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09-11-2007, 12:49 PM
Loudon
Sox owner looks into speedway NASCAR track has seen many suitors
By RAY DUCKLER and DAVE D'ONOFRIO Monitor staff
September 11. 2007 7:35AM
Bob Bahre, the colorful 80-year-old owner of New Hampshire International Speedway, said this week that he has spoken to Red Sox owner John Henry about selling the track to Roush Fenway Racing, the Nextel Cup team Henry partially owns.
According to a published report, Bahre discussed the sale of his track over the past month with Henry and Sox Chief Operating Officer Mike Dee. The meeting adds to a long-running storyline of groups trying to pry the speedway away from Bahre, who purchased the old Bryar Motorsports Park in 1989 and transformed it into a 1.058-mile superspeedway the next year.
"I've talked to about eight different groups of people," Bahre told FoxSports.com. He was unavailable for comment last night. "There's always somebody talking about (buying the track). I've talked to Mike Dee and John Henry, and they act like someday they might want to do something. They called and said they want to talk, so we talked. I'm going on 81, so someday I want to do something with the track."
Henry's NASCAR partner, longtime owner Jack Roush, was also quoted by the website, adding, "To the best of my knowledge, we have not purchased New Hampshire. . . . I have not been privy to any meetings nor any discussions that have seriously looked at that. . . . If you were to look at any of the racetracks in the country that I would say if I were interested in a racetrack, would I be interested in New Hampshire? I would have to say that New Hampshire would probably be at the top of my list."
Red Sox ownership in NASCAR is not unique, since owners of other sports teams have purchased parts of racing operations.
But if Roush-Fenway does indeed buy NHIS, it would be the only active ownership group to own both a team and a track with a Cup race.
This season, the Cup series will hold 36 races on 22 tracks. Twelve of those tracks, accounting for 19 races, are owned by the International Speedway Corp., which is a property of the French family that founded and still operates NASCAR. Six of the remaining tracks are owned by Speedway Motorsports Inc., while the remaining four have separate owners. Of those, only NHIS and Pocono (Pa.) Raceway are family-owned.
Henry's interest in investing in NASCAR began a couple of years ago. He had been seen in the NHIS garage area with Roush, but it wasn't until February that they officially partnered. The announcement came at Daytona International Speedway, just before the Nextel Cup's season opener, the Daytona 500, revealing that Roush and Sox ownership would each own 50 percent of the new company. Roush retained control of racing operations.
NASCAR was an attractive asset for Henry because it provided revenue for the Red Sox not subject to baseball's luxury tax. Also, Roush owned one of NASCAR's most successful teams.
Two of its drivers, Matt Kenseth and Carl Edwards, qualified for the upcoming Chase for the Nextel Cup by putting together two of the series' six highest point totals. The annual 10-race Chase, reserved for the top 12 regular-season drivers and the equivalent of major league baseball's playoff format, begins Sunday at NHIS with the sold-out Sylvania 300.
Two years ago, Roush put all five of his cars into the postseason after winning back-to-back titles, in 2003 and '04.
Bahre's son, 44-year-old Gary Bahre, had been in line to move from NHIS president to owner. But Bob's vision of the future changed after Gary suffered a serious lung illness a few years ago.
"He'd never want to run it alone, I'll tell you that now," Bob said last year. ". . . If I died tomorrow, he'd probably sell it before the funeral."
Kentucky Speedway offered $360 million for the track early this summer, the last documented attempt to buy the track from Bahre.
"I think they flew in three times and they talked on the phone a few times," Bahre said at the time. "I'm happy here with the way it's going. Everything's going good. Let's face it, someday, something will happen. . . . Someday you're going to sell your house."
NHIS began hosting Cup races in 1993 and has staged two each season since 1997. The Cup races regularly sell out in Loudon, drawing 101,000 per event.
------ End of article
By RAY DUCKLER
Monitor staff
This article is: 0 days old.
