Motorsport track in Loudon, New Hampshire, United States
New Hampshire Motor Speedway
"The Magic Mile"
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|
New Hampshire Motor Speedway Oval Course (1990?present)
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Location
| 1122
Route 106
North
Loudon, New Hampshire 03307
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Time zone
| UTC?5
(
UTC?4
DST
)
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Coordinates
| 43°21′44.14″N
71°27′40.5″W
/
43.3622611°N 71.461250°W
/
43.3622611; -71.461250
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Capacity
| 76,000 (seated)
[1]
[2]
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Owner
| Speedway Motorsports, Inc.
(November 2007?present)
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Operator
| Speedway Motorsports, Inc.
(November 2007?present)
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Broke ground
| as New Hampshire Motor Speedway: 13 August 1989
; 34 years ago
(
1989-08-13
)
|
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Opened
| as Bryar Motorsports Park: 1964
as New Hampshire Motor Speedway: 5 June 1990
; 34 years ago
(
1990-06-05
)
|
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Former names
| New Hampshire International Speedway (1990?2007)
Bryar Motorsports Park (1964?1989)
|
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Major events
| Current:
NASCAR Cup Series
USA TODAY 301
(1993?present)
ISM Connect 300
(1997?2017)
NASCAR Xfinity Series
Crayon 200
(1990?2019, 2021?present)
NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour
Whelen 100
(1990?present)
Loudon Classic
(1965?present)
Former:
NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series
UNOH 175
(1996?2011, 2014?2017)
ARCA Menards Series East
Apple Barrel 125
(1990?2019)
NASCAR Pinty's Series
Visit New Hampshire 100
(2018?2019)
New Hampshire Indy 225
(1992?1998, 2011)
Trans-Am
(1966?1972)
IMSA GT
(1972)
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Website
| https://www.nhms.com/
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|
Surface
| Asphalt and Granite
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Length
| 1.058 miles (1.703 km)
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Banking
| Turns: 2-7°
Straights: 1°
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Race lap record
| 0:22.3481 (
Scott Dixon
,
Dallara IR-05
,
2011
,
IndyCar
)
|
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|
Length
| 1.600 miles (2.575 km)
|
---|
|
Length
| 1.600 miles (2.575 km)
|
---|
Race lap record
| 1:12.100 (
George Follmer
,
Ford Mustang Boss 302
,
1971
,
Trans-Am (TO)
)
|
---|
New Hampshire Motor Speedway
is a 1.058 mi (1.703 km)
oval speedway
located in
Loudon, New Hampshire
, which has hosted
NASCAR
racing annually since 1990, as well as the longest-running motorcycle race in North America, the Loudon Classic. Nicknamed "The Magic Mile", the speedway is often converted into a 1.600 mi (2.575 km) road course, which includes much of the oval.
The track was originally the site of Bryar Motorsports Park before being purchased and redeveloped by Bob Bahre. The track is currently one of eight major NASCAR tracks owned and operated by
Speedway Motorsports
.
History
[
edit
]
The track opened as
New Hampshire International Speedway
in June 1990, after nine months of construction following the Bahre family's purchase of the Bryar Motorsports Park. The existing road circuit was redeveloped into a multi-purpose track, with NASCAR-sanctioned races added to the popular
Loudon Classic
motorcycle,
WKA
go-kart and
SCCA
races on the complex. Upon completion it became the largest speedway in
New England
, and later expansion has made it the largest sports and entertainment venue of any type in the region. Its construction was extremely unusual for a race track, in that it was designed and constructed without consulting engineers, and using just one surveyor (whose primary job was to plant stakes) to help. NASCAR made its debut at the track in July 1990, with a
Busch Series
race won by
Tommy Ellis
. For three years, the Busch Series hosted a pair of races at the track each year.
The Busch races were successful. Loudon gained a spot on the
NASCAR Cup Series
schedule in 1993.
Rusty Wallace
won the inaugural Slick 50 300 in July of that year. That race was also
Davey Allison
's final race: the next day, Allison was fatally injured in a helicopter crash.
In 1996,
Ernie Irvan
captured the win in the Cup race, making it one of the more emotional victories in NASCAR history. The win came less than two years after Irvan suffered a near-fatal crash at
Michigan International Speedway
, where he was given less than a 10% chance of survival.
