NHIS news....

[wookie]

I don't know NASCAR, but assuming you can expand the number of races then it seems like NHIS will keep its races.

It is not like all the NE fans are going to fly to las vegas if they move a race to las vegas. If they can fill the stands in las vegas for a new race then can sill fill the stands in NH for the current races.

[wookie]

I guess I mean "NHMS" instead of NHIS...looks like someone should buy NHMS.com

[Doc]

It is already taken.

[Johnny B]

I don't know NASCAR, but assuming you can expand the number of races......

You can't.

(Hi, Di!)

[BostonSVkid]

For those of you making assumptions about Nascar I was an avid follower for 13 or 14 years so I have a pretty good idea what I am talking about. NHIS or NHMS will have at LEAST one race stripped in 2009 and if not both by 2010.

[rjh200]

Folks this is pretty simple. Even though NHIS sells out 110k+ for two races a year it can not generate the revenue that Texas and LV can bring in as far as sponsors etc. What they will work to do is strip one of the races and have it go to Las Vegas and the other race will be swapped with the Texas track. NHIS currently has two very Key Nascar races that have huge revenue potential and by moving those to larger markets they pretty much double the earnings. This makes it so that NHIS could sit unused for a time being and still be worth while to the new owner. However, the track still sells out over 110k every race and does have a strong following in the area. If they add more seating it will continue to sell out race after race especially if there is only one race a year. What this means is improvements to the track being better amenities and more grandstands. Which very well could mean the end of the road course as we know it but very unlikely to mean the end of NASCAR in the NE. So only time will tell how it will affect us track goers but it does not look good.

[TTD]

Before they do that...

I'd rather they just take the Nascar races and leave.

Let a "road course" developer buy the track and make it into a real roadcourse.

The "vir" of New England, so to speak. Everything Tamworth was supposed to be.

[daviid]

Charlotte Observer | 11/02/2007 | Smith paying $340 million for N.H. speedway

Smith paying $340 million for N.H. speedway
DAVID POOLE
dpoole@charlotteobserver.com

Apart from confirming he has paid $340 million in cash to purchase New Hampshire International Speedway, Speedway Motorsports chairman Bruton Smith said little else that can be considered firm today.

"I have no plans to move anything," Smith said at a news conference confirming the purchase, held at Texas Motor Speedway. But, virtually with the same breath, he also said, "I've had it for less than a week, so all of our plans are not in place."

Smith deflected questions about whether his purchase of the track from Bob and Gary Bahre means that he will, as soon as 2009, move one of the New Hampshire dates to the SMI track in Las Vegas.

But Smith has repeatedly said he wants a second Cup date in Las Vegas, and under NASCAR's "realignment" doctrine the easiest way to make that happen would be to move a date there from another track in his portfolio.

When the deal for what will be called New Hampshire Motor Speedway closes in the first quarter of 2008, SMI will add that to Lowe's Motor Speedway at Charlotte, Texas Motor Speedway, Atlanta Motor Speedway, Bristol Motor Speedway, Las Vegas Motor Speedway and Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, Calif.

"Don't be nervous,"� Smith said when asked if fans in New England should be anxious about the future of the 1-mile track in Loudon, N.H. "Our goal will be to make it better."

Smith pointed to expansions and renovations at Bristol and Las Vegas when asked about what he might do to his newest property. But when Smith bought tracks in North Wilkesboro and Rockingham in North Carolina, he moved Cup races to other tracks and those tracks eventually shut down.

Smith recently sold the Rockingham track, but as part of the deal announced Friday he is now the full owner of the North Wilkesboro track. Bob Bahre had owned 50 percent of that defunct facility.

