The Charlotte Motor Speedway has had little difficulty winning favorable legislation from state lawmakers over the years — without the need of a lobbyist.

Last year, lawmakers passed a law shielding the Concord speedway and other racetracks from noise and other nuisance complaints. In 2023, lawmakers gave it and other major sports venues in the state the right to set up sports betting hubs that could bring in millions of dollars. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020, lawmakers and then-Gov. Roy Cooper responded with $31 million in relief funds for the speedway and a second track in North Wilkesboro owned by the speedway’s parent company, Speedway Motorsports.

The speedway hasn’t had a registered lobbyist since 2016. But what it has done in recent years is continue to give state lawmakers and other officials special access passes worth several hundred dollars to each of its two marquee NASCAR races without reporting those expenses to the N.C. Secretary of State, which regulates lobbying.

That’s about to change after The News & Observer inquired about the passes last year. The N&O had obtained reports that the speedway provided to the Secretary of State over a 13-year-period. They show the speedway providing special access passes that include parking, food and beverages to dozens of lawmakers and other state officials nearly every year from 2007 to 2019. All told, the passes from that period totaled $195,000.

The cheapest pass was $450, but the typical cost per official was $900, and for some who brought guests the cost was higher. In 2019, state Sens. Jim Burgin and Rick Gunn both received $2,250 in passes, while Rep. Brenden Jones — now the House majority leader — received passes worth $1,800 for the Coca-Cola 600.

The passes continued after 2019, but the reporting stopped. Until now.

“Following recent discussions with the Secretary of State’s Office and staff changes, Charlotte Motor Speedway will file disclosure forms,” said Bruce Thompson, a Raleigh lawyer. “We are committed to complying with all applicable laws and will continue working to satisfy disclosure requirements.”

Thompson said speedway leaders hadn’t been reporting the passes because they didn’t view them as part of an effort to lobby state officials. The speedway provided the passes to whoever requested them from the legislature’s motorsports caucus, he said. The caucus is an informal group of lawmakers who support motorsports.

The interactions speedway officials had with lawmakers and other officials at the races were minimal, Thompson said.

“They would go into the box and say, ‘Are you having a good day?’ and that’s the extent of it,” Thompson said. Thompson is also a lobbyist, but is only serving the speedway as an attorney, he said.

A spokesperson for Rep. Jones and Rep. John Torbett, another recipient of the speedway passes, said lawmakers “need to gain firsthand knowledge of an industry that plays a major role in North Carolina’s economy and legislation in the General Assembly.”

NC gift ban

If the speedway had registered a lobbyist, state law could have likely prevented it from providing the tickets, or the speedway would have had to report them in quarterly expense reports. The legislature banned most gifts from lobbyists to lawmakers and other state officials 20 years ago in response to scandals involving former House Speaker Jim Black, a Matthews Democrat. One exception to the ban is if all lawmakers are invited.

But the gift ban does not cover those who have not hired lobbyists. They do have to report gifts exceeding $200 for the purpose of lobbying to the N.C. Secretary of State’s office. The speedway saw the phrase “purpose of lobbying” as reason not to report.

The passes may not be an issue for the speedway going forward. On Monday, Speedway Motorsports announced that Charlotte Motor Speedway President Greg Walter is expanding his role to include government affairs for the Charlotte and North Wilkesboro racetracks. A spokesman later said that would include Walter registering as a lobbyist, which would bring the tracks under the gift ban law.

The old speedway reports sat offline in the Secretary of State’s office for years. The N&O discovered them in reporting a December 2024 story about two politically connected nonprofits taking lawmakers and other state officials on trips. One of them, Greater Carolina, had not reported expenses from a tour of bourbon distilleries in Kentucky that it held for lawmakers, lobbyists and their clients in 2024. Greater Carolina is a nonprofit promoting free-market conservative policies.

Tim Crowley, a spokesman for the Secretary of State’s office, said in May 2025 the department planned to begin posting on its website the expenditure reports filed by entities that didn’t hire a lobbyist, but they have yet to be made available online.

Wake County District Attorney Lorrin Freeman has launched a criminal investigation into Greater Carolina and its bourbon tours. Four lobbyists who persuaded their clients to pay tour expenses, but did not report them, now face misdemeanor violations of the gift ban.

The other nonprofit has been reporting its spending as scholarships that are also required to be disclosed under the lobbying law.

Opportunity for NC paid for six state lawmakers and other state officials to go to the Paris Olympics in 2024 to study how to manage major sporting events. Then, last summer, Opportunity for NC paid expenses for five lawmakers, three UNC school trustees and a member of the UNC Board of Governors for a trip to Finland. They went to attend educational and economic development meetings that might help Finnish “defense and dual use” companies gain business opportunities in North Carolina, as well as seeking inroads for similar North Carolina businesses.

