Charlotte Drag Strip To Be Named zMAX Dragway @ Concord

SMI Friday announced the new drag strip being built at Lowe's Motor Speedway (LMS) will be named zMAX Dragway @ Concord, according to David Poole of the CHARLOTTE OBSERVER. LMS received 4,365 entries into a contest to name the strip and Wanda Exum of Greensboro, North Carolina, and Carl Hackley of Charlotte submitted the winning name. Both will receive tickets and other prizes for the inaugural Carolina Nationals September 11-14 as well as $1,000 in cash. The name is the same as an engine lubricant that is owned by a Charlotte-based subsidiary of SMI (CHARLOTTE OBSERVER, 4/26). Yesterday, Poole wrote the name of the new drag strip is the "second-lamest thing I have ever heard -- right behind the oval track's 'Beast of the Southeast' nickname." Poole: "Having a contest to come up with a name and then putting a product that [SMI Chair] Bruton Smith's company sells on it is an embarrassing charade" (CHARLOTTE OBSERVER, 4/27).