Talk:Bruton Smith/GA1

GA Review
The edit link for this section can be used to add comments to the review.''

Reviewer: Sammi Brie (talk · contribs) 06:52, 16 July 2023 (UTC)

GA review (see here for what the criteria are, and here for what they are not)

(Criteria marked are unassessed)
 * 1) It is reasonably well written.
 * a. (prose, spelling, and grammar):
 * b. (MoS for lead, layout, word choice, fiction, and lists):
 * Consider a shorter lead section. Also, per MOS:LEADCITE, it doesn't need to have citations for content cited in the body of the article.
 * 1) It is factually accurate and verifiable.
 * a. (reference section):
 * b. (citations to reliable sources):
 * c. (OR):
 * d. (copyvio and plagiarism):
 * A section probably could use some wording tweaks to pull it a little closer.
 * 1) It is broad in its coverage.
 * a. (major aspects):
 * I'd add something about the savings and loan, at least a small section, and then work on it after passage.
 * b. (focused):
 * 1) It follows the neutral point of view policy.
 * Fair representation without bias:
 * 1) It is stable.
 * No edit wars, etc.:
 * 1) It is illustrated by images and other media, where possible and appropriate.
 * a. (images are tagged and non-free content have non-free use rationales):
 * b. (appropriate use with suitable captions):
 * 1) Overall:
 * Pass/fail:
 * I'd add something about the savings and loan, at least a small section, and then work on it after passage.
 * b. (focused):
 * 1) It follows the neutral point of view policy.
 * Fair representation without bias:
 * 1) It is stable.
 * No edit wars, etc.:
 * 1) It is illustrated by images and other media, where possible and appropriate.
 * a. (images are tagged and non-free content have non-free use rationales):
 * b. (appropriate use with suitable captions):
 * 1) Overall:
 * Pass/fail:
 * 1) It is illustrated by images and other media, where possible and appropriate.
 * a. (images are tagged and non-free content have non-free use rationales):
 * b. (appropriate use with suitable captions):
 * 1) Overall:
 * Pass/fail:
 * b. (appropriate use with suitable captions):
 * 1) Overall:
 * Pass/fail:
 * 1) Overall:
 * Pass/fail:

Copy changes

 * Throughout the article: Never use apostrophes for decades (MOS:DECADES). There are six instances of this.
 * ✅. Nascar9919 (talk) 07:14, 16 July 2023 (UTC)

Lead

 * During his career, Smith held the positions of vice president and general manager of the Charlotte Motor Speedway, and later as the chief executive officer (CEO) of both Speedway Motorsports and Sonic Automotive. The second comma is not needed because "Smith" is the subject of both sentences. See User:Sammi Brie/Commas in sentences (CinS)
 * ✅. Nascar9919 (talk) 07:06, 16 July 2023 (UTC)
 * 1.5 miles (2.4 km) banked racetrack This convert needs "adj=on" as a parameter.
 * ✅. Nascar9919 (talk) 07:06, 16 July 2023 (UTC)
 * Smith has also pursued multiple business... Now that he is dead, this should just read "Smith also..."
 * ✅. Nascar9919 (talk) 07:06, 16 July 2023 (UTC)
 * The lead section, at five paragraphs, may be too long. See MOS:LEAD. Consider reconfiguring into four paragraphs.