The total cost of the trip was nearly $49,000, the nonprofit reported to the Secretary of State. Among those who attended were Republican state Sens. Michael Lee of Wilmington, Bob Brinson of New Bern and Dave Craven of Asheboro; state Reps. Kyle Hall of Stokes County and Hugh Blackwell of Burke County; and NC State University trustee David Powers and UNC Asheville trustee Andrew Heath, who are also lobbyists. Powers and Heath also went on the Paris trip. Heath is a board member of Opportunity for NC, which has held events featuring Sen. Lee.

Lawmakers don’t have to report

State law only requires recipients of such perks to report when the provider and the event are both outside of North Carolina. Otherwise, the provider is required to report.

Because of that law, there was no requirement for the officials who attended the speedway events or the out-of-state trips to disclose them on their annual statements of economic interest.

But some did. Several travelers on the Paris trip; one (Brinson) of the nine who took the Finland trip; and one lawmaker who attended the distillery tour reported the scholarships on their financial disclosures.

Gaps in disclosure have prompted calls to reform the ethics and lobbying laws so that the public can easily see who is providing the expensive perks to state officials who have the power to reward them with favorable legislation and other actions. Former Rep. Susan Fisher, a Buncombe County Democrat who worked on the reporting requirements in 2006, is among those saying more transparency is needed.

State law should make it easy for the public to see from both ends of the transaction – reports from the providers and reports from the recipients, said Brooks Fuller, Common Cause NC’s policy director.

“It’s so clearly a bipartisan good government anti-corruption issue that any lawmaker that actually believes in public service should get behind that kind of reform,” Fuller said.

But Republicans who have a supermajority in the state Senate and a near-supermajority in the state House have taken no such steps. Democrats also have not proposed expanding disclosure.

Democrats and Republican Rep. John Blust of Guilford County have pushed for other transparency measures, including overturning, either partially or fully, legislation slipped into the final version of the 2023 state budget that exempted lawmakers from having to comply with the state’s public records law. That and other proposed reforms have yet to be heard in legislative committees.

Speedway an ‘economic engine’

Thompson said the reporting on speedway passes provided to lawmakers and other state officials from 2007 to 2019 was done by Tim Hagler, a former vice president for community relations. He could not be reached for comment.

“After that position was eliminated, we did not believe those filings were required,” Thompson said.

Secretary of State officials referred questions about the lack of reporting to the State Ethics Commission, which regulates the law on gifts to state officials. Commission Executive Director Kathy Edwards pointed to state law that prevents the commission from speaking on specific cases.

The past reports show as many as 19 lawmakers have gone to a single race. Members of both parties have attended. Expenses were paid for Gov. Mike Easley, a Democrat, in 2008 and state Senate leader Phil Berger, a Republican, in 2014, the records show.

Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord is a big attraction. It’s close to the vast majority of NASCAR racing crews that make North Carolina home, and the NASCAR Hall of Fame in Charlotte. At the start of last year’s legislative session, Gov. Josh Stein, a Raleigh Democrat, co-hosted an event at the Executive Mansion celebrating NASCAR.

“NASCAR is an important part of who we are in North Carolina — it’s an economic engine and a source of pride,” Stein said in an Instagram post on Jan. 29, 2025. “Along with the Motor Sports Caucus in the NCGA, it was a treat to host NASCAR, legislators, and Council of State and cabinet members to kick off the beginning of the racing and legislative seasons.”

The N&O reached out last week to three state senators and three House members who received passes in 2019.

State Sen. Paul Lowe, a Forsyth County Democrat, said he received passes because he is a motorsports caucus member. He knew little else, he said.

“I’m a member of the motorsports caucus,” he said. “Details about tickets and all that stuff I don’t have a clue.”

Demi Dowdy, a deputy chief of staff for House Speaker Destin Hall, a Caldwell County Republican, responded to The N&O’s attempts to reach Reps. Jones of Columbus County and Torbett of Gaston County. She was speaking on behalf of them, she said.

Her response did not directly address The N&O’s questions sent to Jones and Torbett, both Republicans. They included how the lawmakers got the passes, what happened while they were at the racetrack and if they had received passes since. The N&O also asked whether the law should be changed to provide more transparency over such gifts.

Dowdy’s response:

“Motorsports is a major North Carolina employer, and members need to gain firsthand knowledge of an industry that plays a major role in North Carolina’s economy and legislation in the General Assembly. Legislators routinely meet with industry leaders and stakeholders across North Carolina to better understand the issues that come before the General Assembly. These events complied with all applicable laws, and characterizing members’ visits as something improper ignores the reality of how effective legislators do their jobs.”

Brooks of Common Cause said the speedway’s position that the passes were not intended or used to lobby officials doesn’t cut it as an excuse for not reporting.

“It doesn’t pass the basic smell test of the way the influence and relationship building has worked in this state or any other state for as long as legislatures have been convening,” he said.

The speedway is also a member of the North Carolina Motorsports Association, which has employed a lobbyist each year since 2011. But state law does not require members of an association that hires a lobbyist to be treated as if they had hired the lobbyist as well.

Esther Frances contributed to this report.

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