Oh, in case you missed it, Bruton Smith announced last week that he finalized his deal with Bob and Gary Bahre. For $340 million, he's now the owner of the 1.058-mile facility in Loudon, N.H. -- the track that will host 2 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series events this season.Jerry Gappens officially assumed his role of general manager of New Hampshire Motor Speedway, the track's new name.
Yeah, I reported that back in November, like everybody else. I also reported that Gappens was the GM a couple of weeks later. Jokingly, a friend of mine told another friend of mine that I must be behind the times -- because I didn't have anything last week on the blog about the "official" announcement.
OK, now that I've mentioned it all -- again -- do I get a ribbon?
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The new Dale Earnhardt Jr. was on display at Daytona International Speedway this week, and he's apparently fitting in quite nicely at Hendrick Motorsports. 
Not only was his No. 88 Chevrolet Impala fast in single-car runs during testing at DIS, but he's also taken on the Hendrick personality of refraining from saying anything incendiary.
It's no secret that the rest of the Cup garage has been chasing Hendrick for the last couple of seasons -- and with the COT's debut last season, it became ever more apparent. Now that Junior's in a Hendrick COT, he still wouldn't call out DEI for inferior performance.
"I mean, I really was proud of where I came from and proud of the team that I had last year, and it's hard for me to really put into words without...," Junior said of the difference in the two organizations before stopping himself. "I'd rather -- I choose really not to discuss it that often because I don't want anyone that I've worked with in the past to get the impression that I am in a much better place and much more happier and I've got better people, because it really just comes down to the tools and how you use them."
It's exactly the kind of answer you'd expect from Earhardt, though it's hard to buy that he's not happier now than he was working for his stepmother, whom he had a rocky relationship with.
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Doug White, owner of Wiscasset Raceway, may be one of the few people in the area excited about SMI's purchase of New Hampshire Motor Speedway. In fact, he went so far as to say he's hoping Bruton Smith does sell off the track's 2 annual Cup dates -- the sooner the better.As a short track promoter in the area, White knows that if a Cup facility goes belly-up, it leaves racing fans on the lookout for action somewhere. He knows that staying home and watching Cup races on TV only takes you so far, and eventually people want to get out to the track.
Like other promoters in Maine and New Hampshire, he certainly will keep a keen eye on what goes on in Loudon. The loss of NASCAR racing in New England would hurt the overall picture, but short track racing would get a boost.
Either way, we're putting cart way before the horse with any discussion of NHMS Cup dates -- or a lack thereof...
10 comments:
Way to make friends and influence people, Doug. That's a bit like the local Yugo dealer hoping that the Ford dealer will go broke or die so he can sell more Yugos.
I can't see how elminating 2 weekends in central NH is going to help a track in coastal Maine that has had decades of issues, no matter who owned the place. Losing dates at Rockingham, North Wilkesboro, and Darlington has not really put attendance at Carolinas short tracks throught the roof.
Good point !! I'd actually like to see a story about how the local short tracks near N. Wilkseboro or Rockingham for example were affected by thier closings. My guess is that that they were not really affected much one way or the other.
Doug White isn't the only promoter in New England that I've heard express that sentiment.
I've yet to hear any New England promoter wish for an expanded shedule of big events at NHMS, nor have I heard one promoter express any displeasure at the possibility of NASCAR weekends leaving the region.
Apparently (as we've learned from another Maine racing blog) sometimes the truth is better left unsaid.
Do you all understand how many former short track racing sponsors pulled out and redirected their money to suites and hospitality tents at NHIS Cup races over the course of the last fifteen years? For example: New Hampshire Distributors used to be one of the, if not the, biggest short track racing sponsors, with Budweiser-sponsored events at just about every short track in their territory along with a Busch North Series team, but all of it was gone when NHIS opened.
Any short track promoter within three or four hours of NHMS would probably be better off if those Cup dates disappeared.
Hard for me to believe that WMMP, Star, and any other short track within an hour or so of NHMS with a decent Saturday night program is going to do better on the two Loudon dates without the extra 100,000 + people the Cup races pull in.
ACT & PASS get a noticeable increase at the front gate at WMMP when the Cuppers are in town. Same goes for the Thursday night show at Thunder Road before the 1st NHMS race of the year in July. I’d guess a race like the Oxford 250 also gets some lift from race fans looking to extend their vacations after Loudon too.
Another benefit is that with the Cup racers in New England that puts a lot of Cup drivers in the local race tracks backyard. Think you’d see Kyle Busch in a Pro Stock at Star if he had to race at Chicago or Kansas the next day?
