Speed51 broke the news on Christmas Eve that New Hampshire Motor Speedway will host the New England Short Track Showdown on July 1, a four-division special event sanctioned by the Granite State Pro Stock Series, the Valenti Modified Racing Series, and the North East Mini Stock Tour. Fifty-lap features for the GSPSS Super Late Models and VMRS Tour-type Modifieds, a 30-lap NEMST feature and a 30-lap street-stock open-competition event will round out the racing card for the standalone show.
If this sounds a bit familiar, that's because it should.
In 2015, the Pro All Stars Series, New England's senior SLM tour, announced a date at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. The tripleheader promised the PASS Super Late Models in a National Championship points race, with the NEMST and an open-competition "sportsman" race serving as undercards.
This was a must-see on my 2015 racing calendar. Toby Wells took advantage of Justin Larsen's failing car to win the NEMST feature, and Eddie MacDonald played the role of ringer as he took home the trophy in the PASS AIM Recycling 60.
Was it a success? Bob Guptill, the NEMST's promoter, certainly thinks so. He says he's been working since the 2015 event to bring the NEMST back to NHMS. And he has significant buy-in from GSPSS' Mike Parks and the VMRS' Jack Bateman (a former NASCAR Modified wheelman himself), both of whom look forward to making this a premier event on their respective tours' schedules.
As a fan of short-track racing, I want to see this succeed. Events like this can elevate the profile of short-track racing, or at least expose it to fans who haven't found it before. And events like this that also get promoters working together, rather than against each other, are a part of keeping grassroots racing alive.
At the same time, I don't know that this event will be a slam dunk.
The biggest concern I have is the draw these series have. Among late-model tours in New England, the GSPSS is the new kid on the block. The region's biggest names in fendered racing favor the established PASS and ACT. The VMRS exists in the shadow of NASCAR's own Whelen Modified Tour, though with a New England focus that the WMT has nudged away. NEMST is a great low-buck tour, one I've seen backing PASS and ACT in recent years. They're all legitimate regional tours, no doubt, but they're sort of the second-tier regional tours. Can they draw a lot of fans on their own merit?
To that end, both the GSPSS and VMRS hope to attract drivers from other regional tours to bolster the entry lists. On the fendered side, GSPSS tends to draw around 10-15 cars a race. The rest are a smattering of weekly-track racers and PASS drivers taking advantage of a weekend off. But PASS has its own event that weekend, a non-points race at Oxford that serves as a qualifier for the Oxford 250 in August. Add to that the number of weekly tracks running their points races on Friday and Saturday night, and some SLM teams will have some difficult decision-making ahead.
The VMRS has no conflict with the NASCAR Tour, and series promoter Jack Bateman hinted at talking to the NASCAR teams. But the date is not without conflict altogether; the Tri-Track Open Modified Series, attracting drivers from both the NASCAR Tour and VMRS, races that Wednesday at Seekonk (MA) Speedway. And the new-for-2017 Modified Touring Series, still finalizing their inaugural schedule, has promised a race that evening at Monadnock Speedway in Winchester, NH.
I'm sure some teams have the resources to pull a doubleheader that week, but others will have to weigh their loyalties against prize money and see who wins. We could easily see thirty cars in the GSPSS feature. We could just as easily see twelve.
What will define "success" for this event? People "in the know" have thrown around a figure of 4,000 fans in the stands for the PASS event. That seems low, but how many fans fit around PASS' usual haunts on a weekly basis? And 4,000 fans will disappear quickly into grandstands built for 80,000. I'll guess that 4,000 fans will be a pretty solid draw for the GSPSS and VMRS. But I don't know if NHMS will accept that.
Provided real life doesn't intervene, I plan on being at the Short Track Showdown. I haven't seen the GSPSS or VMRS in a feature race yet, and depending how the first half of the year goes, this might be my first chance to see either. And for all my reservations, I do want to see this race weekend succeed. New Hampshire Motor Speedway built its reputation by welcoming NASCAR's short track series (the Busch North and Modified Tour) for support races on the big track. In the mid-1990s, the two tours were drawing 10,000 fans for standalone events. The Modifieds quickly became a must-see at Loudon, often the best race of the weekend. And their success opened the door for the Busch Series and later Cup to join them at the Magic Mile.
This is a throwback to those days. And if it draws more fans to Loudon and to the series' own standalone dates, it's a net good for all involved.
To that end, both the GSPSS and VMRS hope to attract drivers from other regional tours to bolster the entry lists. On the fendered side, GSPSS tends to draw around 10-15 cars a race. The rest are a smattering of weekly-track racers and PASS drivers taking advantage of a weekend off. But PASS has its own event that weekend, a non-points race at Oxford that serves as a qualifier for the Oxford 250 in August. Add to that the number of weekly tracks running their points races on Friday and Saturday night, and some SLM teams will have some difficult decision-making ahead.
The VMRS has no conflict with the NASCAR Tour, and series promoter Jack Bateman hinted at talking to the NASCAR teams. But the date is not without conflict altogether; the Tri-Track Open Modified Series, attracting drivers from both the NASCAR Tour and VMRS, races that Wednesday at Seekonk (MA) Speedway. And the new-for-2017 Modified Touring Series, still finalizing their inaugural schedule, has promised a race that evening at Monadnock Speedway in Winchester, NH.
I'm sure some teams have the resources to pull a doubleheader that week, but others will have to weigh their loyalties against prize money and see who wins. We could easily see thirty cars in the GSPSS feature. We could just as easily see twelve.
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Provided real life doesn't intervene, I plan on being at the Short Track Showdown. I haven't seen the GSPSS or VMRS in a feature race yet, and depending how the first half of the year goes, this might be my first chance to see either. And for all my reservations, I do want to see this race weekend succeed. New Hampshire Motor Speedway built its reputation by welcoming NASCAR's short track series (the Busch North and Modified Tour) for support races on the big track. In the mid-1990s, the two tours were drawing 10,000 fans for standalone events. The Modifieds quickly became a must-see at Loudon, often the best race of the weekend. And their success opened the door for the Busch Series and later Cup to join them at the Magic Mile.
This is a throwback to those days. And if it draws more fans to Loudon and to the series' own standalone dates, it's a net good for all involved.
