Following news Wednesday that New Hampshire Motor Speedway would be losing a NASCAR weekend to Las Vegas Motor Speedway starting in '18, NHMS Exec VP & GM David McGrath "assured racing fans that NASCAR wasn't leaving" the track entirely, according to Doug Alden of the New Hampshire UNION LEADER. McGrath said, "We still have a July race and it’s going to be here for a long time." He noted that the change was "simply a business decision" made by SMI, the company that owns NHMS and LVMS. McGrath said that he is "open to all options, including areas outside of motorsports." He said that he has been in "discussions with promoters about bringing a multi-day music festival to the venue, which has a potential seating capacity up to 100,000." McGrath: "We as a business are not just going to rest on a July race weekend. Our goal is to grow that and to find new events and we know we can." McGrath said that the track will "continue hosting other racing series." Another possibility is the "return of IndyCar racing," which has not been at NHMS since '11 (New Hampshire UNION LEADER, 3/10). The AP's Holly Ramer noted at its peak, NHMS' September NASCAR race "attracted more than 90,000 fans." McGrath "declined to provide recent statistics." But he said that attendance "has dropped in recent years, as it has elsewhere across the country." He said that the drop in attendance "was not the reason for the shift." McGrath: "The wheels aren't coming off the wagon at New Hampshire Motor Speedway with attendance. That really was not any point in this decision" (AP, 3/9).
HELL HATH NO FURY: In New Hampshire, Ray Duckler in a front-page piece writes, "Race fans here and all over New England got hosed this week." Duckler: "There’s simply no other way to put it, no matter how positive McGrath spun his spin." SMI President & CEO Marcus Smith and Exec Chair Bruton Smith "took the the money and ran, leaving McGrath to face the sour, skeptical media, pushing and pressing its negative angle, the one about lost revenue and the once-a-year loss of stars like Dale Earnhardt Jr." Duckler: "What else could he say? The Smiths are his bosses. I imagine, however, that McGrath might have said something different behind closed doors." Duckler notes for true NASCAR fans "it's a low blow, and it hurts" (CONCORD MONITOR, 3/10).
