Friday, August 20, 1999
Cintas chief invests in Ky. Speedway
BY JOHN J. BYCZKOWSKI
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Stepping up his involvement in motor racing, Cincinnati billionaire Richard T. Farmer has signed on as an investor in the new Kentucky Speedway in Gallatin County, the track announced Thursday.
Mr. Farmer is chairman and founder of Cintas Corp., the Mason-based uniform supply company. Forbes magazine estimated his wealth at $1.3 billion. Cintas is already the official uniform sponsor of the stock car racing circuit NASCAR and a major sponsor of the Kentucky Speedway.
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THE INVESTORS
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• Jerry Carroll, chairman of Carroll Properties of Florence.
• Richard Duchossois, owner of Duchossois Industries of Chicago.
• Richard T. Farmer, chairman of Cintas Corp. of Mason.
• John Lindahl, owner of State Industries Inc., of Ashland City, Tenn.
• Outback Steakhouse Inc. and co-founder Chris Sullivan of Tampa.
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“I am very excited about the opportunity to invest in the Kentucky Speedway,” Mr. Farmer said in a prepared statement. The speedway “will be one of the finest motorsports facilities in the country and a great asset for our area.”
Jerry Carroll, developer-partner at the speedway, would not say how much Mr. Farmer invested. He said the total private investment in the racetrack is $105 million, with public improvements around the track adding another $35 million. It is to open next year.
Mr. Farmer bought out the speedway interest of W. Bruce Lunsford, one of the five original investors in the speedway.
Mr. Lunsford is co-founder and former chairman of Vencor Inc., a Louisville-based health care company.
Troubled investor
That company was sued in May by the U.S. Justice Department for allegedly overcharging Medicare by hundreds of millions of dollars since 1993.
The value of Mr. Lunsford's holdings have plummeted along with Vencor's stock, making him unable to continue to participate in the development of Kentucky Speedway, Mr. Carroll said.
“What Bruce could not do was to continue to belly up, to put up the money for a period of years,” he said. Mr. Lunsford could be reached for comment.
Adding credibility
That said, Mr. Farmer brings a powerful influence to the group. “The thing that I love about what he brings to the group (is) his reputation on Wall Street and definitely in the Cincinnati community,” Mr. Carroll said. “It adds a tremendous amount of credibility.”
Credibility is important to the future, as Kentucky Speedway hopes to land a succession of big racing events, with the hope of obtaining a NASCAR Winston Cup race.
“I think it puts us into the motor sports business in a way that we can take a look at the national picture, have a little bigger scope of things,” Mr. Carroll said.
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