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The following is a statement from New Hampshire Motor Speedway Executive Vice President and General Manager Jerry Gappens on the Speedway being omitted from the 2010 Indy Car Series Schedule. “For the second year in a row, I’m extremely disappointed for our fans that continue to hope for the return of Indy Car racing to New Hampshire Motor Speedway. |
Our discussions with series officials explored an early August date, but according to them, that turned out to be logistically challenging with the schedule commitments they had in place. Then, I offered to run on the traditional Milwaukee date if they decided not to return to that venue. The feedback I received on that option was that they were concerned about our ability to sell tickets three weeks out from our NASCAR LENOX Industrial Tools 301 weekend. That, in my opinion, was an insult to our team here at New Hampshire Motor Speedway and Speedway Motorsports. I assured them that we have the ability to promote and have a pretty good track record of selling tickets here. In fact, I told them that we would promote June as the “Month of Speed” in New Hampshire, opening with the Indy Cars, followed by the 87th Annual Loudon Classic/Laconia Bike Week, and finishing with NASCAR. I think it would have created a lot of synergy. Unfortunately, they didn’t give me that opportunity.
What troubles me, as much as being left off of next year’s schedule, is that they are exploring an option of racing in the parking lot at Gillette Stadium (home of the New England Patriots) in 2012, right here in our back yard. That would be a real slap in the face.
We have a real speedway that produces great racing, located in the seventh largest media market in the country, offers 93,000 grandstand seats, and a dedicated staff that knows how to promote racing and sell tickets.
For the past two years, we have made a concerted effort to bring Indy Car racing back to New England. Unfortunately, that interest has not been reciprocated.”
Our take on this is that the IRL is missing an opportunity to get back into a one-mile track, where Indy Car racing puts on the best racing shows, in the Boston/New England market. The IRL idea about Gillette Stadium in 2012 in Foxborough, MA is short sighted. The chance of success at a temporary circuit, that has to be constructed and then torn down every year, is slim because it’s not very cost effective. Temporary street circuits have very little success around the country. We can cite several of them that have gone by the wayside. Take Denver, CO as a prime example CART/CCWS tried it twice and both times it flopped. We realize that Long Beach, CA has a good record of longevity and it has some history. The St. Petersburg, FL event is still trying to build a following of fans. It has a reasonable chance of success because it comes at the right time of year when a lot of Snow Birds and race fans are still in the Sunshine State trying to dodge the winter in the northern climates.
We understand that the IRL is reluctant to return to NHMS because it didn’t work there before. That’s because NHMS tried it after the big split in Indy Car racing which impacted both the IRL and CART camps because both sides were stubborn and refused to reunite in one of this sports biggest power struggles. CART and then CCWS both paid the price by going bankrupt. It’s also been said that it cost Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the IRL in the vicinity of $500 million, to keep the IRL afloat, and this ultimately cost Tony George his job as the head of IMS. There were really no winners in this 12-year hissing contest.
While New England, New York State and Canadian race fans can’t identify with many of the IRL drivers, Ontario’s Paul Tracy is an exception for the Canadians, at least. An undercard of USAC Silver Crown, USAC Sprint Cars, IMSA Super Modifieds and the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour could be the key to success at NHMS. Because there are plenty of drivers that New England, New York and Canadians can relate too. Consider the old Copper Classic format at the Phoenix Intl. Raceway in AZ that combined all of these divisions, qualifying on Saturday and the feature events on Sunday. We, and others, feel that the Copper Classic format has a reasonable chance of success at NHMS. (END)
