Last July, it was a last-lap pass that brought a first superspeedway victory for a veteran NASCAR Busch East Series driver at New Hampshire International Speedway. Mike Olsen drove his No. 61 Chevrolet to a slim victory over Sean at the finish-line.Caisse had led the previous 84 laps, but Olsen set up his last-turn-of-the-last-lap surge perfectly.
"I was pretty happy," Olsen said. "It’s no secret that I’ve been trying to do that for quite a while. Then to do it on the last lap of the last corner was pretty awesome. Gosh, I felt really happy. I felt like I had fulfilled a goal of mine. As anybody who fulfills a goal in their life knows, that’s a pretty cool feeling."
The win played a major part in his team’s already rolling momentum toward its second series championship. Olsen and the Little Trees team, based in nearby North Haverhill, N.H., arrived at NHIS hot off their victory a week earlier at a half-mile track in Northeast, Pa., where he and Caisse had also battled to a one-two finish.
"Momentum was on our side," Olsen said. "It was still a tight (points) battle all the way, but we kept the lead in the points from there on out."
As he climbed from his car in Victory Lane, he could hear the vocal cheers his "home turf" fans.
"You can definitely hear the crowd there. The track’s not far from my shop, so we have a lot of fans there, and a lot of fans of my grandfather (New England Auto Racers Hall of Fame member Stub Fadden) … they knew what it was all about and how long we had been trying to win there. It was definitely a pretty cool feeling. We’d like to be able to do that again, for sure. It was exciting for the fans, too, which is what it’s all about. If the series puts on good races for them, they’ll want to come back and be part of it."
Preparation in the race shops will be a big part of race day success in the New England 125. June 28 qualifying is preceded by one 90-minute practice session. Teams will have more than two hours to make final adjustments between practice and qualifying.
Veteran NASCAR Busch East Series drivers have always appreciated the opportunity to race at NHIS. The Bahre family, led by Bob Bahre and his son, Gary, built the Loudon track without guarantee of any NASCAR-sanctioned races, but hosted the original NASCAR Busch North Series as many as six times in a single season when they operated a .333-mile paved oval in Oxford, Maine, helping establish the series. Later, in 1990 when NHIS opened, they hosted as many as four events in a single season to help grow the series into a division that has become a destination series for some, and a driver development series for others.
"The Bahre family and Bob and Gary supported us very heavily with their track in Maine," Olsen said. "They did whatever they could do to make the series work. When they built Loudon, they made sure we were included in all the big weekend events there. That’s huge for us to race in front of a crowd that size when the Cup cars are there."
Drivers also appreciate the race purses that their events at NHIS offer. The New England 125 has posted awards of $221,048. The prize money is important, but the Bahres’ relationship with the series drivers goes beyond the business of racing.
"Bob and Gary are very thoughtful and have always taken care of the competitors very well. They are very good to the people in our series," Olsen said.
Olsen is the reigning NASCAR Busch East Series "Milestone Man." Among active full-time drivers, he leads the series in many categories: longevity, now in his 19th consecutive season; starts, 274 entering Loudon; consecutive starts, 190 entering Loudon; money won, $1,146,114 entering Loudon. He’s won plenty of awards in the series in addition to his 2001 and 2006 championships: 1993 Most Improved Driver; 2001 Busch Pole Award champion and Most Popular Driver Award winner, and was a 2006 AARWBA All-American Racing Team nominee in the Touring Series category.
-- courtesy NASCAR PR
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