After the 1996 season Bahre and
Bruton Smith
bought
North Wilkesboro Speedway
and moved one of its Cup dates to New Hampshire. The second race was held in September. From 2004 to 2010, it was the site of the first event of the
Chase for the Championship
. In 2011, the date was shifted to the second race in the Chase, serving as one of three races in the Challenger Round, and remaining in the NASCAR Playoff rounds through 2017, after which the fall Cup date was eliminated.
[3]
The speedway was the first for NASCAR to start the field in two groups under the warm-up laps to help set pit speed.
The track also hosted open-wheel racing for seven years, hosting
CART
from 1992?1995, then the
Indy Racing League
from 1996?1998. One of the open wheel winners was
Tony Stewart
, who later won three
NASCAR Cup Series
races at the track as well.
In 2000, the track was the site of a pair of fatal collisions which took the lives of two promising young drivers. In May, while practicing for a Busch Series race,
Adam Petty
perished when his throttle stuck exiting the second turn, resulting in a full speed crash head-on in the middle of the third and fourth turns. When the NASCAR Cup Series made their first appearance of the season, a similar fate befell 1998 Rookie of the Year
Kenny Irwin Jr.
For safety reasons, track owners decided to run
restrictor plates
on the cars during their return trip to the speedway in September 2000. This resulted in an uneventful
Dura Lube 300
won by
Jeff Burton
, which had no lead changes. It was the first wire-to-wire race since the 1970s.
The 2001
New Hampshire 300
was originally scheduled for September 16, the Sunday after the
September 11 terrorist attacks
. NASCAR initially announced that the race would be held as scheduled, but the event was postponed until November 23 of that year, which was the Friday after
Thanksgiving
. There was much concern about the weather, but race day turned out to be unseasonably mild.
Robby Gordon
won that race.
In 2002, in an effort to increase competitive racing, the track's corners were turned into a progressive banking system, as the apron was paved and became part of the track, and the track's banking was varied from 4 degrees in the lower two lanes to 12% grade (about seven degrees). The addition of SAFER barriers to the corner walls was made in 2003.
During the September 2003 SYLVANIA 300, an incident occurred at this track involving
Dale Jarrett
where his wrecked race car brought out a caution flag. At the time, NASCAR's policy was for its drivers to race back to the start-finish line to begin the caution period. This policy allowed drivers who were one or more laps down to pass the leader and get back one lap, but during the 2003 season there were several incidents which involved drivers racing back to the caution nearly causing collisions. Jarrett's car had stalled on the front stretch? in fact, directly in the path of oncoming cars? and he was in danger of being hit by cars that were trying to get laps back. Although Jarrett avoided contact, the incident was enough for NASCAR to act and beginning with the next race, NASCAR outlawed racing back to the caution flag and instead froze the field after a caution, and a "free pass" rule (popularly referred to as "the lucky dog") was put in place in which the first car behind the leader not on the lead lap would get their lap back during each caution period in all of NASCAR's national and regional series.
In mid-May 2006, Loudon was one of many New England communities which experienced damaging floods after a week of near-record rainfall. Several roads and bridges were washed out near the speedway. The infield was flooded, as was the track itself (while a road racing event was going on). The facility also experienced flooding in October 2005.
[4]
In June 2009, the
Lenox Industrial Tools 301
NASCAR Cup Series race was ended early by a storm which caused flooding at various locations around the track, including the infield tunnel: however in that case the post-race activities were not interrupted.
Before the 2008 racing season,
Speedway Motorsports
purchased NHIS and other racing-related assets from the Bahre family for $340 million cash. The name of the speedway changed to
New Hampshire Motor Speedway
. One of the assets included in the sale was a 50% interest in
North Wilkesboro Speedway
. The other 50% was still owned by
Bruton Smith
, the CEO of Speedway Motorsports.
NHMS representatives made a heavy push to reintroduce open-wheel racing in the form of
IndyCar Series
to the track in the
2009 season
. In 2011, the series returned to the track. However, the race failed to meet attendance expectations and controversial decisions made by race officials at the end of the race caused the race to be left off the 2012 schedule.
[
citation needed
]
After the 2012 Sylvania 300, Bruton Smith stated he wants to install permanent lighting at the speedway, just like the other SMI ovals. However, Bob Bahre signed a legal agreement with the town of Loudon and several neighbors when the track opened that nighttime races were prohibited. The agreement is binding on the current owners. In an October 2012 poll in Loudon, however, 58% of those who responded said they did not mind a night race. This poll also included plans to build a casino at the track, if approved by the New Hampshire Legislature.