Business career

 * Smith would begin promoting stock car events as a 17-year-old at Midland, North Carolina in... missing GEOCOMMA after North Carolina
 * ✅. Nascar9919 (talk) 07:14, 16 July 2023 (UTC)
 * rivalry that has grew should be "has grown"
 * ✅. Nascar9919 (talk) 07:14, 16 July 2023 (UTC)
 * Buck Baker, Roby Combs and Ike Kaiser Be consistent in your use or non-use of serial commas.
 * ✅. Nascar9919 (talk) 07:14, 16 July 2023 (UTC)
 * In the same year, France and Smith discussed merging their sanctioning bodies, and came to a tentative agreement on the issue; however, Smith... Remove comma after "bodies" (CinS)
 * ✅. Nascar9919 (talk) 07:14, 16 July 2023 (UTC)
 * In an 1982 interview from The Charlotte Observer, now-retired president of Charlotte Motor Speedway, Humpy Wheeler, stated The name "Humpy Wheeler" is an essential clause. Removing the commas around it helps reading and reduces the comma density here. I'd also change "from" to "with".
 * ✅. Nascar9919 (talk) 07:14, 16 July 2023 (UTC)
 * Smith knew "he couldn't back down, because if [he] ever did, [he'd] might as well give them the keys to the place." Since you are not quoting a full sentence, period outside of quotes. We use MOS:LOGICAL quotes, which differs from common typesetting in the US.
 * ✅. Nascar9919 (talk) 07:14, 16 July 2023 (UTC)
 * Construction eventually started on the speedway in the summer of 1959, and was eventually completed in May of 1960, in time for the 1960 World 600 that was held on June 19.
 * Remove comma after 1959 (CinS)
 * ✅. Nascar9919 (talk) 07:14, 16 July 2023 (UTC)
 * Remove "of" after "May" — this is a common issue in the text
 * ✅. Nascar9919 (talk) 07:14, 16 July 2023 (UTC)
 * The May 1960/World 600 section needs an inline citation.
 * ✅ Found out it was actually done just mere days before the race. Made appropriate changes to dating. Nascar9919 (talk) 07:29, 16 July 2023 (UTC)
 * "boos and chants." Again, period outside quotes.
 * ✅. Nascar9919 (talk) 07:14, 16 July 2023 (UTC)
 * I bet it's not Rockford New Cars Dealers Association but "Rockford New Car Dealers Association". A quick search on my end confirms this.
 * ✅. My bad, probably hit an extra key. Nascar9919 (talk) 07:14, 16 July 2023 (UTC)
 * Around this same time, rumors of Howard stepping down as president of the speedway was highly speculated amongst the media Verbose and no subject-verb agreement (rumors was).
 * ✅. Nascar9919 (talk) 07:33, 16 July 2023 (UTC)
 * Atlanta, Fort Mill, and Rock Hill Reword to "Atlanta and Fort Mill and Rock Hill, South Carolina". The latter two are not very familiar cities, and they are not in the same metro as Atlanta.
 * ✅. Nascar9919 (talk) 07:14, 16 July 2023 (UTC)
 * Smith would continue buying speedways throughout the 2000s, including both the New Hampshire International Speedway and North Wilkesboro Speedway in 2007, and Kentucky Speedway in 2008 Remove the second comma.
 * ✅. Nascar9919 (talk) 07:14, 16 July 2023 (UTC)
 * In 2019, Smith would take Speedway Motorsports private and took the company off the NYSE, letting the Sonic Financial Corporation, another company Smith owns, acquire all outstanding stocks of SMI. Probably an unneeded "would": "Smith took Speedway Motorsports private and off the NYSE, ..."
 * ✅. Nascar9919 (talk) 07:14, 16 July 2023 (UTC)


 * Caught one more. In February 1974, he had managed to buy enough stock to be elected to become the chairman of the board of directors, replacing Richard Howard, who became the president of the speedway. Maybe "By February 1974"?
 * ✅. Nascar9919 (talk) 17:30, 16 July 2023 (UTC)

Legal issues

 * ...the Concord, North Carolina area... Given that we've already mentioned this is the Charlotte speedway and Concord, North Carolina, has been introduced, I'd say just "the Concord area". If that weren't the case, you'd need a MOS:GEOCOMMA.
 * ✅. Nascar9919 (talk) 17:30, 16 July 2023 (UTC)
 * stating "We're here forever." and In an editorial for The Observer, one wrote "We predicted a couple of months ago that the Concord residents would find their victory against Mr. Smith short-lived. It was indeed." Comma after "stating" and "wrote"
 * ✅. Nascar9919 (talk) 17:30, 16 July 2023 (UTC)

