Speedway gears up for Lenox 301

LOUDON – With dirt movers, pavers and fence installers everywhere, the rapidly changing face of New Hampshire Motor Speedway was unveiled yesterday and, "watch out," there's even a Moose on the loose.

Speedway officials introduced "Milo" the Mile Oval Moose, a helmeted racing mascot who will become a fixture among the myriad entertainment options being added here to nail down the track's 29th consecutive NASCAR Sprint Cup Series sellout.

Jerry Gappens, speedway president, said there are approximately 6,700 tickets remaining for the Lenox 301 race on Sunday, June 28. The race week opens on Thursday, June 25, with a free admission FanFest for Camping World East Series qualifying. From 6-9 p.m. spectators can enjoy free food, a casino tent for charity and a long list of entertainment in the speedway's midway (outside the tunnel entrance).

Cup driver Kasey Kahne will be there for a Q&A, while country band Jonathan Scott and the Blazing Hearts will perform. The Thursday event replaces a fan festival that once was held in downtown Concord but folded due to the poor economy.

The speedway is undergoing $4 million in renovations, which includes installing a new safety catchfence that is 21 feet high and paving nearly all the land in the infield quadrupling the usable space.

"A month ago it looked like a bomb went off here," joked Gappens. "The infield is the concentration of improvements right now . . . I have a lot of pride here. This is the largest sports and entertainment facility in New England (seating 101,000)."

The promotional efforts of new speedway owner, Speedway Motorsports Inc., are relentlessly driven.

"I'm in a market here where I'm competing with the Boston Red Sox, the New England Patriots, the Bruins, the Celtics. This is a sports market," said Gappens. "My job is to try to put this facility and the sport of NASCAR up there on an even tier with those other sports. That's why we work and try to promote . . . When I met with Governor Lynch earlier in the week I told him in these economic times I don't know many companies expanding their business."

Cup driver Jeff Burton, who is sponsored by Lenox Industrial Tools and is the winningest Cup driver on this mile oval, was at the speedway yesterday for the announcements. One that will catch the attention of drivers is the Lenox 301 purse of $5.41 million making it the sixth largest purse per mile in NASCAR.

"This is one of my favorite places to come," said Burton, who was here from the beginning racing in the inaugural NASCAR Busch Grand National (now Nationwide Series) Budweiser 300 in 1990. He made his Cup debut here in 1993.

Burton said with the downturn in the economy that drivers can no longer take fans for granted.

"We have a fan base that is loyal as hell," said Burton. "We kind of reminded ourselves that we need to appreciate them more."

And so at Cup tracks now drivers are holding Q&As and autograph sessions more than ever.

"I've been to NCAA final basketball games, playoff NFL football games and PGA golfing events, big ones, big ones," said Burton. "I look around, and I've been to every NASCAR Cup race for the last 16 years, I can tell you that their events, every one of those big events is not as big as any single one of our races. From the pre-race, the camaraderie with the fans, entertainment and stuff going on.

"There is more stuff going on at every single Cup event than any single one of those other big events I've been to," continued Burton. "You couple that with the racing that is a helluva lot of fun to watch, it's exciting . . . there's not a single sporting event that's as big as what this will be come next week."

Burton added that the last two months of Cup racing have been some of the best he has ever witnessed. He is again right there in Chase contention.

"In this sport now there are so many good teams," he said. "Rivalries are more week-to-week because we have more competition than the Richard Petty-David Pearson rivalry when there were only five or six good teams. Now it's my driver against all those other people."

Gappens said the speedway is still selling $39 race day tickets and $99 three-day package tickets. He noted that 90-percent of the $39 ticket purchasers will be first-time NASCAR spectators at the speedway.