Bahre brought NASCAR Cup races to New England during the sport's heyday in the '90s and early '00sGetty Images
Former Oxford Plains Speedway Owner and New Hampshire Motor Speedway Founder BOB BAHRE died at 93, according to Drew Bonifant of the KENNEBEC JOURNAL & MORNING SENTINEL. Bahre "brought NASCAR Cup races to New England during the sport's heyday in the 1990s and early 2000s." He was inducted into the Maine Sports Hall of Fame in '17. Fox analyst RICKY CRAVEN said of Bahre, "He was remarkably pragmatic. He could figure anything out, and put things in perspective as well as anybody I know." Bahre built the track in Loudon, N.H., -- then called New Hampshire Int'l Speedway -- "without having secured a NASCAR race." The track opened in '90. Craven said, "He had a love affair with auto racing." New Hampshire "got its first Cup race in July 1993, and up until when he sold the track in 2007, Bahre kept his focus on the customer experience." Bahre would eventually "lead NASCAR's push for safety, becoming the first owner to put in padded SAFER barriers on the walls" in '03, but the experience of on-track deaths in '00 "haunted him" (KENNEBEC JOURNAL & MORNING SENTINEL, 7/25). New Hampshire Int'l Speedway was "an immediate success with a long string of sellouts and TV contracts and become a huge stop on the national racing calendar" for both IndyCar and NASCAR. Bahre was "well-known for his force of personality, self-deprecatory wit and sometimes fiery temper" (PORTLAND PRESS HERALD, 7/26). Bahre sold the track to Speedway Motorsports in '08 for $340M, at which point the name changed, but he "remained on as a consultant" (BOSTON GLOBE, 7/25).
