Bridge collapse isn't why Speedway stock hits pits.

Fans Weren't the only thing that tumbled after a pedestrian bridge collapsed at Lowe's Motor Speedway May 20. Shares in Concord-based Speedway Motorsports Inc., dropped, hitting a 52-week low five days after the accident.

At least one analyst, Tom Thomson of First Union Corp., says that had more to do with a big institutional investor unloading shares than the broken bridge. After all, the day after hitting its low at $19 a share, it closed at $21.75. "Long term, I don't think this will have an impact because it's in no way a reflection on management's credibility," Thomson says. "The investigation seemed to point toward a problem with a contractor."

That didn't stop some injured fans from suing Speedway. "But it's insured for situations like that," Thomson notes. Plus, the company has shown itself deft at handling litigation and the bad publicity that can surround it. Just days before the collapse, it said in filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission that it had settled all suits resulting from a May 1, 1999, accident in which three fans were killed and eight injured by flying debris from an Indy-car crash. The settlements were confidential, Speedway says, but they wouldn't affect earnings.

If there's a mystery surrounding Speedway, it's not why its bridge fell -- the culprit there was caustic grout that rusted support cables -- but why its stock is doing so poorly. For the year, it's down 26%, compared with a 0.5% gain for the Dow Jones Recreation Products and Services Index. And its price-earnings ratio is less than half that of its biggest competitor, Daytona-based International Speedway Corp. In late June, its P / E ratio was 21, compared with 46 for International.

"I don't know why Speedway has been penalized by the market," Thomson says. "They're putting up good numbers." For the first quarter, the company reported record earnings of $4.4 million, 11 cents a share. It announced in January that its share of NASCAR's 2001 TV deal would be $67 million, an increase of more than 50% over 2000. "Sometimes bad things just happen to good people," Thomson says. Folks who were on that bridge probably feel the same way.

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