By JENNA FRYER

The Associated Press

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Bruton Smith just can’t help himself sometimes.

The eccentric track owner this week suggested he might move a race away from Charlotte Motor Speedway at the exact same time a committee is considering electing him into the NASCAR Hall of Fame.

When the 54 voters cast their ballots today, it will be impossible to overlook Smith’s most recent headline-grabbing stunt. He told Charlotte television station WBTV on Monday there’s a “70 percent chance” he’ll move the October race at Charlotte to his Las Vegas property.

He backtracked Tuesday in a statement that indicated his comments were out of anger in his fight with Cabarrus County over taxes.

“No final decision has been made regarding any race date move and I have not discussed this with NASCAR,” he asserted, before listing $100 million in improvements at CMS the past six years. “We’ve done this without asking for a handout from the government, like we’ve seen from so many other sports facilities, teams or franchises, and yet at the same time property values are falling during the recession, our Cabarrus County taxes have doubled since 2005.”

Smith was left off the list of 25 nominees the first four years of the Hall of Fame. He maintained he didn’t care but when his name was finally added last month to the list of nominees, the overwhelming congratulations made him realize the magnitude of the honor.

“It wasn’t something I was particularly concerned about,” Smith said in a recent interview from the office he works out of at his Ford dealership. “But then I was nominated and became a candidate and all the people around me told me how wonderful it was. So it was wonderful.”

The public tax squabble could jeopardize his chances to become a first ballot Hall-of-Famer. But that’s who Smith is — he says what he thinks at the moment and doesn’t much worry about consequences. He also likes to bluff and the game is much easier when you’ve got as many chips as the billionaire owner of Speedway Motorsports Inc.

It’s a game he’s long played with NASCAR, dating to the early days when founder Bill France Sr. was still building his regional stock-car series. Smith has been hooked since his family took him as an 8-year-old to the old Charlotte Fairground for his first race.

“I loved it so damn much, I needed another set of eyes because I couldn’t see enough,” recalled Smith, who was driving cars at 11 and figured out by 16 the vehicles he had access to didn’t go fast enough for his liking.

His plan wasn’t to become a race promoter; Smith maintains he was “talked into that” during a driver meeting. But he agreed to give it a shot and despite heavy rains the day of the race, made enough money on his first event that his interest was piqued.

So Smith tried to promote a second race and made a little more money, correcting the mistakes he’d made in his first outing. By the time he promoted his third event, he was hooked.

“Making money can be quite habit forming,” Smith said.

He soon began working with France in promoting races for the fledgling National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing,and Smith built his first permanent motorsports facility — Charlotte Motor Speedway, which opened for business in June 1960 with NASCAR’s first 600-mile race.

“It was hot. God it was hot,” Smith replied when asked his memory of that first event. But he also takes pride in that when he opened Charlotte, he did it with a bang: “The World 600 was the longest race — there’d never been anything like it. It had the largest purse, $100,000, and nobody had ever heard of a purse of $100,000 for a stock car race. But we wanted to be the biggest and we wanted to be something special. So that’s what we did.”

Only he was $400,000 in debt to his creditors after building the track and Smith was unable to get any loans; he went into bankruptcy reorganization and SMI emerged debt-free.

He was off and running from there, building a portfolio of eight tracks that currently host 13 races on the Sprint Cup schedule. And SMI has set the gold standard in amenities and fan experience because of the vision Smith has had.

Smith pours money into his tracks, paying for upgrades at outdated facilities and finding ways to enhance the fan experience. He was the first promoter to install permanent lights for a NASCAR race and bought Bristol Motor Speedway in Tennessee and transformed it into a must-visit event.

Smith made enemies along the way and sparred often with Bill France Jr. during his reign as head of NASCAR.

He told The Associated Press his greatest regret in racing is letting France Jr. roll over him at a time they could have formed a partnership. Smith claims the late France Jr. asked to speak to him during an event at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York and asked Smith “to help me build NASCAR.

“I said to him, ‘Billy, what the hell do you think I’ve been doing all these years’?” Smith recalled. “I’ll always regret that I did not drive a harder bargain with Billy. I helped him with no compensation.”

As a result, Smith’s status in NASCAR has never changed: he’s viewed as just another track promoter. Only he’s got the biggest mouth, the fattest checkbook and the ability to push every button in the NASCAR hierarchy.

The at-track experience is what it is today because of Smith and the initiatives SMI has taken has pushed NASCAR sister company Speedway Motorsports Inc. to up its game, too. And that’s what is most important to Smith.

