, and filed the suit after SMI refused to take legal action against NASCAR and ISC regarding the alleged promise of a second date. SMI, while publicly approving of Ferko's actions, made no attempt to coordinate with him or aid him in the lawsuit. NASCAR publicly labeled Ferko a proxy for SMI, and unsuccessfully moved to have SMI named as the main plaintiff. As the case was preparing to go to trial in 2004, the parties settled as part of a larger restructuring of NASCAR's schedule. The lawsuit was dismissed on January 7, 2008, although the track's owners appealed the dismissal. On May 22, 2008, Speedway Motorsports, Inc. announced it had purchased Kentucky Speedway from Kentucky Speedway, LLC and further litigation became moot as a result. The purchase was finalized on January 1, 2009. Bruton Smith, head of Speedway Motorsports Inc. who bought the racetrack, said he had plans to bring a Sprint Cup (as of 2021, NASCAR Cup Series) race to Kentucky Speedway. That came in 2011 when Kentucky Speedway gained a date at the expense of Atlanta Motor Speedway. This change was reversed in 2020, with Kentucky losing the Quaker State 400 back to Atlanta beginning in 2021.