Personal life

 * June 6, 1972 Add a comma after 1972 (MOS:DATECOMMA)
 * ✅. Nascar9919 (talk) 17:30, 16 July 2023 (UTC)
 * Given the distribution of text, does "Divorce court proceedings" really need to be a separate Level 4 header?
 * ✅. Nascar9919 (talk) 17:30, 16 July 2023 (UTC)
 * This section has more logical quote fixes needed.
 * ✅. Nascar9919 (talk) 17:30, 16 July 2023 (UTC)
 * Bonnie filed for divorce in July 1988 after an argument that had occurred three weeks earlier, when on June 24, 1988, Bruton was stated to have been going into "a rage," grabbing a fireplace poker and proceeding to destroy a portrait of her according to court records. Consider rewording the beginning. Bonnie filed for divorce in July 1988 after a June 24 argument in which Bruton was stated to have gone into "a rage", ...
 * ✅. Nascar9919 (talk) 17:30, 16 July 2023 (UTC)
 * martial property Presumably marital property
 * ✅. Nascar9919 (talk) 17:30, 16 July 2023 (UTC)
 * judgement I'd use "judgment"
 * ✅. Nascar9919 (talk) 17:30, 16 July 2023 (UTC)
 * Smith died on June 22, 2022, in Charlotte, North Carolina at the age of 95 due to natural causes. Either a GEOCOMMA or just remove ", North Carolina".
 * ✅. Nascar9919 (talk) 17:30, 16 July 2023 (UTC)

Legacy and honors

 * Now-retired president of Charlotte Motor Speedway, Humpy Wheeler, To avoid a WP:SEAOFBLUE (back-to-back blue links) while removing this comma issue as earlier, write Humpy Wheeler, the former president of Charlotte Motor Speedway, ...
 * ✅. Nascar9919 (talk) 17:30, 16 July 2023 (UTC)
 * More logical quote fixes (e.g. that Smith was "the greatest boss ever," should be comma outside of quote).
 * ✅. Nascar9919 (talk) 17:30, 16 July 2023 (UTC)
 * In a 1982 article for The Charlotte Observer, writer Dick Stilley called Bruton "a mystery even to his friends," referencing many industry leaders' thoughts about Bruton mentioned in the article. A bit of an awkward sentence. I wonder if there is a better way to phrase it or include things mentioned in the article.
 * ✅. Nascar9919 (talk) 17:30, 16 July 2023 (UTC)
 * then-CEO of NASCAR, Brian France stating NASCAR does not need to be linked here; remove the comma. It's an incomplete appositive and would be unnecessary even if complete.
 * ✅. Nascar9919 (talk) 17:30, 16 July 2023 (UTC)
 * Why? An appositive should always be removable without impacting reading. ", with then-CEO of NASCAR stating" sounds wrong.

Newspapers.com citation management
Claiming this review to do in dribs and drabs over the next few days. I wanted to start with some suggestions around your use of Newspapers.com citations to improve them. It's great to see a GAN make use of Newspapers.com, but I see ways to improve your citation handling:


 * Use URL links in page for multi-part articles. You can and should do this for articles that run multiple pages. This will actually reduce the number of inline citations by 31! Look at, say, WXEL-TV for examples.
 * Be mindful of page numbers. For analog microfilm originals, Newspapers.com will automatically provide a sequential page number. However, this is not the actual page number in many cases, particularly when the newspaper uses section-page numbering which becomes more common after midcentury. For instance, is page 33 sequentially but actually page 7C. Make it a habit to check the page numbers. Some papers, particularly back issues of the Chicago Tribune and Los Angeles Times, have numbered or Roman numeral sections, which I separate with colons: 4:5, II:12. The more you work with a newspaper, the more you will understand quirks in its upload etc.
 * You may need to adjust newspaper titles for some publications, especially joint Sunday editions and a few papers that changed their name. (An example: even pre-2011 citations say Tampa Bay Times, not St. Petersburg Times, unless edited.)
 * Digital microfilm is better at this with one big and very relevant exception for this nomination. The Charlotte Observer, as is the case with some other papers, uses number-letter sectioning, e.g. 7C. Newspapers.com seems to only support metadata for the opposite, e.g. C7. Remember: every newspaper is different, and sometimes newspapers changed their pagination historically.
 * There is a quirk specific to the Observer in the 2000s where the newspaper's digital copy is dated the day before. e.g. is labeled by Newspapers.com as Monday, September 18, 2006, but the paper information reads Tuesday, September 19. You may wish to check 2000s digital (i.e. non-sequential numbered) citations to this specific newspaper.
 * ✅. Thank you so much for the insight! Nascar9919 (talk) 08:35, 16 July 2023 (UTC)

