From BFST's April 14, 1999 10k filing:
The Company is at the same time exploring investments in other business opportunities not related to the aviation industry. To this end, the Company, in conjunction with R. Ted Brant, Jr. formed a limited liability company named the RTB/AS, L.L.C. in January, 1999. The express purpose of this company is to invest in the auto racing industry. The Company's initial investment was $832,000 and could eventually be approximately $12 million.
During 1998, the Company's Board of Directors approved a $500,000 line-of-credit, increased to $1,500,000 as of March 1, 1999, for Brant Motor Sports, Inc. Brant Motor Sports is involved in the auto racing business and promotes race cars and sells advertising.
This joint company was in the news yesterday:
....
Wednesday April 21 3:50 PM ET
Big Indoor Auto Track Is Planned
By ALAN ROBINSON AP Sports Writer
IMPERIAL, Pa. (AP) - As early as 2002, drivers could have a new place to race and they'd never even have to worry about rain.
A West Virginia company hopes to build a first-of-its-kind indoor speedway that could seat as many as 120,000 and would allow racing in
the Northeast in the dead of winter.
''It would be the greatest thing since axle grease,'' three-time Winston Cup champion Cale Yarborough said of the planned $300 million track.
''Drivers have talked about this for years, but I didn't know if we would ever see it.''
The track, to be financed mostly from private sources, is planned by Brant Motorsports for a 145-acre tract adjacent to Pittsburgh International Airport. Brant, based in Morgantown, W.Va., already is involved in sponsorship of cars in NASCAR and the Indy Racing League.
The land is owned by Allegheny County and would be leased to Brant.
The 2.6 million square-foot auto racing arena - there's a term never used before - would contain a 1-mile banked oval track covered by a 40-acre roof 135 feet in height and made of a synthetic material.
To eliminate the noise and exhaust fumes inherent to auto racing - and bound to be even more irritating indoors - architects say costly soundproofing and ventilation systems never before used in such a building would be installed.
''This will be the world's biggest single room,'' said Ted Brant, president of Brant Motorsports.
Depending on the status of necessary government approvals, groundbreaking is scheduled early next year with racing expected to start in 2002.
Financing is incomplete, but Brant and his brother, Bob, vice president of marketing, said the announcement would not have been made had money questions remained.
The Brant family's involvement in Aero Services International Inc. (OTC BB:BFST - news), based in Newtown, Pa., is partly responsible for the decision to build the indoor track.
Ted Brant always wondered if an indoor track was feasible economically and architecturally, until he saw the immense building constructed in Everett, Wash., to build Boeing aircraft. The roof atop the Boeing building will be similar to that used for the Pittsburgh track.
''Actually, it is the ventilation system that took the most time and the most money,'' Brant said. ''Nobody has ever tried to do anything like this. But the discussion in auto racing has always been
that we need one of these.''
Because of the enormous cost in covering and ventilating the track, the tab will be nearly $100 million more than either the Pirates' new ballpark or the Steelers' new football stadium in downtown Pittsburgh.
''This will be bigger than baseball, bigger than football,'' said Allegheny County Commissioner Bob Cranmer. ''This will be the most unique race track in the world.''
The track also can be used for industry trade shows, aircraft exhibits and concerts. One of the architectural firms, Wright Architects of Toronto, designed SkyDome, the first pro sports stadium with a retractable roof.
Because an indoor facility would permit racing at a time when most tracks are shuttered for the winter, it could attract hybrid events that currently aren't staged because there is no place to hold them.
The Brants said the track can be configured for any kind of racing, and that the initial seating capacity of 60,000 can easily be increased to 120,000 should NASCAR, CART or the Indy Racing League
decide to run there.
''We're really not confident of that at all because the Winston Cup series is so set,'' Ted Brant said of NASCAR. ''There are very few dates to pass out. But the design allows for a lesser series of
NASCAR, and we'll get enough races to make it work.'' |
