March 18 (Bloomberg) -- Speedway Motorsports Inc.’s Marcus G. Smith, president and chief operating officer of the second- largest U.S. auto-racetrack operator, didn’t graduate from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill as the company asserted, the school said.

“The university registrar’s office does not show that this person has earned a degree from this university,” spokesman Mike McFarland said in a March 16 interview. Smith attended for four years, majoring in journalism and mass communications, according to school records, McFarland said. Privacy laws prohibit disclosing why a student didn’t graduate, he said.

“I attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill from 1992 through 1996 and believe I had the proper credits for graduation,” Smith said yesterday in a statement when asked for comment. “I’m checking with the university now for clarification.”

Speedway, based in Concord, North Carolina, hosts one-third of Nascar’s Sprint Cup races, the stock-car racing series that is the most popular motorsport in the U.S., according to company filings. Track operators receive a share of television broadcast revenue from each race in addition to admissions. The company owns eight racetracks, including the Las Vegas Motor Speedway and the Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Chief Executive Officer’s Son

Smith, a son of Chief Executive Officer O. Bruton Smith, graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in advertising from North Carolina, Speedway said in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing in May. He was previously executive vice president of national sales and marketing.

O. Bruton Smith owned or controlled 67 percent of Speedway’s shares as of March 3, according to regulatory filings. Speedway spokesman Scott Cooper said O. Bruton Smith wasn’t available for comment.

The discrepancy in Smith’s background was discovered by Barry Minkow, co-founder of the Fraud Discovery Institute, a San Diego-based licensed private investigator. Minkow, 42, served more than seven years in federal prison for fraud while running ZZZZ Best Co.

Minkow said he’s bought put options on Speedway. Owners of put options have the right to sell a stock at a set price within a set period. A put option increases in value as the price of the underlying security falls. Minkow almost always holds a position in securities his organization examines, according to his Web site.

Minkow Reports

Minkow previously reported discrepancies in the publicly reported academic records of executives such as Microsemi Corp. Chief Executive Officer James Peterson and Intrepid Potash Co. President Patrick Avery.

After a review, Microsemi reported that Peterson didn’t have degrees from Brigham Young University and ordered him to pay $100,000 to the company. Avery resigned after acknowledging that he didn’t receive degrees from the University of Colorado and Loyola Marymount University.

Speedway gained 44 cents, or 4 percent, to $11.39 at 4:04 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. The shares lost 55 percent in the 12 months before today.

To contact the reporter on this story: Peter J. Brennan in Los Angeles at pbrennan3@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: March 18, 2009 16:13 EDT