Spot checks/copyvio
I have chosen 9 (10%) of the references at random for spot checking.


 * 12: This is actually a repackaged press release from SMI. It is used for two claims: ✅
 * Smith sold cars from his front yard.
 * He bought his first race car at 17 for $700.
 * Both claims, probably repackaged, do at least appear in a secondary source which I'd recommend using:
 * 24: 1961 Charlotte News article. Turner and Smith forced out; Smith remained as promotional director. ✅
 * 41: Speedway goes public in 1995, shares at an IPO price of $16–18 (not $18). Not sure what they went for on the first day, but this merits adjustment.
 * 43: Acquisition of Bristol. Note: this is page 4C. ✅
 * 60: Noise and pollution concerns are cited from the proposed CMS drag strip. ✅
 * 67: Quote is accurately reproduced. In the article, In an editorial for The Observer, one wrote should be changed to The Observer editorial board wrote,. ✅
 * 69: Accusations of adultery; $300,000 for a home and $50,000 for furnishings. ✅
 * 74: Offer of $445,000 to pay attorneys. ✅
 * 78: Successful 2015 treatment for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. ✅

Earwig points to some phrases that may merit tweaking, particularly in paragraph 1 of "Car dealer magnate, gradual return to Charlotte", to pull them further apart from the source material. Look at the comparison and see if you want to do some rewording. Otherwise, it mostly seems to be quotes and banal phrases like "construction of Charlotte Motor Speedway".

Possible additional content
I would suggest adding a section on North Carolina Federal Savings and Loan. From reviewing the sources available, he was the president and chairman of the bank, its majority owner, and a target of the Resolution Trust Company when it failed in 1990. There is likely substantial available coverage. That said, we don't have an article on it and barely two mentions on the whole encyclopedia, one on this page. I'd add something now so it's mentioned in the article, but a deeper look may be a good task to do between GA and FA.

Images
Images all have appropriate licenses. There are probably other CC-BY images of SMI tracks that might go well in this article. Consider alt text for the Bruton Smith Boulevard image, even "Refer to caption".
 * Hey there again! I just got done making the remaining edits to hopefully get it to GA. The lead's now at four paragraphs and I've added a new section on North Carolina Federal. I've tried to make tweaks to quotes if I found them necessary. Thank you so much for reviewing the article! Nascar9919 (talk) 23:49, 16 July 2023 (UTC)


 * @Nascar9919 Just did some edits to clean up the new stuff. You might like to see WP:INTOTHEWOULDS, which was shown to me at the last GAN of one of my own pages. I am going to pass this once the refs archive. Sammi Brie  (she/her • t • c) 04:24, 17 July 2023 (UTC)
 * Awesome! Thank you so much for the quick review and the extremely helpful insight. You do not know how helpful you have been to me. You have a great day, Sammi! Nascar9919 (talk) 04:26, 17 July 2023 (UTC)
 * Thank you! When I saw the newspaper stuff, I knew I wanted to review this one to provide assistance. GA is also horribly backlogged, and it's good to get new participants involved quickly. Sammi Brie  (she/her • t • c) 04:35, 17 July 2023 (UTC)
 * Gotcha. I'm still relatively inexperienced (and let's face it- young haha) to this whole thing, and I realize I still got a lot to learn. But, I might as well make a start now. You've been great! Thanks again. Nascar9919 (talk) 04:39, 17 July 2023 (UTC)