The local race tracks struggling to put 200 or 300 fans in the grandstands every week aren’t going to suddenly become success stories if the Cup dates at NHMS go away. The problems of struggling race tracks will need to be corrected from within, and no better example of that is Wiscasset which has struggled mightily with several operators (many of whom came and went before there even was an NHMS).
If I was Doug White, I wouldn’t count my chickens yet, I have a feeling Burton Smith is in NHMS for the long haul and I don’t see either date leaving the track soon.
Local promoters are kidding themselves if they think Cup dates are their competition. Cup races are like a vacation, something a little expensive you do a couple times a year. Local racing is regular entertainment, something you do several times a month. Here are some problems that tracks should be addressing before they lay blame on NASCAR.
1.You are competing for you local area(withing about an hour)entertainment dollar. I they the Maine tracks think NHMS is an issue, they better hope someone drops a bomb on Hadlock Field, because the Portland Sea Dogs sold over 400,000 tickets again last year. That is more than the combined fan total for BOTH Loudon Cup weekends. When you add in 3 other teams from New England playing in the same league as the Sea Dogs with a bigger team like the Pawtucket Red Sox, and smaller teams in other local cities, you are looking at well over a million tickets being sold at prices comparable(and often cheaper) than the local tracks. And the these TEAMS promote, just not open the gates like most track do now. Outside of the Pawtucket team, most of these clubs were not around until the early 90's. You can't rely on things you did 30 years ago.
2.Speaking of not being able to do things like 30 years ago, Saturday night is not a lock for tracks like it was in 70's. Back in the days of 3 TV stations and not much else networks could run hit shows like the Jeffersons, Mary Tyler Moore, Bob Newhart, Carrol Burnett, All in the Family, and Kung Fu on Saturday night while getting huge ratings. Now they are reduced to running repeats of shows that air on other nights of the week, reruns of a moving they have shown 15 times, news shows, or shows that are dirt cheap to produce like COPS and America's Most wanted. There are many more options than before. There are several blockbuster movies coming out each weekend during the summer, as compared to perhaps one a month a few decades ago. If they weather is iffy, it does not rain in a movie cinema or in your living room if you buy/rent a DVD. Since some tracks draw fans to midweek shows, why not try a Friday or Thursday for the weekly show? If you have 5 tracks in a state of barely 1 million people all trying to survive, perhaps a change is needed. Thompson and Thunder Road run Thursdays. Once you leave New England and get towards NY, PA, and the Midwest tons of places run Fridays. I still believe that Wiscassett had it's best years the first few season's St Clair took over and they ran Friday night. Not only could they get the local area fans, they also got fans who went to other tracks on Saturday's and were dying to see more than one race a weekend.(like me)
3a. Marathon shows are not a great idea. Most people don't mind spending a long day at the track a few times a year for special events like the Oxford 250, Thompson World Series, or the Beech Ridge PASS weekend. You know what you are getting into before you decide to go. However, when you have 3 divisions for 4 cylinder cars, a couple type of Street Stocks, a couple variations of Pro Stocks/Late Models/Modifieds, with sometimes a youth division thrown all running heats, a finish time of before 11pm is not likely. If there are only 10 cars in some classes and the rules are somewhat close, you should probably combine or just drop a class. 24 cars vs. 10 cars is just more appealing to watch. It also will help get everyone home at a reasonable hour.
3b.This is for race teams and might be hard to swallow. The local race track is competitive entertainment, not just paid track time to play with your toys. There is a definite pecking order, no matter if everyone pays the same to get in. It has always been that way. The lower divisions will always get less to win, run a shorter feature, and perhaps not run heats. When you go to a boxing card, the first matches might 4 rounds, with the main event being 10 or 12, despite the fact the guys opening the show are getting punched in the face too. If you want 9 divisions a week, some with less than 10 cars, with rules almost being the same for separate classes so people can have "space to learn" and equal track time, the SCCA holds club racing at NHMS and Lime Rock Park. No fan in their right mind will sit through something like that unless they really think "more is better."
