Top Row Seat - New Hampshire

Dateline: 09/16/97

Expansion vs. Tradition

Bob Bahre's racing palace in Loudon, New Hampshire is a beautiful facility which continues to improve each year. Last weekend's race marked the first time that the NASCAR Winston Cup stars have run at this one mile oval twice in the same season. It was another fine event at a fine track, but at what cost?

The Grand Marshal for the event was Mike Staley, former president of North Wilkesboro Motor Speedway, who sold his share of the corporation to Bob Bahre so that New Hampshire could take it's fall Winston Cup date (the other date went to Bruton Smith's new Texas Motor Speedway.) The special commemorative ticket featured the late Enoch Staley who founded North Wilkesboro back in 1947.

I was fortunate to be able to attend the next-to-last Winston Cup race at that great race track last spring and it is truly NASCAR's loss that this historic, charming little short track is no longer on the NASCAR schedule. While I agree that NASCAR needs 150,000 seat shrines in order to expand it's empire and decentralize from the southeast, NASCAR also needs to remember where it's roots are. Bob Bahre tipped his hat to history this weekend. It was a nice gesture, but I'd rather have seen them racing on the oddly shaped, uphill/downhill oval that the Staley family built.

The Race

Gordon again proved that he has the best equipment and the best crew chief in the business. Ray Evernham's gutsy decision to not get tires on his final pitstop proved to be the winning call on this very tight oval where track position is everything. I'll say it again, Ray Evernham is the best crew chief in NASCAR.

The first caution of the day was brought out when Jeff Gordon got into the back of Geoff Bodine and spun him out. Did Jeff hit him intentionally? Well, he probably didn't go out of his way to miss him. :) Do I have a problem with it? Nope. Geoff Bodine has been bumping his way past people all year. This time he put a bumper on Gordon early in the race then, a few laps later, Gordon caught him and... well, did unto Bodine as he had done unto him. It's nice to see Jeff applying his religion on the racetrack. :) Actually, I enjoyed seeing NASCAR justice carried out so efficiently.

The Championship Chase

Mark Martin posted his 15th top ten finish in his last 17 starts by finishing ninth. Dale Jarrett also brought home a strong top ten finish in sixth place. Normally these are the types of consistent performances which make Winston Cup Champions, yet this week they both lost ground to Jeff Gordon who won the race and picked up 5 bonus points for leading and 5 more for leading the most laps.

The last time I looked at the points race there were five drivers left with a realistic chance, now it's down to three with Jeff Burton in fourth 332 points behind. Although anyone in the top 18 positions still has a mathematical chance at the title, realistically it's a three horse race with Gordon pulling away fast.

Quote Of The Week

Mark Martin looking ahead to this week's race at Dover Downs said, "The car just feels different on concrete. It dances, it jiggles, it wiggles. Tell me that won't get your attention pretty quick, steaming around a one-mile speedway every 24 seconds while your race car is doing the macarena."
(Mike Mulhern, JournalNow via the StockCarFans newsletter)

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