[Don]

NHIS, north of Boston, has sold out every one of it's two Cup races since day 1. Burton Smith & SMI just spent $340 Million to purchase, which was not the high bid


Price for N.H. oval: $340m
By Michael Vega, Globe Staff | November 3, 2007

FORT WORTH - In announcing his purchase of New Hampshire International Speedway for $340 million in cash, O. Bruton Smith, chairman and CEO of Speedway Motorsports Inc., yesterday declined to disclose what, if any, changes he had in store for the 1.058-mile oval in Loudon he acquired from Bob and Gary Bahre.

Smith, however, did unveil one immediate alteration during a press conference at Texas Motor Speedway. He rechristened NHIS by holding up a blue placard that read, "New Hampshire Motor Speedway."

The acquisition increased SMI's holdings to seven tracks and 12 NASCAR-sanctioned Cup dates (including four Chase dates). According to the 80-year-old Smith, the purchase increased SMI's investment in racing to $2.5 billion.

"First, I want to thank Bob and Gary Bahre," said the flamboyant Smith, who now owns Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, Calif.; Las Vegas Motor Speedway; Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway; Atlanta Motor Speedway; Lowe's Motor Speedway in Concord, N.C.; Texas; and New Hampshire. "I don't know if I've ever had to thank anybody for taking $340 million of my hard-earned money, but anyway, he did. I do appreciate the friendship I had with Mr. Bahre and Gary in putting this deal together."

Apart from the sticker shock of NHIS's purchase price, the remarkable aspect of Smith's acquisition was that he wasn't the highest bidder.

That distinction went to Jerry Carroll, co-owner and chairman of Kentucky Speedway, who, according to court documents filed in conjunction with a lawsuit brought against International Speedway Corp., offered $360 million in cash.

In May, when he was mentioned in the lawsuit, NHIS chairman Bob Bahre, 80, disputed Kentucky's allegation that NASCAR threatened him with the loss of his two Nextel Cup dates if he sold to Carroll's group. Bahre, who said he bore Carroll no ill will, vowed never to sell to Kentucky because of the track's association with Darrell Waltrip, the former NASCAR champion driver turned TV commentator who Bahre felt maligned NHIS as an unsafe track after the deaths of Adam Petty and Kenny Irwin seven years ago.

Smith competed against George Gillett, owner of the NHL's Montreal Canadiens who recently bought a stake in Ray Evernham Motorsports; Nextel Cup car owner Roger Penske; Fenway Sports Group; and Carroll.

A Penske Racing spokesman indicated the legendary car owner never made a firm offer. FSG president Mike Dee indicated his group had "one discussion" with the Bahres, who expressed a desire to get a deal done sooner rather than later.

"Soon wasn't soon enough, I guess," Dee said last night by phone from Boston. "We thought we had our hands full with our flagship [the Red Sox winning the World Series]. But at that reported price, we would've had a hard time reaching that level [to make an offer]."

And so Smith was left to jockey against Gillett and Carroll. In the end, Smith said, he believed his friendship with Bahre helped swing the deal. Although Smith admitted "we didn't start off" as good friends, "we ended up that way" even after butting heads over their forced marriage in the 50-50 purchase of North Wilkesboro (N.C.) Speedway in 1996, which led to a split of the track's two Cup dates. Smith took his to Texas, while Bahre used his to create a second race at NHIS.

Yesterday, Smith said his acquisition of NHIS also gave him controlling interest in North Wilkesboro.

"I'm now the proud owner of 100 percent of North Wilkesboro," Smith said. "I offered to give that to Bob for a Christmas present, and he said, 'Go to hell.' "

Smith's purchase gave rise to speculation he would move one date out of the Granite State, where the track routinely draws 101,000 fans to a facility with a permanent seating capacity of 91,000. Smith has expressed a desire to seek a second date for Las Vegas, but he seemed intent on seeking it from elsewhere when he made a not-so-subtle lobbying attempt to get ISC to give up one of its dates on the 36-race schedule.

"I plan to talk to NASCAR within this coming week and see if they'll grant us another date [at Las Vegas]," Smith said.

Brian France, NASCAR's chairman and CEO, released a statement in which he said all sanctions for 2008 had been signed and finalized.

"As a result, there will be no location changes to the 2008 schedule that was released last month," he said. "This is important to the fans, competitors, broadcast partners, and sponsors who have already made plans for the 2008 races.

"Looking beyond 2008, NASCAR will continue to consider requests by any track operator, including SMI, to relocate race dates."

Smith indicated his desire to retain Bob Bahre as a consultant.

"Gary [his son, the track president] and I would like to thank all of our employees and loyal fans for their continued support of New Hampshire International Speedway over the past 18 years," Bob Bahre said in a statement.