“I wanted race fans, when they come to a race, a year or two later they may not remember who won that day,” Smith added. “But they are going to remember the pre-race show, they are going to remember their experience at the track and what was good and what worked and what didn’t work. That has always been our goal to make sure the fans had the time of their lives at the track.”doing all these years’?” Smith recalled. “I’ll always regret that I did not drive a harder bargain with Billy. I helped him with no compensation.”

As a result, Smith’s status in NASCAR has never changed: he’s viewed as just another track promoter. Only he’s got the biggest mouth, the fattest checkbook and the ability to push every button in the NASCAR hierarchy.

The at-track experience is what it is today because of Smith and the initiatives SMI has taken has pushed NASCAR sister company Speedway Motorsports Inc. to up its game, too. And that’s what is most important to Smith.

“I wanted race fans, when they come to a race, a year or two later they may not remember who won that day,” Smith added. “But they are going to remember the pre-race show, they are going to remember their experience at the track and what was good and what worked and what didn’t work. That has always been our goal to make sure the fans had the time of their lives at the track.”

By JIM METCALFE

Staff Writer

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KALIDA — Kalida veteran baseball coach Jim McBride was looking to use Tuesday night’s home finale versus Liberty-Benton as a tune-up for tonight’s Elida Division IV District semifinal versus St. John’s, save for using his top two pitchers.

Unfortunately, the Eagles — who have already been eliminated from the tournament — were looking to end their 2013 spring season well by sending out their eight seniors on a winning note and were throwing their ace, Jared Neiling.

The Eagles rode the 4-hit shutout of Neiling (7-1; 5 strikeouts) to an 11-0 5-inning triumph.

By JENNA FRYER

The Associated Press

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — AJ Allmendinger’s parents attended their first Indianapolis 500 in 1979, when they camped in a grassy lot and watched Rick Mears win his first 500.

Their son was born two years later — Greg Allmendinger named him after A.J. Foyt, his favorite driver — and for a time it seemed like the Allmendingers would make it back to Indy with him. Allmendinger had risen through the open-wheel ranks to become one of the top drivers in the Champ Car Series with a five-win 2006 season.

But a NASCAR opportunity came along and Allmendinger switched series and the dream of one day cheering on their son in the “Biggest Spectacle In Racing” began to fade.

Until one bad decision cost Allmendinger the best job he ever had — and Roger Penske decided to give him a rare second chance.

Allmendinger will make his Indianapolis 500 debut on Sunday, seven years after he left open-wheel racing — in a Penske Racing entry, no less. It doesn’t get much bigger or better than this and all these years later, Allmendinger has finally brought his parents back to the 500.

He’s posed for pictures at his car with his parents, who arrived in Indianapolis in time to see Allmendinger qualify fifth on Saturday.

“Then my Dad went and found Larry Foyt and said, ‘Where’s your Dad at? I want to go meet him, I haven’t met him yet ... By the way, I’m AJ’s dad’,” Allmendinger recalled. “It’ll be cool to really share this with my parents, especially my Dad. For them to experience this.”

It’s funny how life sometimes works out and Allmendinger has learned enough in the last 10 months not to question why things happen.

Allmendinger is a better person because he stupidly accepted a strange pill from a friend who said it would help with his fatigue. Allmendinger says the pill he popped last June was Adderall — he didn’t ask what it was as he was swallowing it — and it caused him to fail a random NASCAR drug test. Suspended hours before the July race at Daytona, Allmendinger was out of a job since Penske had no choice but to fire the driver when the backup “B” sample also came back positive.

He participated in NASCAR’s “Road to Recovery” program and learned during that time he had to stop putting so much pressure on himself, that his happiness didn’t solely depend on his results on the race track. He had Penske’s support the entire time, even though the team owner had zero responsibility to a driver whose six months of employment had brought embarrassment to the great Penske organization

Allmendinger didn’t ask Penske why he was standing behind him, why he brought him out to the IndyCar season finale at Fontana in September as his guest, or why he continued to think of ways to get Allmendinger back in the race car.

When The Captain called and asked Allmendinger if he had any interest in running the Indianapolis 500, the only thing Allmendinger answered was “Yes, sir. Whatever you want, sir.”

“I feel very fortunate; the racing side of it is great but that he’s cared enough to stay in contact,” Allmendinger said. “That means way more than putting me in a race car. I’m just enjoying the ride right now. I’m never going to turn down a Roger Penske race car.”