Sox owner looks into speedway NASCAR track has seen many suitors
By RAY DUCKLER and DAVE D'ONOFRIO Monitor staff
September 11. 2007 7:35AM
Bob Bahre, the colorful 80-year-old owner of New Hampshire International Speedway, said this week that he has spoken to Red Sox owner John Henry about selling the track to Roush Fenway Racing, the Nextel Cup team Henry partially owns.
According to a published report, Bahre discussed the sale of his track over the past month with Henry and Sox Chief Operating Officer Mike Dee. The meeting adds to a long-running storyline of groups trying to pry the speedway away from Bahre, who purchased the old Bryar Motorsports Park in 1989 and transformed it into a 1.058-mile superspeedway the next year.
"I've talked to about eight different groups of people," Bahre told FoxSports.com. He was unavailable for comment last night. "There's always somebody talking about (buying the track). I've talked to Mike Dee and John Henry, and they act like someday they might want to do something. They called and said they want to talk, so we talked. I'm going on 81, so someday I want to do something with the track."
Henry's NASCAR partner, longtime owner Jack Roush, was also quoted by the website, adding, "To the best of my knowledge, we have not purchased New Hampshire. . . . I have not been privy to any meetings nor any discussions that have seriously looked at that. . . . If you were to look at any of the racetracks in the country that I would say if I were interested in a racetrack, would I be interested in New Hampshire? I would have to say that New Hampshire would probably be at the top of my list."
Red Sox ownership in NASCAR is not unique, since owners of other sports teams have purchased parts of racing operations.
But if Roush-Fenway does indeed buy NHIS, it would be the only active ownership group to own both a team and a track with a Cup race.
This season, the Cup series will hold 36 races on 22 tracks. Twelve of those tracks, accounting for 19 races, are owned by the International Speedway Corp., which is a property of the French family that founded and still operates NASCAR. Six of the remaining tracks are owned by Speedway Motorsports Inc., while the remaining four have separate owners. Of those, only NHIS and Pocono (Pa.) Raceway are family-owned.
Henry's interest in investing in NASCAR began a couple of years ago. He had been seen in the NHIS garage area with Roush, but it wasn't until February that they officially partnered. The announcement came at Daytona International Speedway, just before the Nextel Cup's season opener, the Daytona 500, revealing that Roush and Sox ownership would each own 50 percent of the new company. Roush retained control of racing operations.
NASCAR was an attractive asset for Henry because it provided revenue for the Red Sox not subject to baseball's luxury tax. Also, Roush owned one of NASCAR's most successful teams.
Two of its drivers, Matt Kenseth and Carl Edwards, qualified for the upcoming Chase for the Nextel Cup by putting together two of the series' six highest point totals. The annual 10-race Chase, reserved for the top 12 regular-season drivers and the equivalent of major league baseball's playoff format, begins Sunday at NHIS with the sold-out Sylvania 300.
Two years ago, Roush put all five of his cars into the postseason after winning back-to-back titles, in 2003 and '04.
Bahre's son, 44-year-old Gary Bahre, had been in line to move from NHIS president to owner. But Bob's vision of the future changed after Gary suffered a serious lung illness a few years ago.
"He'd never want to run it alone, I'll tell you that now," Bob said last year. ". . . If I died tomorrow, he'd probably sell it before the funeral."
Kentucky Speedway offered $360 million for the track early this summer, the last documented attempt to buy the track from Bahre.
"I think they flew in three times and they talked on the phone a few times," Bahre said at the time. "I'm happy here with the way it's going. Everything's going good. Let's face it, someday, something will happen. . . . Someday you're going to sell your house."
NHIS began hosting Cup races in 1993 and has staged two each season since 1997. The Cup races regularly sell out in Loudon, drawing 101,000 per event.
------ End of article
By RAY DUCKLER
Monitor staff
This article is: 0 days old.