Related Parties |
12 Months Ended |
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Dec. 31, 2022 | |
| 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 (“Speedway Motorsports”), for resale to Fixed Operations guests of our dealerships in the ordinary course of business. Marcus G. Smith, a director and a greater than 10% beneficial owner of Sonic, is a director and the Chief Executive Officer and President of Speedway Motorsports and a director and an officer of Sonic Financial Corporation (“SFC”), which is the largest stockholder of Sonic; B. Scott Smith, a director and a greater than 10% beneficial owner of Sonic, is a co-owner, director and an officer of both Speedway Motorsports and SFC; Michael Hodge, a director of Sonic, is Executive Vice President, Chief Accounting Officer and Assistant Treasurer of Speedway Motorsports; and William R. Brooks, a director of Sonic, is Vice Chairman of Speedway Motorsports and a director and an officer at SFC. Total purchases from Oil-Chem by our dealerships were approximately $1.1 million, $1.2 million and $1.4 million in 2022, 2021 and 2020, respectively. 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) (“SMISC”) for approximately $0.1 million, $1.5 million and $0.6 million in 2022, 2021 and 2020, respectively; and (2) vehicle sales to various Speedway Motorsports subsidiaries which were approximately $0.04 million, $0.1 million and $0.1 million in 2022, 2021 and 2020, respectively.
In February 2022, we entered into a Sponsorship Agreement between EchoPark Automotive, Inc., a subsidiary of Sonic (“EchoPark Automotive”), and SMISC pursuant to which EchoPark Automotive agreed to be an official sponsor of a NASCAR Cup Series race and related events scheduled to be held in March 2022 in Austin, Texas (the “NASCAR Event”). In exchange for the right to sponsor the NASCAR Event, EchoPark Automotive agreed to pay a sponsor fee of $2.5 million to SMISC. EchoPark Automotive previously paid a sponsor fee of $2.5 million to SMISC in 2021 for a similar NASCAR event held in May 2021.
We participate in various aircraft-related transactions with SFC, a privately held company controlled by David Bruton Smith and his family and of which Mr. Hodge, a director of Sonic, is an officer. 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 $3.2 million, $3.1 million and $0.6 million in 2022, 2021 and 2020, respectively, for transactions with SFC.
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