This Roger Penske car was another opportunity for a disgraced driver; it didn’t matter that it meant returning to the racing he’d walked away from for the fame and fortune of NASCAR.

Only Allmendinger found things to very different when he returned. The competition was much improved all the way down the grid and driving the year-old Indy car was harder than his time in Champ Car.

“I knew it was going to be hard but I didn’t know it was going to be this hard,” he said. “It’s shown that seven years of stock car racing has transformed me. It’s everything — the downforce levels, how hard you have to drive the cars to get any kind of lap time. Going to do the test with the series and then going to the races — that field is so strong. Being back in the series, it’s a little frustrating because I wish people understood how good these drivers are in this series.”

It hasn’t been easy at all and Allmendinger has leaned on Penske teammates Helio Castroneves and Will Power in his transition. It was Castroneves who shook down Allmendinger’s car before his rookie orientation at Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Allmendinger was touched that Castroneves hung around on the pit stand talking to him during his laps on the track.

“He could have easily shook down the car, told Roger it was fine and gone back to the garage and gotten ready for his car. But he stood there on the timing stand, headset on, talking to me. I’ve been very fortunate and Will has been the same way,” said Allmendinger, who struggled with the urge to brake during his first laps and learned quickly if he ran the same line he did in the NASCAR races at Indy he’d end up in the grass.

He’s gotten more comfortable with each passing day and his teacher has been none other than Mears, the 4-time Indianapolis winner and the driver his parents saw win all those years ago. From there, it’s on to Detroit for the IndyCar doubleheader with Penske.

But Allmendinger has nothing on his schedule beyond the Detroit races. He’s run four out of 11 NASCAR races this year with Phoenix Racing but owner James Finch is threatening to shut the team down after the July race at Indy. Allmendinger believes he’s got a ride in NASCAR with Finch, he just doesn’t know how long that car will be on the track.

He doesn’t worry about it though. Allmendinger’s experience of landing his dream job then promptly losing it because of a dumb mistake has taught him so much that he didn’t hesitate Monday when asked if he’s happier now then he was a year ago when he driving in NASCAR for Penske.

“For sure. Definitely,” replied Allmendinger, who now just takes things one day at a time.

“It’s working out pretty good right now. I thought after 24 Hours of Rolex I wasn’t doing anything, so it’s worked out pretty well so far. I’m going to ride the wave right now and figure out what happens after that.”

Allmendinger, still uber-confident despite his journey, has a plan.

“The way I look at it, if I go win Indy, Roger’s gotta give me more races,” he smiled.

Castroneves, Franchitti chase 4th Indy 500 win: Helio Castroneves figures plenty of today’s fans have never seen a driver win the Indianapolis 500 for a record-tying fourth time.

He can change that Sunday. So could Dario Franchitti.

It’s been 22 years since Rick Mears became the third driver with four Indy 500 victories. He won No. 4 in 1991 to join A.J. Foyt and Al Unser in the exclusive club.

This will be the first time since 1987 that two 3-time winners will start the Indy 500.

“What an incredible opportunity for the fans to have not only one but two guys trying to make history,” Castroneves said Monday while promoting the race with Franchitti in New York City. “Forget about the names, forget about who it is. But imagine people who didn’t even see the last time when the guy won four times.”

Scotland’s Franchitti or Brazil’s Castroneves would be the first foreign-born 4-time winner. Castroneves won his third in 2009, so he’s now used to the pressure of trying to tie the record. Since then, Franchitti won No. 2 in 2010 and No. 3 last year.

Castroneves qualified eighth, while Franchitti will start 17th after a frustrating day Saturday for Chip Ganassi Racing. Franchitti, a 4-time IndyCar champion, wrecked early in the season opener and is just 15th in the standings.

Then again, things didn’t look much better a year ago — and he went out and won.

“Last year, we had an even worse start to the season,” Franchitti said. “We were sitting here this time last year having qualified 16th and we were thinking we’re in trouble. Honda brought an updated engine to the race and all of a sudden we’re in the game.”

Franchitti, who turned 40 on Sunday, remembers when he thought he’d retire at 35. Instead, much of his success has come after that age. All three Indy 500 victories were in the last six years.

Another big milestone with the No. 4 in it could come a week after his birthday. But Franchitti won’t try to put that accomplishment into context until it actually occurs.

“To kind of tempt fate a little bit and say what it would mean and what it would feel like and all that stuff, is kind of wasted energy right now,” he said.

