Just so we know who we are talking about here, and why messin' with a red-legged frog tweaked him like a rubber band snapped on his ear, the richest owner in Bay Area sports is not Al Davis, John York, Lewis Wolff, Chris Cohan or any of the many-headed monster who owns the Giants. It's Bruton Smith, owner of both Infineon Raceway and a zest to build places for people to go zoom, zoom, zoom.


Last September, Forbes listed the 400 richest Americans and, coming in at No. 317 at $1.4 billion, Smith was ahead of some pretty noteworthy sports folks: like No. 361, Robert Kraft, owner of the New England Patriots; and No. 380, George Steinbrenner, owner of the New York Yankees. Smith owns and operates seven major speedways and would build a speedway from California to Maine if he got the zoning.

"Bruton's not happy unless he's building something," said Steve Page, Infineon's president and general manager.

Fact is, Smith would build a speedway from California to Maine but somewhere along the way he'd probably run into the habitat for the giant kangaroo rat or the California flying squirrel or the Southwestern willow flycatcher, all endangered species. Smith has a nervous tick about such things since he said he had to spend $1.5 million to ensure he wasn't disturbing or destroying the red-legged tree frog, another endangered species.

"After we wasted the money, about a month or two later the federal government took the frogs off the endangered species list," Smith said, "I thought, 'Geez, I already spent the money.' It was ridiculous. The words (red-legged tree frog) became a joke. I've never seen one or (know) what they look like."

I'm guessing green with red legs and big, buggy eyes and affection for lily pads.

"Maybe I could start a breeding farm for red-legged frogs," Smith said, "and raise some of them so everyone could have one."

But since he said he has spent $92 million rebuilding Sears Point/Infineon -- about $20 million more than the conventional estimate -- Smith probably is not going to spend more than the cost of a doughnut to help an endangered species. Truth is, Smith is much more motivated to ensure the existence of another type of species -- the Trading-Paint Homo Sapien.

A man used to having things his way and having them down now -- "it takes five times as long to do something there (California) as other places" -- Smith might turn Infineon into Las Vegas if all the stars aligned properly.

That would mean, for him, having freeways built so close to the track, race fans could arrive at a NASCAR event in about the same time as it takes to microwave popcorn. Though nightmarish NASCAR traffic is a thing of the past at Infineon, the limited road access restricts expanding the track. It would be the San Diego Freeway at 5 p.m. if capacity was expanded. But what if access wasn't a problem? Well, you could practically hear Smith drool over the phone.

"We would do some super great things if that could be accomplished," Smith said. "I would probably add another 50,000 seats immediately. We could double the crowd."

Condominiums, swimming pools, tennis courts, Pilates studios, a Zen retreat, a vegan health food store, deep tissue massage, Boy Scout campfires, the mind reels and collapses under the weight of imagining Bruton Smith given a 16,000-acre landscape to shape without restraint.

Ah, then reality sinks in.

"In your lifetime and mine," Page said, "the roads that abut the track, highways 21, 37 and Lakeville, are not going to change."

Highway monies, limited as they are, said Page, will be directed to widening 101 between Novato and Petaluma.

So this is what Smith, Page and every wheelhead, engine nut and lover of zoom, zoom, zoom must accept: A state of the art racing facility that has everything going for it except condos, Pilates, deep tissue and the Boy Scouts. But not that Smith should give up. He's got $1.5 billion and he's got California here, and this ain't Bristol, Charlotte or Atlanta.

So I told Bruton it was very California-like to have sheep at a racetrack.

"What sheep?" he said. He didn't know.

Smith was quickly informed by an Infineon official that 3,000 of the munchers are on the property, acting as lawn mowers.

"Zero emissions . . . environment friendly . . . I like it," Smith said.

I asked him if he could see sheep grazing at Bristol. He didn't think so. He's a builder, after all, not a shepherd and how many $1.5 billion shepherds do you know?

You can reach Staff Columnist Bob Padecky at 521-5490 or at bob.padecky@pressdemocrat.com.