4a. You have to keep the show moving, even there are yellows. Unless someone is hurt, there is a large fire, or a 20 car pileup a caution you should not drag on. There places like Thompson and Lebanon Valley who do an amazing job of getting some pretty badly wrecked cars off the track quickly. On the other hand, some places you would think calling roadside assistance would get the car towed faster or they are using a wrecker for the first time. Also, still having guys walking around the track with a bucket of speedy dry in not acceptable. Seekonk is the all time Hall of Fame offender in these categories. I mean they talk about what innovator Anthony Vendetti was when he lived, the track has a full size street sweeper they like to bring out for no reason between some features other than the show is running too quickly, but they have yet to step into the 1970's and put a speedy dry spreader on the back of truck. They don't have enough wreckers either. I once saw a large wreck where several cars hit the wall there, by the time they were hooking up the last car, the first few cars that were towed in had been repaired and returned to the back of the pack.
4b.You can't let lunatic drivers take over the show. This is mostly aimed at southern New England tracks. Anytime guys like Jim Silvia or Chris Jones get near a pit gate at Seekonk/Stafford they should be shot with a tranquilizer dart. When you have guys that seem more interested in performing blatant takeouts, often under yellow, you probably should not let them in. Someday they will legit injure or kill someone. As it is now, they alone sometimes contribute to 30 minutes of track clean up and police intervention. At least places like Beech Ridge or Oxford, if a person does something really idiotic, they will gone for quite a while. However, other tracks will let guys back pretty quickly from a "lifetime ban"(like couple weeks) because they have big local sponsor or their retard family accounts for 50 fans a week.
-JMB
Sure, Thunder Road had a great crowd with Kenny Wallace in the field and a $9 front gate ticket last June 28. The fact that it happened to be on the Thursday prior to the Cup race probably made it more convenient to book Wallace, but before there was ever a Cup weekend in Loudon Thunder Road had occasionally flown Cuppers in from other venues and packed the house. The fact that it was three days before a Cup race at NHIS is largely irrelevant.
White Mountain's attendance probably gets a nice boost from the NHIS weekends, but if you look at the whole New England picture you'll find that there aren't too many racetracks having better than average nights at the front gate when NASCAR is in New Hampshire. Less than 10% of New England's racetracks benefit from that weekend - a couple change their race night that week and a couple don't even open up. (On the other hand, Beech Ridge prints money by giving the oval trackers a night off in favor of 'Day of Destruction')
With the exception of a small (and shrinking) number of traditional spring and fall special events, most of these racetracks depend upon 10-12 weekends during the summer (when school isn't in session) to make or break them. For example, Thunder Road has scheduled 11 night races for the 2008 season.
For most New England tracks that NHIS weekend takes about 10% of its prime time schedule with that first race. There is no 'home run' potential on most NHIS Cup weekends for these tracks, with four NASCAR touring series attracting many weekly short track fans from throughout the region. Even if only 10% of the fans at NHIS are regularly at a local short track on most weekends it would be enough to put 500-700 more people, on average, into every short track in the region.
Race fans on a budget that attend NHIS frequently visit short tracks less often after spending several times what they'd part with at the local bullring to see the big boys.
In my earlier post I wasn't trying to imply that seeing the Cup races go bye-bye would save local short track racing. Tell me I'm wrong in assuming that NHIS fans on a budget aren't going to less short track races. Tell me I'm wrong in assuming that New England's short track promoters wouldn't like having that June/July weekend free of competition from NHIS. Tell me that I'm wrong in assuming that tracks like All-Star, Lee and Hudson wouldn't mind getting that Budweiser money that stopped coming when NHIS was built (remember Earnhardt vs. Richmond in the Budweiser Showdown at Hudson?). Now tell me how more than a couple of local short track operators are better off with NHMS close by.
I'm assuming, after all, that a couple of people misinterpreted the final paragraph of my earlier comment:
Any short track promoter within three or four hours of NHMS would probably be better off if those Cup dates disappeared.
I still believe it's a true statement, with the possible exception of WMMP, as Andy mentioned. "Better off" wasn't intended to be interpreted as "hit the jackpot."
The guy who owns a 60-seat seafood restaurant down the street from Newick's was probably better off when that 500-seater closed, but he isn't going to hit the jackpot without hard work and good food. That situation ain't all that much different.
And Andy, seriously, how many people do you think are hanging around New England for three weeks after the Loudon Cup race to see the Oxford 250?
Hey, JMB:
While at least one blogging promoter brings up the Sea Dogs, etc., as examples of increased competition, perhaps race promoters should also notice the whole entertainment package that goes along with these ballgames.
Now I haven't been to too many minor league baseball games as I'm a little bit too busy during racing season, but I do know that minor league hockey teams work hard to make the fan's visit a total entertainment experience with no 'dead air time' between periods or even during the delays for radio and television commercial breaks. Most of these teams give away dozens of free t-shirts or other promotional items on a nightly basis, and they are smart enough to cater to the kids. Utilizing their announcers, sound system and in some cases, video scoreboard, they work extremely hard to provide a positive, fun atmosphere - something that longtime racers and fans notice has disappeared from some once-great racetracks in Northern New England.
