THIS MEMORIAL DAY weekend, Jerry Gappens will revisit his Indiana roots and attend the Indy 500 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. There he hopes to court the cars that first put Loudon on the map of professional auto racing.
Named executive vice president and general manager of New Hampshire Motor Speedway after Speedway Motorsports, Inc., bought the one-mile Granite State oval from founder Bob Bahre for $340 million last winter, Gappens is a very busy man.
It could happen but I don't see being successful. They raced at NHMS before the split and attendance was poor. IndyCar of 2008 is no where near the IndyCar of 1995. I doubt there would be any improvement.
I always liked the racing at Loudon, but two questions come to mind:
1. Does adding Loudon lessen the possibility of keeping Milwaukee? They are similar tracks.
2. Most importantly, will SMI be willing to schedule the race according to the IRL's wishes, and not the other way around? If the track continues to have two Cup races, July and September, will they be willing to hold an IRL race in August or even September? Or will they pull a Michigan and demand a specific date not close to the NASCAR races?
I'll believe that when I see it, because NASCAR itself has to approve the schedule, and like most sports, I don't think they view Las Vegas as a bigger market than New England. You could be right though. If so, they could easily run a Loudon race in September on the Indycar calendar.
I wish they would up-grade their road course...watched some great motorcycle races in the past, but I understand the bikes won't race the road course anymore...
I wish they would up-grade their road course...watched some great motorcycle races in the past, but I understand the bikes won't race the road course anymore...
Great track to be a spectator, good vantage points for the action, and I think that a 25-30 car ICS field would draw pretty well.
I like the idea.
IndyCar event in the northeast! Its only a short drive!
New Hampshire is a very fast track for just a one-miler. It won't end up being an oval where everyone drives "flat" the entire time. It should produce exciting racing.
I guess it depends on if the fans show up.
I think its fairly clear that IndyCar won't be racing on a lot of the ISC owned 1.5 mile cookie cutter ovals for very long. Tony George will want to keep ovals on the schedule. Its worth a shot.
The non ISC ovals on the schedule are Indy, Milwaukee, Motegi, Texas, Nashville, Kentucky, and Iowa. So thats 7. A half and half 20 race schedule will need a few more.
I'd love to see IndyCar return to Phoenix, Nazareth, Michigan, California or even Pike's Peak, but ISC has kicked pretty much kicked us out of those events.
I would love to see them back at both Loudon and Pocono. Maybe in a few years if they pull the second NASCAR date from Pocono, we'll get both of them back on the IndyCar schedule.