"I offered to give it to Bob for Christmas," Smith joked, speaking of North Wilkesboro. "He said, 'Go to hell.' "

Smith also said the New Hampshire deal has no bearing on a pending decision about whether to relocate Lowe's Motor Speedway away from Concord. Smith has said he is considering such a move after a dispute with Concord over his plans to build a drag strip on the property at the track's current location

[daviid]

eee.. who cares about Nascar anyway.... just leaves more days for track days, itsnot like they can pick up that track and move it somewheres else

You really dont understand what a nascar race brings to the local economy. i live about 1 mile from Lowes MotorSpeedway. Local business revenue increases 175 million for 3 weekends a year.

bruton wants the best of everything. He built a 15 million dollar dirt track right across the street from the main speedway. no other dirt track in the country can match how nice this place is.

now as far as the city of concord not wanting the drag strip. its a bunch of crybabies who bought their homes less then 1/4 mile from the track. all these houses have been built in the last 10 years while the track was built in the 60s. the land for the track was also zoned as "Racing Purposes" granting Bruton Smith the ability to build whatever he wanted. the town illegally rezoned his property to industrial when prop owners started crying that it will be too loud for a drag strip. these jackasses live less then a quarter mile from the track which is used everyday. i can hear it from my house clearly 1.5 miles away.

[ultraTwist]

What I heard is that he wants the Sept date for Texas, that should allow the Texas date to sell out, it does not now. And then he wants a second date for Las Vegas, so he'll move the late Texas date to Vegas. I don't know why he wants the second Vegas date so badly, something about making more money. Or maybe it has to do with weather and the late race.

[SVRACER01]

What this means is improvements to the track being better amenities and more grandstands. Which very well could mean the end of the road course as we know it but very unlikely to mean the end of NASCAR in the NE. So only time will tell how it will affect us track goers but it does not look good.

i agree. more grandstands, better garages, better infeild. possibly end of roadcourse. or maybe just that roadcourse. LVMS has the NASCAR track with an infield roadcourse but it also has the "classic" course on the property (about 50yards from the tunnel to the oval infield) and that track is nice. so nice in fact that they can run it forwards or backwards with different layouts and a recent improvement/extension of the track within the past 10 years. in other words: maybe we will get a new one

[Pittenger5]

I like the old one though, its what makes Loudon Loudon. Course, Ill take damn near anything cause Loudon is nice and close.

[Crash Dummy Denno]

Before they do that...

I'd rather they just take the Nascar races and leave.

Let a "road course" developer buy the track and make it into a real roadcourse.

The "vir" of New England, so to speak. Everything Tamworth was supposed to be.

god that would be nice

if i had 400 million dollars i'd do it

[Doc]

in other words: maybe we will get a new one

Dream on. I'll pray too but I am not holding my breath... I mean where would they put it?

[Crash Dummy Denno]

I like the old one though, its what makes Loudon Loudon. Course, Ill take damn near anything cause Loudon is nice and close.

i said that even after going to other tracks.... then I went to VIR.... now im not so sure

[Pittenger5]

Well, when people from out of state ask if I actually ride a motorcycle in Boston, I say, yah, why not. If I can ride there I can ride anywhere.
Likewise, from what I hear (ive only been to loudon) if I can get around Loudon in a timely fashion, I figure I can go anywhere.

[CMG241]

god that would be nice

if i had 400 million dollars i'd do it

Not that nearly that much once Nascar is gone...

[rjh200]

Once nascar is gone you will be able to buy the place for well under $100 mill, then put another hundred to drop the oval and make a true road course.

[Honclfibr]

Once nascar is gone you will be able to buy the place for well under $100 mill, then put another hundred to drop the oval and make a true road course.

You're right, that *would* be much faster than trying to flush $200 mill down the toilet.

[OreoGaborio]

You're right, that *would* be much faster than trying to flush $200 mill down the toilet.

I dunno, i've done that a couple times... depending on the toilet & what size bills the 200 mil is in, you can get it to go down pretty quick. The trick is large bills, a slow feed into the bowl & multiple flushes... can't do it all at once.

[Doc]

Time to start up a collection.

I am in for 20k.

[McBiggity]

LRRS Will Continue In 2008, After Sale Of New Hampshire International Speedway News Article // RoadracingWorld.com

[Doc]

That is good... what about 2009-10-11...?

[OreoGaborio]

You mean you haven't emailed Bob Bahre himself yet?

[Doc]

Not yet

I was hoping he would post up here.