The 38-year-old Castroneves, who earned his first two Indy 500 victories back-to-back in 2001-02, has the advantage of working with Mears on Team Penske.

Mears won his first three in 1979, 1984 and 1988 before earning the record-tying victory three years later. Foyt and Unser had to wait much longer between Nos. 3 and 4 — Foyt’s wins came in 1961, 1964, 1967 and 1977, with Unser’s in 1970, 1971, 1978 and 1987.

Compared to that, not much time has passed since Castroneves’ last victory.

“If the preparation’s right, the opportunity right, it’s going to come up naturally,” he added.

By HOWIE RUMBERG

The Associated Press

NEW YORK — Jay Bruce hit a tie-breaking homer and drove in two runs to back Johnny Cueto’s wild but effective return from the disabled list as the Cincinnati Reds beat the New York Mets 4-3 Monday night.

Brandon Phillips had a 2-run single for his first career hit off Shaun Marcum in 13 at-bats. Phillips also made two sparkling plays in the field to help the Reds bounce back from a stunning 3-2 loss to the Phillies in which closer Aroldis Chapman gave up two home runs.

Chapman, the Reds’ fifth reliever, struck out two — one on a 99-mph fastball — in a perfect ninth for his ninth save. He had blown his two previous save chances.

Cueto (2-0) started for the first time since leaving his outing April 13 in the fifth inning with a strained left upper-back muscle. Making his fourth start of the season, the Reds’ ace gave up three hits and three runs with eight strikeouts in five innings. But he walked four, including one in the third, when Marlon Byrd touched him for a 3-run homer.

After the homer, Cueto struck out four in a row with a fastball that reached the mid-90s.

His counterpart, Marcum (0-5), rarely reached 86 mph in pitching at least six innings for the second straight start after failing to finish five in any of his first three starts with the Mets. Still, he remains winless in his first season in New York.

Slumping Mets first baseman Ike Davis slid deeper into his monthlong funk, going 0-for-3 and being called for interference in the field when he was clipped at first by Joey Votto, who was making a turn toward second base in the Reds’ 3-run first inning.

Davis was lifted in a double-switch after striking out in the sixth, his second strikeout of the night. He has two hits in his last 36 at-bats and only one RBI in May.

Marcum appeared headed for another early exit after a 20-minute top of the first. He walked Shin-Soo Choo leading off. After an out, Votto, the NL player of the week, hit a smash that ricocheted off first base and into right field. As he made his turn at first, Votto nudged Davis, who was nonchalantly standing near the bag, watching the play. Votto was tagged out at second but Davis was charged with an error for interference and Votto was awarded second.

Phillips followed with a 2-run single and Bruce doubled in a run, extending his hitting streak to 11. Marcum struck out Todd Frazier and Xavier Paul and walked off to mock cheers.

The right-hander changed that by not giving up another hit until Paul singled with two outs in the fourth.

Bruce broke the tie with a line drive into the right-field seats leading off the sixth.

Mets manager Terry Collins took a chance on putting strikeout-prone Rick Ankiel in the second spot in the order because he was 7-for-16 against Cueto and Ankiel led off the third with a single. David Wright walked and, after Lucas Duda struck out, Byrd sent a drive to left field for his fourth homer this year.

Byrd came in 6-for-11 against Cueto.

The Mets loaded the bases in the first on two walks and a single by Duda, bringing up Davis.

The scoreboard operator urged fans to cheer on Davis and many of the 23,038 in attendance made some noise. Davis hit a sharp grounder toward second but Phillips dived to his right to stop it and then threw out Davis.

Phillips then showed why he’s a 3-time Gold Glove winner in the fifth, making a long run into center field for a basket catch with his back to the plate. It was a very difficult play but he made it look easy.

Collins and reliever LaTroy Hawkins were ejected by plate umpire Tom Hallion after the top of the seventh for disputing a call that Phillips was hit by a pitch. Collins and Hawkins appeared to insist the ball hit the knob of the bat and not Phillips’ hand.

NOTES: The Mets signed RHP David Aardsma to a minor-league contract. He requested his release from the Miami Marlins organization Wednesday. The former Seattle closer missed all of 2011 and made only one appearance late last season with the Yankees. He will report to Triple-A Las Vegas. ... The Reds sent INF Neftali Soto to Triple-A Louisville to make room for Cueto. ... The Mets will host military appreciation night on Sunday. The Mets have given out more than 3,800 tickets to military personnel and their families for the game against Atlanta.