Welcome Back Loudon?
Jerry Gappens is at the Indianapolis 500 for the first time in sixteen years. He also happens to be the executive vice president and general manager of the New Hampshire Motor Speedway. He’s in Indianapolis with the hopes of bringing the IndyCars back to Loudon, NH. These days Loudon is perhaps best known for being one of the two most boring tracks that NASCAR races on. Well, there’s a reason for that. It was designed for IndyCars. The other is Pocono, which was also designed for IndyCars.
Getting back into the Northeast is logical for IndyCars (Portland would have a similar argument with the Northwest). A lot of people live up there, and hopefully it would be a successful return. It’s a new oval, and probably the only one out there, for consideration for next season. It isn’t owned by the colluding ISC. Finally, there has long been rumors that Speedway Motorsports, Inc. would pull one of its dates for a second Las Vegas race. Loudon on the schedule makes sense. It was also one of my favorite tracks on the greatest video game of all time.
May 11th, 2008 at 7:11 pm
well now… isn’t that an interesting little tidbit.
Hey, did you have fun at the track this week? Sucks about the weather.
May 12th, 2008 at 5:55 am
As a New Englander, all I can say is PLEASE come on back. The races at NHIS haven’t been the same since the IndyCars left. Yes, we sell out (100,000 seats) both NASCAR events, but boy are the races boring. Many of us went to all the open wheel races in NH up to the very end, last won by Connecticuts own Robbie Buhl if memory serves.
May 12th, 2008 at 7:31 am
They’ve put a little bit more banking into Loudon, but it’s still that quintessential Indycar design, aka Flat. I see the big problem being the schedule, thanks to the lovely New England weather! Question is whether the new owners, Speedway Motorsports, are willing to run the race when the IRL wants to, and not smack in the middle of the summer away from the NASCAR races?
I also second the need to return to Portland, which is by far a better race than Sonoma, Laguna Seca, and San Jose put together.
Indycar II was the best!
May 12th, 2008 at 7:50 am
Here’s a scheduling solution … drop Watkins Glen, pickup Loudon. That covers the Northeast market and free’s up a road course for Tony’s 6/6/6 plan. Then add Cleveland or Elkhart Lake.
May 12th, 2008 at 8:03 am
Not a bad idea “IndyCar”. Watkins Glen draws about the same crowds as an oval, so the IRL might as well move the race to an oval. Plus, the Loudon race was always entertaining to watch. Didn’t Nigel win the first race there?
May 12th, 2008 at 8:05 am
It’s certainly good to see that Gappens is living up to his words about wanting a third weekend. I covered the NASCAR races for a paper last year and while I didn’t find them boring, I still found myself wondering why the IRL couldn’t go back when I saw the great show that the open-wheel mods put on during the June weekend.
http://mvn.com/irl/2008/05/12/new-loudon-gm-wants-indycar-date-in-2009/
May 12th, 2008 at 8:45 am
The original ’stache’ won the first race on 7/5/92. Nigel won 8/8/93, followed by Al Jr. 8/21/94, Andre Ribero(!) 8/20/95, Scott Sharp 8/18/96, Robbie Buhl 8/17/97, and Tony Stewart 6/28/98. (source: http://www.nhms.com). Being a onetime fan of this particular race, an email in support of Jerry Gappens initiative would be appreciated at: nhmspr@nhms.com
May 12th, 2008 at 10:24 am
Chris, the IRL attendance bombed right from the start, much much worse than Phoenix. Once Bob Bahre got a hold of a second Cup date, he gave up on the IRL. If you listen to Curt Cavin’s show (www.1070thefan.com/trackside) he often mentions there are a few current venues Tony George is not pleased with that probably won’t be back. Watkins Glen is surely one of those, and unfortunately, I am kind of worried Milwaukee is another. Homestead would have to be one as well. Loudon is a great track for open wheel, look at the Modified shows there. You can race two or even three wide lap after lap. We need as many flat short ovals as possible, instead of the 1.5 mile IROC races. With Phoenix almost impossible due to ISC’s chicanery, Loudon and Milwaukee should be on the schedule.
May 12th, 2008 at 10:45 am
best video game ever indeed! funny, i was just talking about that game the other day while playing the indy 500 wii game. good to see i wasn’t the only one that loved the old better than the new
May 12th, 2008 at 2:30 pm
That indeed is one of the greatest games of all time!! IndyCar Series 2005 for Xbox is the best recent one, especially if you have a steering wheel.
May 12th, 2008 at 3:24 pm
Anyone remember Jerry Gappens doing pit reporting work on the 1987 Indy 500? He had the unenviable task of interviewing oft prickly Carl Haas.
Jerry sported a marvelous curly blonde head of hair (possibly a perm?), a spartan blue ABC firesuit, and the requisite 70’s era headphones and mic. I will say that he got on air congratulations from Jim Lampley for taking on the challenge of live interviewing Mr. Haas and also didn’t waste time running around the production trucks a’la Al Trautwig in the slowest developing humorous snippet in Indy 500 live race broadcast history.
Sorry, OK, I’ll admit I watch the old TV replays over and over and over.
May 12th, 2008 at 4:25 pm
First, I remember the IndyCar, IndyCar II, and all ICR2Editors and Track Conversion tools that (Gerhard Lundberg? <- why do I seem to remember that name?) created. In fact, I still have a working version I fire up now and then on an old CPU. Yes, Loudon was the best track for ICR2 racing.
I also remember Jerry Gappens and his work on pit road (I too fire up the 500 tapes every now and then). In fact, isn’t Jerry on some of those ESPN 500 racaps that used to run on the Ocho … err … Classic?
To the point at hand, I also think the IndyCars should return to the Magic Mile. I’ve had enough with the 1.5 milers and I’m sure a bunch of transitiion drivers would love to see a few of them go too. Handling is key to Loudon, which is the grand equalizer that makes places like Phoenix, Richmond and even Milwaukee so great.
May 13th, 2008 at 8:19 pm
I just had to post something so I could be Comment 12A as is usually listed on the qualifying sheets between spots 12 and 14
May 14th, 2008 at 2:18 pm
I wish my old ICR game would still run. It was a great game, even though I had to use a joystick because the software didn’t work with a wheel. I particularly loved Milwaukee and Nazareth on the old game, though it was fun to see just how fast I could trim the car out at Michigan.
I’ve campaigned for a long time that I’d love to see ICS get back to a “triple crown” of 500 mile races to include Indy, Michigan, and Pocono. Put up a multi-million dollar prize for any driver that wins all three in the same year and see what happens. (Insert sponsor name here.)
Both Michigan and Pocono are highly conducive to camping, so fans could set up shop for a full weekend of practice, qualifications, Indy Lights, and a 500 to really make a family outing of racing as it used to be in the old days.
Indy is already date certain (Memorial Day) Schedule Michigan around July 4th (on Sunday afternoon of the surrounding weekend to let NASCAR run at night on Saturday night at Daytona) and then run Pocono on Labor Day weekend, (again, on Sunday afternoon leaving the NASCAR California race for Monday night.)
I’m certain that if one could obtain the right sponsorship to get the purses up, you’d be seeing “3 offs” for the “Crown” rather than “1 offs” for Indy alone.