Speedway Motorsports Inc. has laid off 180 employees across all facilities and subsidiaries in the latest motorsports industry workforce reductions due to the ongoing coronavirus shutdown.
An additional 100 employees were furloughed.
Speedway Motorsports operates Atlanta Motor Speedway, Bristol Motor Speedway, Charlotte Motor Speedway, Kentucky Speedway, Las Vegas Motor Speedway, New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Sonoma Raceway and Texas Motor Speedway.
The company also operates the Performance Racing Network, U.S. Legend Cars International and a souvenir branch.
The company confirmed the layoffs with a Wednesday morning statement.
“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.”
The news comes three weeks after NASCAR ordered a 25% reduction in salary for senior leadership and a 20% reduction for all other employees, while urging staff to take a week of vacation over the next month. A week later, layoffs were implemented, although the exact number remains unclear.
Penske Corp. enacted similar workforce reductions for IndyCar and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
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