The new face of New Hampshire Motor Speedway smiles a lot.
He wears Clark Kent-like glasses and sports a golly-gee persona, yet he turns into Superman when it’s time to advocate for the track in Loudon. He’s worked his way up through a long career, in sales and marketing and advertising and promotion.
Currently he’s NHMS’s executive vice president and general manager, which means if you want to know what the speedway and its two feature races have to offer – not to mention anything else connected to the facility – David McGrath, 53, is your man.
He may very well be the friendliest man on the planet.
“We all have bad days, we can all be tested, we can all be pushed,” McGrath told me Thursday in his cushy office at the speedway. “I try not to ever fly off the handle. It’s not my style. It’s praise in public and have any conversation you need in private. How do you do it if you’re not having any fun?”
He’s been on the job since October, hired to replace Jerry Gappens, who left in a swirl of controversy after his arrest on a lewdness charge last year.
So now Bruton Smith and his son, Marcus, who own eight NASCAR tracks, including NHMS, through Speedway Motorsports Inc., are depending on McGrath to polish any leftover tarnish. Sunday’s New Hampshire 301 NASCAR Sprint Cup race will be the first major event held in the McGrath era.
“He’s loved and respected by the team at New Hampshire Motor Speedway,” Marcus Smith, the chief operating officer for Speedway Motorsports Inc., said by phone. “He has great experience in the market place in that region. We had a group of young stars in different areas and in different departments, but David was the best option at this time for the role. He filled it perfectly.”
Separating sincerity from public relations-oriented behavior is never easy for a newspaper writer, especially when you’re trying to size someone up in an hour. I’ve been duped more than once.
But I’ll go out on a limb here and say that McGrath is the real deal.
He hopped off a golf cart Thursday during a tour of the speedway to pick up a sign that had fallen.
Once, after meeting a young woman through work and learning her favorite driver was Kasey Kahne, McGrath picked up a lug nut left on the ground by Kahne’s pit crew and later gave it to her, simply because he knew she’d be thrilled.
“The funny part about that is I love the passion these fans have,” McGrath said. “They eat that stuff up, they’re passionate about it and it’s kind of neat and I love to share that.”
McGrath shared a lot with me. He grew up in Marlborough, Mass., 30 miles west of Boston, and married his high school sweetheart. The Boston area shines from him like the Citgo sign above Fenway Park’s Green Monster.
He’s the youngest of 11 children in an Irish catholic family. Two of his brothers are firefighters, he calls his brother Richard “Dickie,” he grew up loving Red Sox greats Fred Lynn and Jim Rice in the 1970s, and, with seven older brothers, says he was “familiar with the word wedgie.”
The letter “R” is often missing from his pronunciations, and he’s very critical of the Boston accent in recent movies filmed there. He loved Black Mass, which starred Johnny Depp as Boston’s most famous crime lord, but says “I’m no Whitey Bulger, that’s for sure.”
“In TheDepahted, Jack (Nicholson) did okay,” McGrath continued, referring to the portrayal of Boston’s accent in the famed gangster movie, The Departed. “Matt Damon was on fire, he was great, and I think Leonardo DiCaprio did okay. But when (the accent is) bad, it’s so bad. I can’t remember the actor in the movie about the Kennedys, but it was awful.”
He’s suffered tragedy as well, losing two of his brothers to brain cancer. But his parents are still alive, both in their 90s, and Christmas is a blast each year at his sister’s house in Holliston, Mass., where many of his 27 nieces and nephews annually celebrate the holiday.
One topic McGrath wanted nothing to do with was Gappens, who was arrested last January and charged with lewdness after police, monitoring illicit activities in a downtown Manchester parking lot, saw the former speedway VP and GM in a vehicle with a 19-year-old woman. She was arrested as well.
Gappens – who pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge – resigned after last season, saying his decision had nothing to do with his arrest.
“I don’t want to go there at all,” McGrath said. “I’m not going there at all, but I believe our sport certainly caters to families, and I want to continue to find ways that we can attract families to come here.”
McGrath provides a sharp contrast to his predecessor, although both never met a handshake and conversation they didn’t like.
Gappens was a sharp dresser who courted media attention. He once posed with four bathing suit-clad models, wrapped in speedway towels, during a promotion for a new bathroom facility at the track.
Another time, during a press conference in the NHMS media center, he gave a pair of golden stilettos to driver Danica Patrick as a gift.
I couldn’t picture McGrath in those roles. He wore a striped polo shirt Thursday and a giant smile that reminded me of John Boy from the Waltons. He seems to blend an outgoing spirit with a modest flavor.
“I have an ego; it’s in our DNA,” McGrath said. “But I tend to be more reserved, and I believe none of us is as smart as all of us.”
Added Kristen Lestock, the speedway’s director of communications, “He’s great to work with, easy to get along with, great leadership and someone who will help you at any time.”
Lestock and Gavin Faretra, the communications manager, stayed in McGrath’s office after leading me there to meet him. They sat at a table with us, and Lestock said she stuck around because she was happy to see me again, after I’d worked with her for years during my time in our sports department.
It seemed odd, though, and I couldn’t help but think their presence was somehow connected to leftover tension from the Gappens episode, certainly a public relations nightmare.
McGrath appears to be the perfect person for damage control. He’s also got creative ideas to make race weekends more attractive to fans, like infield passes that are good for the entire race, not just before.
There’s also an elevated display deck at Turn 1, with shade, food and drink, giving spectators a new view of the race.
The new era, led by the new guy, begins Sunday.
“I see areas on the property that I think are under utilized,” McGrath said. “I’m not going to do that by doing things the way we’ve always done them. I’ve got to think about it, not being afraid to change things up and try things differently and learn.
“I’ve got a good team under me. They’re fearless.”
McGrath then nodded toward the two members of his staff, Lestock and Faretra.
Smiling, of course.
(Ray Duckler can be reached at 369-3304, or rduckler@cmonitor.com or on Twitter @rayduckler.)