A FAN'S STAND
by Jeannine Petriel

A New Hampshire Fan’s Stand: The Beginning of the End
Friday, November 23, 2007

We knew we couldn’t hold it off forever, no matter how hard we tried. I held out hope that the Behres would not sell NHIS, but down deep I knew when Gary said he didn’t want to run the track alone that Bruton would end up as the track owner. On November 2, 2007, one of the two remaining family owned tracks became another conquest in the SMI/ISC Monopoly game.

I know that many long time NASCAR fans are saying that NHIS fans are just getting what they deserve, but I disagree.

For those who don’t know how NHIS got its first NASCAR race date, Bruton Smith and Bob Behre bought the track in North Wilkesboro, NC in 1996 and split the two race dates the track had between NHIS and Texas Motor Speedway. Many people were, and still are, upset about North Wilkesboro being put out to pasture.

I didn’t have the privilege of watching the races at North Wilkesboro due to lack of cable TV, but I am sure that they were good races. The small southern tracks like Darlington and Rockingham always make for good racing so I can understand why North Wilkesboro fans were unhappy and will be glad to see NHIS lose a date.

So why do I think that NHIS losing a date isn’t fair, other than it is my local track? Because 100,000 fans, along with all the local businesses aren’t inanimate objects to be jockeyed around by multi-millionaires who could care less about the fans. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think that Darlington, Rockingham and North Wilkesboro fans should have been treated the way they were.

I sometimes feel like we fans are just little spectators in a giant Monopoly game. At the beginning of the game, there were lots of players. Each player owned one, maybe two properties and we the fans traveled around the board very easily. One player (Big Bill) was kind of like the banker, but basically everyone was still in the game.

Then players sold out to the major players and Big Bill passed the banking duties on to his son Bill Jr. who passed them onto his son Brian.

Now we have three players left in the game: Bruton Smith, Lesa Kennedy and the Mattioli family and nobody thinks that the Mattiolis are going to be players much longer.

When there were lots of players in the game, what the fans wanted was very important, but now that there are only three players left, they could care less about the fans.

I will still buy tickets to the September 2008 New Hampshire race because there are good races up there, but I have the feeling that it will be the last race I will see there, not by my choice but by the choice of a man who could care less about what the fans want.

Maybe it is time for fans to start making our feelings know with our dollars and our TV remotes. Who knows? Maybe the players will start to pay attention to us again.

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