The Bahre family built New Hampshire International Speedway, carving the 1-mile racetrack out of property that had been home to a road course. They relied on no engineers and only one surveyor, whose job was simply to put down stakes. Before the first big NASCAR race, they hired consultants from Walt Disney World who gave the entire staff a lesson in how to treat customers. It worked -- the sellouts began that first season, in 1993, and haven't stopped since.

So it was easy for track patriarch Bob Bahre, closing in on his 81st birthday, to feel a little wistful Tuesday when discussing the sale of his baby to Speedway Motorsports Inc. chairman Bruton Smith.

"We are pretty proud of it, to be honest with you," Bahre said from his office in Loudon, N.H., where the facility has been a fixture since 1990. "I just hope that Bruton, and I think he will, just has sense enough to keep it going the way it is. That's not saying he shouldn't improve it, add a few seats, things like that. I just hope he takes care of the fans."

And the best way to do that is by keeping two Nextel Cup race dates in New Hampshire, which has sold out every premier-level NASCAR event it's ever hosted. Smith, who fed two dates to his Texas Motor Speedway by buying and closing facilities in North Wilkesboro and Rockingham, N.C., clearly has bigger things in mind for his track in Las Vegas, which currently hosts one NASCAR weekend each season but wants another. Smith, who agreed to buy the renamed New Hampshire Motor Speedway for $340 million, has said there are no immediate plans to ship a race from Loudon to Nevada.

Bahre believes him, which is why he turned down at least one better offer to sell to Smith. Among those also interested were the owners of Kentucky Speedway, which is suing NASCAR and racetrack arm International Speedway Corp. because it can't get a Nextel Cup date. Had Bahre agreed to Kentucky's $360 million offer, he believes one or both of his dates would have been moved to the 1.5-mile racetrack south of Cincinnati.

"We knew in this one here we've got a good chance of keeping both of the dates here," he said. "With Kentucky, we knew [the dates] were going to go to Kentucky, you know what I mean? We built the track, but the fans make it what it is today, and I just hope to God that Bruton keeps the dates here. I told him that, but he didn't promise me he was going to. I told him, 'Bruton, do what you want. I'm not going to try to dictate to you, but I do hope you'll leave the dates here.'"

And Smith says he will -- for the time being. It's too premature, he stated Friday when the sale agreement was announced, for all future plans to be known. The deal won't even close until the first quarter of next year, and all sanctioning agreements for 2008 have already been signed.

Bahre didn't demand any promises from Smith, and didn't request any language in the sale agreement guaranteeing a certain number of Nextel Cup weekends in New Hampshire. He didn't feel it was his place to, since NASCAR technically awards the race dates. But he doesn't believe racetrack magnate Smith, whose company now owns and operates seven Nextel Cup facilities, will pull a date from Loudon. (Continued)