Monday, July 23, 2007 | 7:10 a.m.
To Sal Fish, the longtime president of SCORE International, "Only Vegas" is more than a marketing slogan.
Fish had worked for nearly a decade to bring his desert racing series to Las Vegas with a stadium-style event reminiscent of the old Mickey Thompson Stadium Series. When Las Vegas Events threw its support behind Fish three years ago, the Las Vegas Terrible's Cup was born and was an immediate hit. The first two annual events at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway dirt track drew an average two-day crowd of 14,000 to the 8,000-seat facility.
So no one was more surprised than Fish when published reports last weekend indicated that the Herbst family, owners of Herbst Gaming and Terrible Herbst Oil Company and a co-sponsor of the annual event, might wish to have the event moved from LVMS to Primm, where the family recently purchased three casinos.
Fish, who has run SCORE for nearly four decades, said he likely would sit down with the Herbst family sometime this week to discuss the matter, but he made it clear he preferred the Terrible's Cup race to remain in Las Vegas.
"I've got a lot invested in this (race)," he said during a break in racing Saturday night. "(It has taken) three years of hard work to make what you see out here happen and we've built a heck of a fan base here.
"I know Primm is only X miles down the road, but it's not Vegas."
Las Vegas Events co-produces the race with SCORE, and LVE president Pat Christenson said his group is committed to building the event at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway because, in part, it brings many out-of-town racing fans to Las Vegas during what often can be a slow period for the tourism industry.
"I think it can do nothing but grow," he said of the SCORE Las Vegas Terrible's Cup. "We haven't made any money on this yet but our hope is to build it to the point where we break even and that's really around a sellout both nights.
"Then we'll start bringing some more bleachers in."
This past weekend's race drew a two-day crowd of 14,788, including 8,371 spectators Saturday night - both event records.
Fish said he is opposed to the idea of moving the Terrible's Cup to Primm because the border town already is host to one of the races on the six-race SCORE Desert Series schedule. Fish has the final say on where the race is held but if the Herbst family pulled its sponsorship of the event, Fish would have to look elsewhere for financial backing.
"I have been working with Las Vegas Events and the Herbst family and up until now we've been a team and I don't see any reason that that's going to change," he said.
"I have an obligation to Las Vegas Events and to Las Vegas and I don't think we need to have too many events (in Primm) because all of a sudden it gets diluted."
Las Vegas Events also sponsors SCORE races in Laughlin and the event in Primm in September, and Christenson said he likes the symmetry of having one race in each of the three resort towns.
"This has worked out perfectly," he said. "This gives us a SCORE race in Laughlin, Primm and then a very unique race here in Vegas. It has just worked out great."
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