Bruton Smith and New Hampshire

Let me preface my comments by saying that I've never been a race in New Hampshire, so I'm just speaking as a fan who has watched a lot of New Hampshire races on TV. If I lived in New England, I would have seen some NH races, but I haven't.

I used to hate watching races at New Hampshire, to be honest with you. I remember the awful year of 2000, losing Kenny Irwin and Adam Petty there. I remember a race that Jeff Burton led from start to finish. I remember restrictor plates at the track. All that leads to bad memories and not so fun racing, at least from a television standpoint.

But I have to admit that the last few races at what will soon be known (if not already) New Hampshire Motor Speedway have been great races to watch, even on television. I know a lot of racing fans in the Northeastern part of the country and Canada love to go to the track to watch racing. Nascar has traditionally been a Southern sport, but over the years the news has spread, and we now have die hard fans in all parts of not just this country, but other countries as well.

For these reasons, I hope that Bruton Smith will not pull a North Wilkesboro on us and take even one date away from New Hampshire. If anything, I'd like to see Mr. Smith make the racing at New Hampshire even more exciting, and not subject us to yet another track date at another cookie cutter 1.5 mile tri-oval track. I love Charlotte, and I love Atlanta, and I think 1.5 milers are fun tracks to watch a race, but tracks like Martinsville, Richmond, Bristol, Darlington, and two of my favorite tracks no longer on the schedule, Rockingham and North Wilkesboro are all factors that make watching racing every week enjoyable. Dover and New Hampshire fall into that category as well. I say let's mix it up, and put more dates on short tracks.

Bruton Smith has already threatened to leave Concord, NC, and build another track elsewhere in the Charlotte area. I'd hate to see that, especially if he built another featureless 1.5 mile track that lacks Lowes' Motor Speedway's history and character. If he builds another odd ball track such as a Dover, or a Bristol, I could get over not having the old track at Charlotte.

Mr. Smith has also bulldozed the relatively new Las Vegas track and rebuilt it from the ground up recently. I think Bruton Smith has better racing and more ticket sales as his goal, but I just hope that he doesn't take away a race from the pretty little track in Loudon, New Hampshire.

An aside: I know most people don't like the thought of someone like Bruton Smith building a race track in their backyards. I happen to love it, though. I live within a mile or so of my local short track, the Anderson, SC Motor Speedway. AMS is your typical 3/8 mile bullring, and features talent from all over the SC, NC, GA area, and from places far beyond. Even when I'm not at the track, I can hear them racing on Friday nights even when my windows are closed. This does not bother me at all. In fact, I've often drifted off to sleep listening to the sweet sound of horsepower.

I'll be pulling for you, New England! The Sox won it all, and BC is doing extremely well, the Patriots are undefeated, and I hope New Hampshire will end up being another victory for you!