Annual report pursuant to Section 13 and 15(d)

Related Parties

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Related Parties
 12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2019
Related Party Transactions [Abstract]  
Related Parties Related Parties
Certain of our dealerships purchase the zMAX micro-lubricant from Oil-Chem Research Corporation (“Oil-Chem”), a subsidiary of Speedway Motorsports, LLC f/k/a Speedway Motorsports Inc. (“Speedway Motorsports”), for resale to Fixed Operations customers of our dealerships in the ordinary course of business. Sonic’s Executive Chairman, Mr. O. Bruton Smith, is also the Executive Chairman of Speedway Motorsports, and Mr. Smith’s son, Mr. Marcus G. Smith, a director and a greater than 10% beneficial owner of Sonic, is the Chief Executive Officer and President and a director of Speedway Motorsports, and an Executive Vice President of Sonic Financial Corporation (“SFC”). Total purchases from Oil-Chem by our dealerships were approximately $1.6 million in both 2019 and 2018, and approximately $1.9 million in 2017. We also engaged in other transactions with various Speedway Motorsports subsidiaries, consisting primarily of (1) merchandise and apparel purchases from SMISC Holdings, LLC. (d/b/a SMI Properties) for approximately $0.9 million in each of 2019, 2018 and 2017; and (2) vehicle sales to various Speedway Motorsports subsidiaries for approximately $0.2 million in each of 2019, 2018 and 2017.
We participate in various aircraft-related transactions with SFC, a privately held company controlled by Mr. O. Bruton Smith and his family. Such transactions include, but are not limited to, the use of aircraft owned by SFC for business-related travel by our executives, a management agreement with SFC for storage and maintenance of aircraft leased by us from
unrelated third parties and the use of our aircraft for business-related travel by certain affiliates of SFC. We incurred net expenses of approximately $0.3 million in both 2019 and 2018, and approximately $0.4 million in 2017 in aircraft-related transactions with these related parties.