NASCAR decides NHMS will loose September race in 2018

[Trajiks9]

Thoughts on how this will effect track monies, improvements, and any future plans for NHMS?

New Hampshire Motor Speedway loses September Race Weekend to Las Vegas in 2018

[Garandman]

Hmm, same company owns both tracks....

[csmutty]

Not surprised. NH is a boring ass track.

[theducman]

Replace it with Motoamerica........










I can dream right?

[Imbeek]

Not surprised. NH is a boring ass track.

At the one nascar race I've attended, with great seats in turn 1 at nhms, I literally fell asleep. Might've had something to do with the pre game tailgating (LOL), but I've tailgated plenty of sporting events in the same way in my life and never fell asleep at any of those. Didn't witness one crash or lead change and after the initial "wow they are flying" impression wears off, it starts to all look the same in a hurry. Not surprised if there's not an endless supply of fans willing to deal with costs and traffic to watch that twice a year, every year.

[BMMCBR]

I wonder how this will affect other events and programs at NHMS.

[nhbubba]

Does this mean cheaper track-day time?!
Yeah, I didn't think so either.

[Stoneman]

From what I understand, NHMS isn't really an exciting race. Plus attendance has been so low, they've been giving away tickets like they're the plague. And it's been going on for years. When the Smiths bought the track from the Bahers, this was talked about. It was his plan from the get-go to get the second LV race by way of eliminating the second NHMS race, thus making HIM more money. If it makes Bruton more money, it makes NASCAR more money. The only surprise is that it took this long...

There's some mumblings of a trial concert there as a way to test the viability of also using it as a major concert venue as well. Loudon residents have long held steadfast against any near-capacity night-time goings on there. Hopefully they'll recognize the potential revenue loss and change their positions...

[Pittenger5]

From what I understand Nascar paid for all the costs for the track for the year, everything else was just gravy. And now with lots of competition in the area for "other events", I wonder whats gonna happen. Its not like the track will go away, but it wont be viable too much longer without another source of income methinks.

[Stoneman]

From what I understand Nascar paid for all the costs for the track for the year, everything else was just gravy. And now with lots of competition in the area for "other events", I wonder whats gonna happen. Its not like the track will go away, but it wont be viable too much longer without another source of income methinks.

It lasted for quite some time with only one major event per year. Far, far less than the events that are held besides the Cup races. There's actually a lot going on at NHMS throughout the year, including winter. I won't argue that the Cup weekends brought in a ton of visitors & money, and I'm not saying it'll be hard to make that up. But they DO have a fairly healthy schedule now during the spring/summer/fall months. Far more than they did when they only had one Cup race weekend...

[Mr. Kurtz]

The optimistic side of me says that maybe now the track will look elsewhere for revenue, maybe to the road course; either motorcycling or car racing. That could mean investments into making the road course more attractive...

[Falko]

Not surprising, this has been talked about for a long time. The track isn't great, attendance is marginal, Sept weather is unpredictable, and the teams don't like to travel up this far out of their way. Let's face it, getting to NH is a PIA if you are coming from SC. The track will stick around, I believe. The owner has several other tracks and can get by for a bit with marginal revenues until something else more appropriate comes along.

[csmutty]

At the one nascar race I've attended, with great seats in turn 1 at nhms, I literally fell asleep. Might've had something to do with the pre game tailgating (LOL), but I've tailgated plenty of sporting events in the same way in my life and never fell asleep at any of those. Didn't witness one crash or lead change and after the initial "wow they are flying" impression wears off, it starts to all look the same in a hurry. Not surprised if there's not an endless supply of fans willing to deal with costs and traffic to watch that twice a year, every year.

Same. My aunt and uncle took me one time years ago and I almost fell asleep too. Little to no passing, no crashing, and nothing remotely exciting at all.

[loudbeard]

Well this is eerily similar to what happened in my hometown of Rockingham, NC. In 2004 They cut the track from 2 races to 1 due to low attendance. Even if they sold out max capacity was nothing compared to what they could get at some of the super speedways. It continued on and bled out for several more seasons until they had their final race in 2008. It was a big let down for the county who did well off of a couple weeks of race revenue. Track was bought out by ICS in 1999 and it was down hill from there. Despite a rich racing tradition and being a favorite track of the drivers, the sport moved to where the money was. I would fully expect the same thing to happen at NHMS.

It was also an awesome time in high school, we'd skip class on Fridays and go watch qualifying and camp out for the weekend. First place I got drunk enough to get a hangover and the first time I got a handy. The drag strip right across the street is still doing exceptionally well though. When I still lived there my favorite racing event of the year was the AHDRA event in October.

If you want to read about the sad story of Rockingham Speedway.

[xrocket21]

congrats on the handy

[ZX-12R]

I wonder if next year's July race will draw a larger than usual crowd since anyone local who wants a NASCAR fix will only have the one option.

I've been to at least one race each of the past several years and have never paid a cent to get through the gate. Someone I know always has a free ticket. The crowds have been underwhelming in my book and I've always wondered how they could sustain it.

[capitalcrew]

Watkins isn't too far away really, depending one where you live in relation to nhms. That's not your typical nascar race either though.

[Trajiks9]

I believe most of the funding is in the way of corporate sponsorships. All these tickets are being comped in the form of corporations. IMO success will really be up to the marketing department on how they are going to allure these big money companies to continue to invest in the NHMS experience.
I worry that lack luster ship has already untied itself from the moorings but hasn't yet set sail. I am not into NASCAR and find NHRA a much more entertaining motosport. Selfishly, I am a fan of NASCAR in the way that it brings revenue to the local communities and to help fund track improvements.
The of love track days at NHMS and fear that this could affect the quality and any future track improvements is troublesome. C'mon warmer weather!

[daviid]

Not surprising, this has been talked about for a long time. The track isn't great, attendance is marginal, Sept weather is unpredictable, and the teams don't like to travel up this far out of their way. Let's face it, getting to NH is a PIA if you are coming from SC. The track will stick around, I believe. The owner has several other tracks and can get by for a bit with marginal revenues until something else more appropriate comes along.

Might need to invest in a map. LAS vegas is a little bit further away than New Hampshire from North Carolina.

[nhbubba]

Have you ever driven 95 from Carolina to nh?!?
Imagine doing that in a truck with a multimillion dollar race program in tow.

[daviid]

Have you ever driven 95 from Carolina to nh?!?
Imagine doing that in a truck with a multimillion dollar race program in tow.

You could say that I have considered I lived in Concord, NC for 6 years. I only moved back up here because I got tired of doing the drive every 2 weeks.

[caloots]

Not surprised. NH is a boring ass track.

Exactly.. Surprised it took this long

Sent from my Pixel using Tapatalk

[Falko]

Might need to invest in a map. LAS vegas is a little bit further away than New Hampshire from North Carolina.

Logistically, getting to NH is a PIA. Hence freight rates into New England are always higher than the rest of the country. DE, Watkins, even Poconos is a ton easier to get to than NH. Once you have to cross through NYC and the CT corridors, it can add hours. A NH race with travel and set up can demand a dedicated truck crew for that race only. Add in limited facilities and a not so great track, nobody likes to go to NH. And it isn't just the race crews, you have all of the vendor trucks, NASCAR support vehicles etc that are crunched for travel time due to location.