CARSON CITY -- Las Vegas Motor Speedway owner Bruton Smith opens his private suite at the racetrack each March to legislators and other elected officials for a weekend of NASCAR racing, free food and beverages.

For comparable amenities, a private citizen would pay $710 for this year's three-day race weekend, according to the speedway's Web site. Single-day tickets are not available.

Lawmakers watching Jeff Gordon and his buddies run cars around the track at 170 mph at last year's event did not list the gift on their financial disclosure statements Jan. 15.

A state law requires legislators and other elected officials to list on these statements all gifts worth more than $200. However, the speedway says it doesn't place a value on the tickets given to lawmakers.

"It's a huge draw for Nevada," Assembly Minority Leader Lynn Hettrick, R-Gardnerville, said of the NASCAR event. "It puts millions in our economy. Gov. (Kenny) Guinn goes. Every legislator gets invited. I have gone, and I fully intend to go again."

Added Sen. Maggie Carlton, D-Las Vegas, a racing fan: "I have seen legislators there, North Las Vegas city councilmen, Las Vegas city councilmen. I'd be surprised if everyone wasn't invited. When you are the invited guest of the owner, it puts you in another world."

Heller and Carlton acknowledge attending the 2005 race. Sen. John Lee, D-North Las Vegas, said he was invited by the speedway but ultimately turned down the offer and went instead as a guest of a business friend.

Assemblyman Scott Sibley, R-Henderson, received an invitation but could not make the event. He did attend the speedway's truck race on a pass last September, which he said had a value of about $100. Sibley said legislators receive tickets to all racing events at the speedway.

"If I went, I should have disclosed," said Hettrick, whose hobby is racing BMWs. "I don't remember if I went or not. I have disclosed in the past."

A check of Hettrick's financial disclosure statements for the past three years finds no listing of the receipt of any complimentary passes to the track.

Sources said Assembly members Marilyn Kirkpatrick, D-North Las Vegas, and Francis Allen, R-Las Vegas, also took complimentary passes to the NASCAR Cup race. They did not respond to repeated calls from the Review-Journal about whether they took the tickets.

The revelation that legislators took track passes without reporting them comes less than two weeks after the disclosure that 10 legislators accepted tickets priced in the $400 range to a Rolling Stones concert. Four legislators also took $300 tickets to a concert given by Puerto Rican singer Luis Miguel.

Most legislators, however, reported the receipt of the Stones' tickets from Ameriquest, a national mortgage lending company that last month agreed to pay $325 million to home buyers who were charged excessive interest rates. For NASCAR, they either forgot or felt they did not have to report the gift.

Deputy Secretary of State Renee Parker said under the law a politician can be charged with a felony if he or she deliberately does not list the receipt of expensive gifts.

But if someone just forgets, she said they can correct it by filing an amended financial disclosure statement.

The tickets politicians receive from the track come without a price. Seeing no price on his ticket, Heller said he checked with speedway general manager Chris Powell and was told the comp was worth $174. Since that falls below the $200 reporting threshold, Heller said he did not list the gift.

Track owner Smith declined comment Tuesday, saying he didn't have enough information on the matter.

"The determination of the value is done by the track," said Heller, who races stock cars on weekends at a Carson City dirt track. "You know me, I spent more time sniffing around the garages than in the owner's box."

But Powell said Monday he has never put a value on a ticket to the owner's box. He did not deny that legislators have been guests of the track but declined comment on them not claiming receipt of the gift on their financial disclosure statements.

A track spokesman initially said he would try to give the Review-Journal a list of legislators who took the tickets, but then never followed through.

A state law also requires lobbyists employed by companies to report any gifts made to legislators during the legislative session.

The speedway retained Las Vegas lawyers Joe W. Brown and Tony Sanchez as its lobbyists. Brown reported he spent just $14.76 during the entire session on legislators, while Sanchez reported $480 in expenditures. Each had more than a dozen clients.

Parker said the speedway's lobbyists must list the gifts if they gave them to legislators or assisted the speedway in offering them.

But if Brown and Sanchez did not know the speedway on its own gave legislators the tickets, Parker said, no law was violated.

That is what happened, the lobbyists said.

"We have nothing to do with the invitations," Sanchez said. "We don't know who they invited."

Brown added: "It's up to Bruton Smith. It's none of my business."

The Legislature passed a law during the 2005 session that will exempt the speedway from the 5 percent live entertainment tax if in the future it secures a second annual NASCAR Cup race.

The primary sponsor of the bill was Senate Minority Leader Dina Titus, D-Las Vegas, who said she declined tickets to the race. Titus also said she turned down tickets to the Rolling Stones and Luis Miguel.

"I was trying to do something good for the local people and economy, but I didn't go to the race," said Titus, a candidate for governor. "I don't think it is an appropriate thing to do (accept tickets). Everyone has to make their own decision. But in politics, perception is reality, and these days the public sees politicians in the pocket of special interests."

Guinn added he has attended the NASCAR race once or twice on passes to perform ceremonial duties like welcoming the crowd to Nevada. He added he does not take tickets to events where he has no duties to perform.

Lee insisted he did not have to report the receipt of free passes to the track. He said he was offered tickets by the track, but he declined them and attended the race as a guest of a business friend. The senator owns Champion Tile, and his friend often offers him tickets to speedway events.

He maintained he did not disclose the gift on his financial disclosure statement because it had nothing to do with the fact he is a legislator.

"He sends me thousands and thousands of dollars of business," Lee said. "It is his big social thing. I could care less about racing."

A check of the law shows politicians do not have to report gifts from family members. There is no exemption, however, for a gift from a business friend.

Carlton said she did not know whether to report the pass or not because it comes without a price.

Since the gift came during the legislative session, Carlton said she thought the lobbyists should have disclosed the value on their monthly reports. "People get confused," she said. "Aren't the lobbyists supposed to report? It is very difficult for us to put a value on something if someone doesn't tell us what it is worth. I didn't sit in the owner's box this year because it was too crowded. We sat in the stands. I don't think that was over $200."