Last week’s announcement by Speedway Motorsports Inc. to purchase New Hampshire International Speedway could be a death blow to big-time stock car racing’s presence in the Northeast.
Just as when he bought North Carolina Motor Speedway and North Wilkesboro Speedway, SMI head Bruton Smith will no doubt take one or both dates from the Loudon, N.H., facility and shift them to other tracks within his empire.
Smith and NHIS founder Bob Bahre teamed up to buy the two historic North Carolina tracks nearly 10 years ago and quickly gobbled up their precious NASCAR Cup dates and moved them—one to New Hampshire and the other to Texas.
“I have no plans to move anything, ” Smith said when asked of his intentions. Then two seconds later he said, “But all of our plans are not in place. “
Smith understands the huge numbers and fan support of the New England area with NHIS, located about one hour north of Boston. According to the latest census numbers, more than 18 million people live within 200 miles of the speedway. Pete Pistone, SportsLine.com
To align with other SMI-owned speedway brands, the track will be renamed New Hampshire Motor Speedway following completion of the acquisition.
The speedway hosts the only NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series, NASCAR Busch Series, and NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series events held in the six-state New England region. Both NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series races regularly sell out and exceed the NFL Super Bowl in attendance.
“This is a wonderful opportunity for our company to grow our business as we continue to invest in this sport and the motorsports industry,” said Smith.
Smith added that he has offered Bob Bahre the opportunity to remain associated as a consultant with the track that he built.
New Hampshire Motor Speedway will join a strong portfolio of SMI facilities. The company also owns and operates Atlanta Motor Speedway, Bristol Motor Speedway in Bristol, Tenn., Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, Calif. ; Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Lowe’s Motor Speedway in Concord, N.C. ; and Texas Motor Speedway in Ft. Worth, Texas.
Speedway Motorsports, Inc. will promote 13 NASCAR-sanctioned Sprint (formerly NEXTEL) Cup races in 2008 and nine NASCAR-sanctioned Nationwide (formerly Busch) Series events. Combined seating for the seven SMI facilities will exceed 850,000 permanent seats. LincolnTribune.com
| 
|