Winds of change blowing at New Hampshire track (cont'd)

"I'm in meetings not everyone is privy to, and I know he is working on some short-term plans to upgrade some things before the June race," Gappens said. "But he's also having his people working on a three- to five-year master plan, and he's looking at all options -- everything from track configuration, to expanded seating, to improving infrastructure, and what it's going to take to do all that.

"He took Bristol from 67,000 seats 12 years ago to 160,000 seats today. He's taken facilities and improved them, made them bigger and better."

Playing politics

Gappens admitted that the greatest obstacle to possibly expanding the New Hampshire track, which currently offers grandstand seating of 91,000, probably would be working with local and state government officials to vastly improve the road infrastructure leading into the facility. It's currently located nine miles from the nearest major Interstate exchange.

"You want fans to be able to get in and out in a timely fashion," he said.

But Gappens added that he already has seen positive signs of how that may very well occur.

"Fortunately, I think it speaks volumes for the sport of NASCAR when the announcement of the sale takes place on that Friday, Nov. 2, in Texas, and that afternoon the governor of New Hampshire is trying to get in touch with Bruton to congratulate him and welcome him to New Hampshire," Gappens said. "That wouldn't have happened five to 10 years ago. I don't think the governor of any state would have recognized the importance of NASCAR and what it meant.

"But Gov. [John] Lynch in New Hampshire did. He wants to have lunch with Bruton, and I think that will happen here within the next couple of weeks. I think local, state and even national government officials now recognize the importance and the value that a big event like a Sprint Cup Series race brings to their economy and to benefit them."

The New Hampshire presidential primaries are set for next Tuesday. Gappens, who said he has learned from the best race promoters in the business in Smith and Lowe's Motor Speedway track president Humpy Wheeler, said he already plans to play off that. He said he intends to offer the winner of both the Democratic and Republican primaries a chance to drive the pace car before the first two New Hampshire races he presides over, although he did acknowledge with a chuckle that they'll probably argue over which one drives first.

That's fine, Gappens added with a laugh, as long as the politicians realize what really matters in the state.

"Tuesday is a big race in New Hampshire from a political standpoint," Gappens said. "But the two biggest races in the state are coming up in June and September when NASCAR comes, and there are over 100,000 people at this facility."

He didn't have to add that the snow, as well as some of the doubt about the facility's future, should be long removed by then.