[PenelopePitStop]

I just saw a preview of what's coming up on the local 11:00 news tonight, and they mentioned that there may be a "high-profile" buyer for NHIS?

Anybody know anything about this? Bahre family selling out?

[LSC9901]

I don't really consider myself "High profile" and I'm not in it alone.

[PenelopePitStop]

Damn! The Media Demon got me again! A "tickler" to watch the 11:00 news turns out to be just that ... a tickler! I should have known better!

BostonHerald.com - Blogs: Nascar Blog» Blog Archive » NHIS not for sale

[LSC9901]

The article only says they are not in negotiations. As usual that could be a cover up for nothing official to say just yet.

[Quality88]

Gotta love the media

[PenelopePitStop]

After more local research, turns out "talks" have been going on for a while. His son doesn't want to run the place by himself. Hell! I'll help him!

A previous offer from whoever owns Kentucky for $360M was turned down.

I should stop watching the news, and just rely on GTG for the most up-to-date information!







http://www.smileycentral.com/sig.jsp?pc=ZSzeb096&pp=ZN

[Quality88]

Originally Posted by PenelopePitStop

I should stop watching the news, and just rely on GTG for the most up-to-date information!

Now your usin the old noggin. We hear at GTG have the finest dirt diggers er a reporters around.

[Racer Duck]

Originally Posted by Quality88

Now your usin the old noggin. We hear at GTG have the finest dirt diggers er a reporters around.

nah, NA$CAR doesn't' do dirt.

I heard Toyota is looking for a parking lot in the northeast to put some extra Camry's that are coming in by boat (seems the US plants can't make enough of them now that they're racing in NASCAR.)

And Warren Buffet wants to add a cheap race track to his Dairy Queen conglomerate.

There's action everywhere I turn...

[oncea3fan]

Wasn't Bruton Smith wanting to buy it a while back ???
I wish they would have reconfigured it to a 3/4 banked track when they were haveing problem like the talk was about.

[jks812]

NHIS sale to Roush-Fenway possible? UPDATE: New Hampshire International Speedway's president, Bob Bahre, confirmed to FOX Sports today that he and Boston Red Sox owner John Henry have had discussions in the past month about the sale of the Loudon track to Henry's Roush Fenway Racing. No deal has been made.(Union Leader)(9-10-2007)
UPDATE: Fenway Sports president Mike Dee said buying the track in the future had been discussed, though not at length, between the Henry camp and that of Bob Bahre, who owns the track. "I won't deny that it has come up. But at this stage of the game, [portraying] that it's a live and intense discussion is grossly exaggerated. We're obviously new to the sport," Dee said. "I think that he's probably at a very early stage of understanding what he's going to do with it, and we're at an earlier stage of figuring out whether we're interested." Dee downplayed the discussions, saying that Bahre and Fenway Sports speak regularly about the business of racing. Beyond that, there is much Fenway Sports doesn't know about operating a race track, particularly how to wring revenue out of a facility that hosts major NASCAR races just twice a year. "I don't know the economics of the business enough. You can look at it and say if they had 15 races, it'd be better than two. I'd like to tell you that it was in my wheelhouse in terms of core competencies, but I haven't looked at it at all," he said.(Boston Globe)(9-11-2007)

[Bob Tanner]

Anyone think Bruton Smith might be the "High Profile" buyer? He could buy out his old partner, Bahre, then move one of the races out to Las Vegas, much the same way Bahre moved North Wilksboro's date to Louden.

I hope not. IMNSVHO the southwest is covered well enough now by Fontana, Vegas and Phoenix. The northeast has a very solid fan base and "deserves" two races.

[Quality88]

Just found this on the net.


LOUDON, N.H. -- Kentucky Speedway officials are interested in buying New Hampshire International Speedway and moving one of the track's two Nextel Cup dates to the Bluegrass state.
Jerry Carroll, the chairman of Kentucky Speedway, visited with NHIS owner Bob Bahre during Sunday's race.

"We love this sport," said Carroll, who first expressed an interest in NHIS two years ago. "We've been trying to do whatever it takes [to get a race to Kentucky Speedway]."

That includes filing a federal anti-trust lawsuit against NASCAR asserting that the governing body and International Speedway conspire to keep events from non-ISC tracks.

Lesa France Kennedy, the sister of NASCAR CEO Brian France, runs ISC along with the NASCAR chief's uncle Jim France.

Carroll said even if he were able to purchase NHIS that wouldn't halt the lawsuit, waiting to go into summary judgment.

"Not at all," he said. "That's what we don't want to get over. That's not even [an option]. … My lawyers would kill me if I said that."

Carroll isn't Bahre's only option. John Henry, the owner of the Boston Red Sox and part-owner of Roush Fenway Racing, has had discussions with the 80-year-old track owner.

"The way he's talking he's probably interested in doing something," Carroll said.

Carroll believes Kentucky deserves a Nextel Cup event, reminding the sold-out crowd of 70,000 for the track's last Busch Series event was as many as the Labor Day Weekend Cup race at California Speedway.

"I'm always the kind of guy if there's a demand for something that's how you create a market," he said. "When that demand starts going away then you don't have a market anymore.

"We know we have the demand. We knew the day we built it."

Among Kentucky Speedway's ambassadors is NBA great Oscar Robertson, who attended Sunday's race with Carroll.

"Somebody came up and was taking a picture with him and said, 'Mr. Jones,'" Carroll said with a laugh. "They thought he was K.C. Jones. He said, 'I'm better than K.C. Jones.'"

And Carroll believes Kentucky Speedway is better than other options -- Denver, Seattle and New York City -- that NASCAR is exploring for another venue.

"What's interesting, when these guys are going around looking at Seattle and all of these other places, we've got the state of Kentucky laid down with $90 million worth of infrastructure," he said.

"We know what's important. The people turn out. They love the racing here."

ESPN - Ky. track eyeing move of Cup race from Loudon - Nascar

[oncea3fan]

"how to wring revenue out of a facility that hosts major NASCAR races just twice a year"

I don't like how that sounds, I would hope that tracks don't start vying for a third or more date(s).

[LSC9901]

Originally Posted by oncea3fan

"how to wring revenue out of a facility that hosts major NASCAR races just twice a year"

I don't like how that sounds, I would hope that tracks don't start vying for a third or more date(s).

I'd go for third dates if they'd run a 36 race regular season with some tracks having shorter (in length) races. Then have additional chase races with just the top 12 (13, 14, 15, 16 .....)

[vincesanity82]

Amid reports Fenway Sports Group, a 50-50 partner in the Roush Fenway Racing team, had expressed an interest in purchasing his track, Bob Bahre, the 80-year-old chairman of New Hampshire International Speedway, predicted after yesterday's Sylvania 300 that his 1.058-mile oval "some day will be sold." Citing one reason to sell, Bahre said his 44-year-old son Gary, NHIS's president, would not be interested in carrying on with the track after his passing. -- Boston Globe

Bahre: Sale of NHIS is inevitable - The Boston Globe