The Fund’s largest investment takes the form of two publicly traded NASCAR companies, International Speedway (NASDAQ:ISCA) and Speedway Motorsports (NYSE:TRK). Between them, these two companies own virtually all the tracks that host the NASCAR racing events, and therefore represent somewhat unique assets. In NASCAR, unlike other professional sports, the venue owner receives a very healthy share of the revenue generated by the sport. NASCAR’s popularity has declined in recent years after hitting a peak in the late 1990s, but the sport still draws a very loyal fan base to its events. We believe that recent attendance figures may point to a modest rebound, given that the NASCAR fan base may only now be starting to emerge fully from the effects of the economic downturn. In addition, NASCAR signed a 10”year TV extension that runs through 2024 that compares favorably to the prior deal and which provides significant revenue and profit visibility going forward. We believe the stocks are attractively valued and that at the Fund’s purchase prices, the market valuations were considerably lower than our estimate for the replacement cost for the tracks. At April 30, 2015, the two securities together comprised 9.5% of the Fund’s NAV.
From Zeke Ashton (Trades, Portfolio)'s 2015 semi-annual letter.