[5]
In 2018, the fall race weekend, consisting of the
Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series
and
Camping World Truck Series
, was moved to the
Las Vegas Motor Speedway
. It was replaced with what they called Full Throttle Weekend.
[6]
With NASCAR local and International series stopping by, races included the
NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour
with the
Musket 250
,
NASCAR K&N Pro Series East
with the
Apple Barrel 125
and
NASCAR Pinty's Series
Visit New Hampshire 100
.
[7]
For the 2019 Musket 250 it was announced that
Whelen Engineering Company
will sponsor the
Musket 250
now being called Musket 250 presented by Whelen.
[8]
Track mascot
[
edit
]
In 2009, the track introduced its first mascot, Milo the
Moose
. He wears a fire suit with the Speedway Motorsports logo and the track's name around it and is often seen wearing an open-faced helmet with a dark visor. He is seen on race weekends shaking hands with the drivers during driver introductions and hanging out with fans.
Track length of paved oval
[
edit
]
The track length is disputed by the two major series that run at New Hampshire. The NASCAR timing and scoring use a length of 1.058 miles (1.703 km).
[9]
The IRL timing and scoring use a length of 1.025 miles (1.650 km).
Dirt track
[
edit
]
In 2018 New Hampshire Motor Speedway announced the construction of a quarter-mile
dirt oval track
behind the New England Motorsports Hall of Fame and the southern entrance to the Speedway. It was to be for the
American Flat Track
racing on
Laconia Motorcycle Week
2019.
[10]
It hosted the
USAC Dirt Midget
Granite State Legends Cars race on Friday of NASCAR weekend in July 2019, with NASCAR drivers
Corey LaJoie
and
Daniel Hemric
participating.
[11]
In 2020
Snocross
came to the track for an event in February.
[12]
NASCAR statistics
[
edit
]
Current NASCAR events
[
edit
]
NASCAR records
[
edit
]
- NASCAR Cup Series
Qualifying:
Brad Keselowski
, 27.090 s (140.598 mph), September 20, 2014
- NASCAR Cup Series
Race:
Jeff Burton
, 2 h 42 min 35 s (117.134 mph), July 13, 1997
- NASCAR Xfinity Series
Qualifying:
Kyle Busch
, 28.873 s (131.916 mph), July 13, 2013
- NASCAR Xfinity Series
Race:
Kyle Busch
, 1 h 53 min 26 s (111.928 mph), June 27, 2009
- NASCAR Camping World Truck Series
Qualifying:
Austin Dillon
, 28.574 s (133.296 mph), September 26, 2015
- NASCAR Camping World Truck Series
Race:
Kyle Busch
, 1 h 33 min 35 s (109.780 mph), September 24, 2011
- NASCAR Camping World East Series
Qualifying:
Ben Rhodes
, 29.622 s (127.414 mph), October 7, 2014
- NASCAR Camping World East Series
Race:
Ted Christopher
, 1 h 13 min 9 s (108.476 mph), December 5, 2001
- NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour
Qualifying:
Mike Ewanitsko
, 28.693 s (132.743 mph), July 19, 2001
- NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour
Race:
Todd Szegedy
, 51 min 11 s (123.087 mph), July 16, 2011
- NASCAR Pinty's Series
Qualifying:
Kevin Lacroix
, 31.040 s (122.706 mph), September 20, 2019
- NASCAR Pinty's Series
Race:
Kevin Lacroix
, 57 min 8 s (111.109 mph), September 22, 2018
NASCAR Cup Series records
[
edit
]
(As of 2/12/23)
*
from minimum 10 starts.
Open-wheel race winners
[
edit
]
New Hampshire Indy 225
Other racing series
[
edit
]
Bryar Motorsports Park hosted Round 3 of the inaugural
Trans-Am Series
season in
1966
. The race was held over 250 mi and was won outright by Canadian-born Australian
Allan Moffat
in an under 2.0 liter
Lotus Cortina
. The speedway hosted a round of the 2012
Global RallyCross Championship
, and it hosts the annual Northeast Classic which includes
American Canadian Tour
and
Pro All Stars Series
races. It has both mini oval and road course
Legends car
races,
[13]
as well as the
NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series
,
Bandolero racing
, and other local series races.
Since 2011, the track has also hosted a race for the amateur
24 Hours of Lemons
race series. The Loudon Annoying was a spring event held in 2011 and 2012, and the fall Halloween Hooptiefest has taken place since 2012.
