Apr 9, 2008 4:38 pm US/Eastern
N.H. Motor Speedway Takes Off In New Direction
New Ownership Brings Fresh Plans To The Speedway
LOUDEN, N.H. (WBZ) ―
They get more fans than the Super Bowl, and they bring in hundreds of millions of dollars to New Hampshire.
It's Nascar at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
The track's new owners are now getting ready for their first season with a new man behind the wheel at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway – General Manger Jerry Gappens.
"The basis for our business is the entertainment factor. We have a license for fun," Gappens said.
Gappens brings the resources from the massive speedway motor sports to Loudon and already has crews hard at work.
"We're going to brighten the place up and have more atmosphere to create a state fair type midway," he said.
In the next few years fans can expect a lot of change.
"I said I don't care if we need to have six elephants for the prerace, we have to think outside the box, so people will walk away and say, 'Wow, I've never seen that before, or that was really cool,'" Gappens said.
"There were a lot of questions about what would happen to New Hampshire's two Nascar races when the place was sold. They bring in more than $200 million dollars to the economy.
Gappens works closely with former owner Bob Bahre, who built the track about 20 years ago.
"It's working out well," Bahre said. "They're all good people. Everyone's been decent. There isn'y a bad one in the bunch. I think everything's going to work out well for them."
Together they're determined to keep this place on the right track.
Tickets are still available for New Hampshire's Nascar races in June and for Sept. 14.
Starting Thursday, there will be races at Loudon every day through Nov. 1.
Click here for the full schedule of events.
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