September 20, 2007
By Allen Madding

Allen Madding

In 1964, Bahre purchased Oxford Plains Speedway in Oxford, Maine and began his career as a track owner and promoter. When Bahre purchased the one-third asphalt track at Oxford, it was in disrepair and it was quite clear that he had his work cut out for him. Bahre set to work. The original wooden grandstands were replaced with a steel structure designed to seat nearly 15,000. Bahre managed to obtain NASCAR sanctioning and in September of 1965, held a NASCAR Modified Tour event at Oxford.

In 1965, Bahre added a NHRA drag strip adjacent to the circle track bringing professional drag racing to the area as well. In 1986, Bahre sold the track to Michael Liberty and set out on a new adventure.

Bob Bahre endured the locals scoffing at him when he bought Bryar Motorsports Park near Loudon, New Hampshire in 1989 and began building a one-mile semi-banked asphalt speedway. NASCAR announced that it would make no guarantees of race dates and that it did not grant race dates to tracks that did not exist.

Bahre was undeterred by the detractors and pressed on with his project. By November of 1989, the main grandstand was erected with a capacity of 55,000. By April 1990, the 1.058-mile track surface was paved. By May, a 1.6-mile road course was also paved. On June 5, 1990 a ribbon cutting ceremony was held at the track and followed by the first race on June 17th – the Loudon Classic. The NASCAR Busch Grand National Series held the Budweiser 300 on July 15, marking the first NASCAR event at the new facility.

The CART Series held its first event at Loudon, the New England 200, on July 5, 1992.

On July 11, 1993, Bahre and New Hampshire Raceway hosted its first NASCAR Winston Cup Series event, the Slick 50 300. Rusty Wallace won driving the Penske Pontiac. In 1993 and 1994, Bahre began projects to add seating to the track.

The Indy Racing League made its first visit to the facility and held the True Value 200 at Loudon on August 18, 1996.

In September of 1996, Bahre and Bruton Smith partnered to purchase North Wilkesboro Speedway in North Carolina. Upon the conclusion of the NASCAR Winston Cup Series Tyson Farms 400, the two men officially closed North Wilkesboro Speedway permanently. Smith took one of the tracks two Winston Cup dates and moved it to his Texas Motor Speedway and Bahre took the other date and moved it to Loudon for New Hampshire International Speedway’s second Winston Cup event for each year. In 1997, to alleviate traffic flow problems, Bahre constructed a five-lane perimeter access roadway.

In 2000, Adam Petty and Kenny Irwin were killed in crashes in turn 3 at New Hampshire International Speedway within months of each other. NASCAR responded the following season by imposing carburetor restrictor plates on the Cup Series cars when they returned to the track. Without acceleration, it made for the most boring race ever held at New Hampshire. Jeff Burton led every lap. Bahre widened the turns and repaved the track surface. In 2003, he installed the SAFER barriers to soften the blow of crashing into the walls in the turns of the track.

In 2004, while making his 120-mile trip from Loudon to his home in Paris, Maine, Bahre apparently fell asleep. His vehicle left the road surface and struck a tree. Bahre sustained a fractured vertebrae, a broken ankle, a concussion and rib injuries. Bahre recovered from his injuries and months of rehabilitation and continued with managing the New Hampshire International Speedway.

The thoughts and ideas expressed by this writer or any other writer on Insider Racing News, are not necessarily the views of the staff and/or management of IRN.