Motor Sports: NHMS gearing up - New ownership prepares for first Cup race

They call it New Hampshire Motor Speedway for a reason. New England's largest sports facility with 100,000 seats is on the move making news.

Since Speedway Motorsports Inc. and its aggressive chairman Bruton Smith bought the Loudon track for a whopping $340 million, exciting news has been swirling around the Magic Mile at a record pace.

First came the possible, now probable, return of Indy car racing to New Hampshire. Then last weekend the speedway's new general manager, Jerry Gappens, said he is willing to make changes "within reason" toward the return of North America's top professional motorcycle racers to re-ignite the Loudon Classic.

Now the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series heads to the Granite State next weekend for the first of two annual stock car racing Super Bowls here. And Gappens' voice is hoarse assuring everyone this state will not lose either of those Cup dates.

And why would it? He is expecting another sellout in a streak of 26 at the track, which is the only speedway hosting NASCAR's top series in the New England and New York markets.

Gappens has made the race a 301-lap event (as opposed to 300) and that raises racing questions. Will it or will it not make a difference in strategy? He's added an "economic incentive" plan for fans that will pay one mortgage for the remainder of the year and fill up 20 fans' gas tanks a whole bunch of times. The speedway has been spruced up with new paint, signage, widened walkways, improved public address system and more restrooms. More to come.

"We are in the very early stages of the first phase of improvements to our facility," said Gappens, a 25-year veteran in the industry. "As Bruton likes to say, We'll make enough changes, you're bound to like some of them.' "

The biggest change is all this news geared toward making NHMS something bigger and better than what it has been, the largest city in New Hampshire two weekends a year.

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MOTORCYCLE RACING SAFETY at NHMS is a serious matter and safety director Jerry Wood provided an update at the end of this year's Loudon Classic, which had no serious accidents.

For a return of high-level pro racing here there will need to be safety improvements and Wood agreed. He noted that Turn 1 of the 1.6-mile road course, which is at the end of the NASCAR speedway's front straight, was redesigned after a pair of serious accidents there in 1998 AMA racing.

Wood admitted that in 1998 "Turn 1 was a scary place."

"When Thomas Wilson (Harley-Davidson rider) fell in Turn 1 he hit a seam between the speedway turn and the road course turn, a pavement transition. His brakes had come apart and he went into the wall. It was a freak crash, a mechanical failure."

Wilson's career ended as a result of serious injuries from the crash into the speedway's outside retaining wall.

Wood continued: "At the end of qualifying (Superbikes) Miguel Duhamel stayed hard into Turn 1. The flag was out. It was starting to rain and all the other riders pulled into the pits. But Miguel thought he could get another lap in without traffic. He hit the pavement change and went into the wall."

Duhamel's season was ended from his serious injuries. He made a heroic return to racing the following season.

"It was a horror show," said Wood. "Terrible all the way around. We looked like buffoons."

The AMA sent out a committee and we changed the whole angle of Turn 1. The guy was Tom Kipp, who really helped us. Turn 1 was completely redesigned. Since that time we've been buying more and more air fence every year. We added more this year.

"Mat Mladin (multi-time Superbike champ and Loudon Classic winner) thinks that stuff is all (expletive) and he doesn't agree with it. Economics do not allow for European spec tracks in America. Mat wants tracks built to specs with a load of run off and gravel traps.

"And on the other hand, promoters need to race rain or shine. We need to guarantee for fans and track owners that we're going to have a race.

"Granted we can make the place better, but it's not the dark horse (Mladin) is making it out to be. He's not giving us credit for the changes. We're doing the times here without incidents that they (AMA factory riders) were doing here."

Wood's son, Jeff, rode some 1:11s at Loudon in the past two weeks in competition in the 600 SuperSport class. That is cooking on this twisty, demanding course.

Interview requests for Duhamel and Jamie Hacking, who is a member of the AMA Rider Safety Council for Road Racing, were not returned.

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NHMS ROAD COURSE CHANGES? Wood foresees the addition of more air fence. Possibly the addition of more pavement out of Turn 2 so that the angle of exit from the turn onto the superspeedway's back straight can occur without "driving at the wall." Possibly moving and widening the exit and returns to the speedway's back straight. There is also a lot of land on the hill beyond turns 7, 8 and 9. And finally a possible exit change from Turn 12 onto the superspeedway's front straight.

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LIMITED TICKETS are available for the annual Governor's Breakfast at NHMS to benefit Children's Hospital at Dartmouth and David's House. The breakfast is at 8 a.m. Friday, June 27, in the hospitality court behind the main grandstand

There is room for 400 and still tickets available. A lineup of two dozen drivers from all levels of racing will be in attendance. Cup driver Scott Wimmer is serving as the event's ambassador and Gov. John Lynch's wife, Dr. Susan Lynch, is the honorary chair. For tickets call 653-3437.

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THE ULTIMATE PIT STOP: High school students Justin Richardson and Nicholas Bryan from the Manchester School of Technology along with their vocational education teacher, Daniel McNally, will compete in the national finals of the Ford/AAA Student Auto Skills competition in Dearborn, Mich., on June 24.

The event is a timed challenge to diagnose, repair and drive across the finish line identically and deliberately bugged 2008 Ford Focuses arrayed in front of Ford world headquarters. The 10 best teams will share $7 million in scholarships and prizes. The winning pair will visit Roush Fenway Racing in Concord, N.C., and help prepare driver David Ragan's AAA Ford for the NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Chicagoland Speedway on July 12. The students will also travel with the Roush Fenway team to Chicago for the race.

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ONE TO WATCH on four wheels at a short track near you is Chris Leonard, 17, a junior at Pelham High School. The second-year pro racer in a NEMA midget was the "Determination Award" winner last season and is expecting some bigger and better results this year. Leonard is chasing his first victory in the open-wheeled series. Next race for NEMA is Friday, June 27 at Lee USA Speedway.

Leonard was a regular top-10 finisher in NEMA last season. In fact, it is Leonard's ninth season of racing. He is a product of Sugar Hill Speedway in Weare. So far he is 10th in NEMA points after a recent "DNF" at Monadnock Speedway in Winchester.

What sport does he compete in at high school?

"None. I'm racing all the time. That's my sport," he said.

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Kevin Provencher's Motor Sports column appears weekly during racing season in the New Hampshire Sunday News. Contact him at kprovencher@unionleader.com. Sources for this week's column include: nhms.com, nemaracing.com.