[14]
Since 2013, the New England Road Cycling League has hosted bicycle races for high school students at the track, using both the central oval and the adjoining "frontier course."
[15]
Lap records
[
edit
]
The all-time outright track record is 0:21.466 seconds, set by
Andre Ribeiro
in a
Reynard 95I
, during qualifying for the
1995 New England 200
. As of July 2022, the fastest official lap records at New Hampshire Motor Speedway are listed as:
References
[
edit
]
- ^
"Track Facts"
. New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Archived from
the original
on July 14, 2013
. Retrieved
January 13,
2015
.
- ^
"Jayski's? NASCAR Silly Season Site - Sprint Cup Race Track Attendance"
. Archived from
the original
on July 4, 2016
. Retrieved
July 3,
2016
.
- ^
"2016 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Schedule | NASCAR.com"
.
www.nascar.com
. Retrieved
January 5,
2016
.
- ^
Sunday Races At NHIS Flooded Out
May 4, 2006
- ^
"unionleader.com"
.
- ^
"Full Throttle Fall Weekend"
.
www.nhms.com
. Archived from
the original
on February 3, 2019
. Retrieved
February 3,
2019
.
- ^
"September Brings Inaugural Full Throttle Fall Weekend To NHMS"
.
racedayct.com
. August 30, 2018
. Retrieved
February 3,
2019
.
- ^
"Whelen to Sponsor Musket 250 at New Hampshire ? NASCAR Home Tracks"
.
hometracks.nascar.com
. Retrieved
March 11,
2019
.
- ^
"Home"
.
Official Site Of NASCAR
.
- ^
Release, NHMS PR Official.
"American Flat Track Comes to NHMS, New Facility Opens Spring 2019"
.
www.nhms.com
. Retrieved
February 10,
2020
.
- ^
Staff Report (June 12, 2019).
"NASCAR Stars to Bring Night Racing to New NHMS Flat Track"
.
Race Day CT
.
- ^
"Snocross at The Flat Track"
.
www.nhms.com
. Retrieved
February 10,
2020
.
- ^
"U.S. Legend Cars International | National Schedule"
. Archived from
the original
on September 21, 2013
. Retrieved
July 27,
2017
.
- ^
"24 Hours of Lemons: Halloween Hooptiefest"
. New Hampshire Motor Speedway. October 25, 2013. Archived from
the original
on January 9, 2015
. Retrieved
January 9,
2015
.
- ^
"New England Road Cycling League: Race Info"
. New England Road Cycling League
. Retrieved
August 20,
2023
.
- ^
"New Hampshire - Motorsport Magazine"
. Retrieved
May 27,
2022
.
- ^
"2011 New Hampshire Indycars - Motorsport Database"
.
Motorsport Database - Motor Sport Magazine
. Retrieved
July 16,
2023
.
- ^
"1995 New Hampshire Indycars - Motorsport Database"
.
Motorsport Database - Motor Sport Magazine
. Retrieved
July 16,
2023
.
- ^
"1995 New Hampshire Indy Lights - Motorsport Database"
.
Motorsport Database - Motor Sport Magazine
. Retrieved
July 16,
2023
.
- ^
"2021 New Hampshire NASCAR"
.
Motorsport Database - Motor Sport Magazine
. Retrieved
July 16,
2023
.
- ^
"2022 Crayon 200 Race Statistics"
.
Motorsportstats
. Retrieved
July 16,
2023
.
- ^
"New Hampshire Motor Speedway - Racing Circuits"
. Retrieved
October 9,
2022
.
- ^
"Trans-Am Bryar [Two-Five] 1972"
. Retrieved
October 9,
2022
.
- ^
"1972 IMSA"
. Retrieved
October 9,
2022
.
- ^
"3 h Bryar 1972"
. Retrieved
October 9,
2022
.
- ^
"SCCA National Bryar Park [CM+DM+EM+FM+AP+BP+CP+DP] 1965"
. Retrieved
October 9,
2022
.
- ^
"Trans-Am Bryar [Two-Five] 1972"
. Retrieved
October 9,
2022
.
External links
[
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]
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Road courses
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Street circuits
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Rovals
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Indy NXT
race venues (1986?2019, 2021?present)
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Current (
2024
)
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Former
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Road Courses
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Street circuits
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Ovals
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U.S. tracks
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International tracks
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