According to a report in today's Boston Globe, New Hampshire International Speedway is being sold.Globe racing writer Michael Vega says that NHIS owner Bob Bahre has reached an agreement with Bruton Smith to sell the track. Smith, under the guise of Speedway Motorsports Inc., already has 6 tracks encompassing 10 Nextel Cup Series race dates.
NHIS officials, according to Vega's story, said there's nothing to report. Still, a press conference could come as early as Friday with news of an official sale.
If Smith gets control of NHIS, the fear is that Cup racing will leave New England. Smith desperately wants to add a 2nd race at his Las Vegas facility, and it's unlikely that NHIS would continue to hold its place as both the 1st race of the Chase and the 1st race in the "Race to the Chase."
5 comments:
I can not believe Gary bahre would not want ot continue what his father built......
Komet
Looks like everything has come full circle. Bob Bahre and Bruton Smith bought out North Wilksboro so they could shut down the track and share the Nextel Cup dates. Now Bruton buys NHIS so he can grab the fall date for his own track.
It won't happen this year because the 2008 schedule is probably 90 percent locked in. But look out in 2009.
Lesson learned: Live by the buyout, die by the buyout.
Gary and Bob have stated publicly on more than one occasion that Gary has no interest in running the speedway once his father is out...
I see NHIS only having one race in 2009 and beyond and that is the June/July race. Mr Moneybags Smith is going to get his way again. Another stupid cookie-cutter track on the schedule and the 4th in the "Chase" if this happens. That is part of the reason NASCAR's ratings are down all the time because they are getting away from the tracks that have their own distinct features and going to these tracks that all look the same.
They might as well race all 36 races at Lowe's and call it the NASCAR Weekly Racing Series...Maybe Smith would be happy then...Oh wait, he is having trouble with the city because he decided to start building a drag strip without proper city approval first...hmm...
Hopefully Bob puts some sort of stipulation in the buyout contract so that Smith can't just dump and run. Bob has been known to look out for his past endeavors during buyouts...hopefully the same holds true for the future of NHIS.
I think NHIS will be in better hands than when Bob Bahre sold OPS to Mike Liberty.
NHIS probably won't keep both Cup dates, but in truth many Cup supporters don't like running at NHIS twice a year anyway. Support for the NHIS races has been fading some too. The waiting list for Cup race tickets is non-existent today.
Bob has certianly put in his time in the racing industry and earned a little "vacation time".
Well done Bob!
Post a Comment