== Bike-Walk Alliance of NH ==

History of the NH International Speedway

The New Hampshire International Speedway in Loudon is one of the most unusual tracks on the Nextel Cup Series. How unusual? The track has been described as "Martinsville on steroids."

The speedway is owned by the Bahre family, whose roots in New England racing go back to 1964 when Bob Bahre acquired a track in Oxford, Maine, which he and his son, Gary, operated until 1986. The Bahres' efforts to bring a major racing facility took off in 1989 when ground was broken for New Hampshire International Speedway on a site about 10 miles north of New Hampshire's capital city of Concord.

The track opened its gates for the first time in June 1990 and played host to its first NASCAR touring series event, the Budweiser 300 for Busch Series. The Cup Series followed in July 1993, with Rusty Wallace getting the victory. In July 2000, NHIS became the first facility to draw more than 100,000 sports fans for a single-day event. Jeff Burton is the career leader with four Cup victories at NHIS. Burton's list of victories at New Hampshire International Speedway includes the Dura Lube 300 in 2000, in which Burton led every lap.

In 2004, New Hampshire International Speedway played host to the first race in the inaugural Chase for the Nextel Cup. As it turned out, that race played a big role in how the battle for the championship played out.

Tony Stewart, Ryan Newman and Jeremy Mayfield were involved in a wreck that put an early dent in their championship hopes, while Kurt Busch - who had won the July race at New Hampshire International Speedway as well - completed a season's sweep that propelled him toward the 2004 Nextel Cup championship.

Credit: Information provided by the AAA Merrimack Valley, April 2006 edition of the AAA Valley News.