Kids abound at these games, and they aren't going to these games alone. With the exception of Beech Ridge, the local track operator's m.o. in Northern New England is pretty much open the gates and put racecars on the track. In other words, almost exactly what was being done 30 years ago.
The fact that other sports franchises/venues work harder to attract and keep their fans than the racetracks do should be obvious. Instead of pointing at these baseball teams as the reason for their decline, maybe a few of these promoters ought to look a little bit longer at how and why these other sports entrepeneurs are more successful.
I was kind of tired when I made my post, so I forgot to add the part about what the minor league teams do to keep things lively, like Marco added. There is always something going on during the down time. This is not just with baseball, but with the minor league hockey as well. Whether it be throwing/shooting t-shirts to the crowd, some type of mascot for the kids, plus some other occasional promotions. And although things like this used to be considered "bush league" for big time sports, the Celtics were started pushing stuff like this in the previous few seasons.(when they were not winning and tickets were easy get) Besides Beech Ridge, Lebanon Valley is a track that does tons of great stuff . They do the t-shirt deal, have announcers constantly down in the pits giving updates/interviews between just about every heat or feature, have Monster Truck that gives kids a ride around the track before the Modified feature, and often end the race card with a type of enduro or demo derby. The track gets really strong weekly crowds. It seems on a BAD night the 50/50 jackpot is easily over $1,500. And the food is cheap, with lines really organized and fast moving.
JMB
Oxford may not get much of a bump from the Loudon crowd now, but I think they certainly did when they had the 250 scheduled the week following Loudon (which I think was the case for their '04 record breaking crowd. I think Stafford & Thompson are two other tracks that know how to play the Cup race to their advantage. Hell, Devil's Bowl competes just about directly against Loudon and they get a great crowd (just like every other race there).
I really question how many sponsors’ tracks like Hudson, All-Star and TSS are losing to NHMS. Not to say that companies they may have once been involved with haven't gone on to bigger and better things, but how many companies want to be involved with a facility that can't produce timely & professional press releases, let alone a well run show that draws several thousand people. The number of advertisers willing to be involved with a show drawing only a couple hundred folks is pretty limited. I don’t think the Cup races at NHMS going away are going to change that. Until some of these speedways operate in a more professional manner, they are going to have a difficult time attracting sponsors. Many of the struggling tracks are really competing against their own image, they just don’t realize it.
For the most part, the attendance at struggling tracks is pretty much flat line for the whole season, if regulars were really saving their pennies for Loudon shouldn’t there be a jump before and after the Cup races, especially considering how many long time race fans have been turned off by NASCAR in the last couple of years? Case in point, I work with several people who used to make both races at NHMS and planned them as family camping events. They got rid of their tickets a year or two ago and don’t go to any more local races now than when they had the Cup tickets.
From what I have seen, the successful tracks make Cup weekend work for them, while the poorly run tracks struggle on those weekends just like they do the rest of the season.
I’m no fan of Cup racing or NHMS in particular, but from my seat the local race track struggles can’t be blamed on Loudon Cup races, those same tracks will then turn around and say they can’t compete against televised races. Off hand, I can’t think of a well run race track that struggles to pull in good crowds when the weather is nice – Cup race or no Cup in NH to compete against.
One point that I did not see addressed in the prior posts was the amount of money it costs to go to Loudon. How much for a Cup weekend for an average family $500? $1,000?
If they did not spend their money at Loudon, would they be more inclined to spend it at the short tracks?
I agree with a couple of the posters that talk about how we have to be more like the minor league baseball teams. Over the past few years, we have copied much of what I have seen from going to baseball and hockey games. From the t-shirt tosses to the mascot to the contests that we have run, you need to provide entertainment both from the racing and from the added attractions.
We are all faced with a ton of competition and need to work every week to stand out.
One thing that is uniquely terrible about racing is the demonization of drivers and track and series promoters. I honestly think you should have your head examined if you want to buy a race track. For the first year or two everyone loves you, for the next thirty years they hate you, when you leave they love you again. Why would anyone new want to become a fan of our sport when so many participants, both teams, fans and "media" members do nothing but drag those that organize the races through the mud?
A different subject, but one that intrigues me every time I see a post or article bashing one of my contemporaries.
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