IRL spurns NHMS of 2009 date

Jerry Gappens, executive vice president and general manager of New Hampshire Motor Speedway, lashed out at the Indy Racing League for omitting his track in Loudon, N.H., from the 2009 IndyCar Series schedule, calling the league's decision, ``a slap in the face to our chairman Bruton Smith [of Speedway Motorsports Inc.] and to our company who have been very supportive of the Indy Racing League since its inception, and to Bob Bahre, who was the first [track owner] to agree to go with them when they split off.''

Last month, Gappens indicated there was strong interest among IRL officials to bring an open-wheel race back to New England and reported that Eddie Gossage, president and general manager of Texas Motor Speedway, had been engaged on SMI's behalf in licensing negotiations with the IRL, which unified in January with the now defunct Champ Car World Series and absorbed some of its events.

``I sat it a meeting and watched Bruton ask them for a race here [at NHMS], which they seemed extremely interested in doing, pending scheduling conflicts with Japan,'' Gappens said in a released statement. ``In addition, in that same meeting, they asked him to host the series finale in Las Vegas, which he agreed to and even offered the speedway and financial support to do it this year. Having attended that meeting in early June, it's hard to believe that neither is on the new schedule.''

Gappens said the track conducted a survey on its website, polling its fans on the possible return of IndyCar racing to New Hampshire, and that ``80 percent of our fans said they wanted to see this exciting form of motorsports return.

``That's a strong endorsement,'' Gappens said. ``I don't understand the decision not to include our facility on next year's schedule.''

Gappens indicated the feedback that had been conveyed to him on the IRL's decision was that
the league, which currently has 17 races on its schedule, didn't want to add an additional race to the schedule because of the added cost it meant to its teams.

``However, I would think that an additional purse and the strength of adding the seventh largest media market in the country would offset those costs and concerns,'' Gappens said. ``I think this market and facility have a lot to offer the team and series sponsors.

``I thought that Eddie Gossage, who on behalf of Speedway Motorsports, made an excellent proposal to the league, which included Las Vegas and New Hampshire,'' Gappens continued. ``I don't want to burn any bridges, but I am upset to be excluded.

``I am a big fan of open-wheel racing, strongly admire what the Hulman-George family has done for this sport and promise that we would have worked hard to promote a race in this market. They know they would get an excellent effort from our team here at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. History has proven that this venue provided exciting races. Now, we'll see what happens down the road.''