Bob Bahre, who 30 years ago opened and owned the first and still only superspeedway in New England, bringing major league stock car racing to tiny Loudon, died Friday at the age of 93.
The cause of death was not released.
Bahre owned New Hampshire International Speedway for nearly 20 years, turning it into a 1.058-mile oval that NASCAR, in its quest to penetrate the New England Market, could not ignore.
A tweet came from former driver Ricky Craven, who, along with Bahre, had deep roots in Maine and helped legitimize a sport that had always been associated with the deep south.
“I am very sorry to hear this sad news about Bob,” wrote Craven, who moved from Maine to Concord three decades ago, as he began to climb the NASCAR ladder.
“He loved racing and race fans and when he built New Hampshire race track he wanted it to be the best. I knew his health was declining. My thoughts and prayers are with Bob’s Family and many Friends. May God grant them peace R.I.P.”
Bahre bought Oxford Plains Speedway in 1964 and owned it for 23 years, selling it in 1987. By then, the short-track course was considered the jewel of New England stock car racing.
But Bahre, once a real estate tycoon and lover of mint antique cars, brought that moniker to Loudon for his new track, named New Hampshire International Speedway. Ground was broken in 1989.
He brought what was then called the Winston Cup – NASCAR’s top tier that has switched sponsors several times since – to his superspeedway in 1992. The track has remained on the Cup scheduled since.
But the speedway had a race taken away three years ago and moved to Las Vegas.
The move was fueled by Billionaire Bruton Smith, who had bought the speedway from Bahre in 2007 for $340,000,000 and changed the name to New Hampshire Motorspeedway, its current name.
Race fans in New England immediately reacted to Smith’s decision, made because he had complained about a lack of cooperation from the town as he attempted to make renovations, including adding seats and lights.
The speedway eventually grew to 100,000 seats, added hundreds of millions of dollars to the local economy and created thousands of jobs.
Still, Smith, who owns nine tracks on the circuit through his Speedway Motorsports Company, drew the ire of NASCAR fans in New England.
Bahre retired with his wife and son and lived part-time at his 38,000 square foot lakeside mansion in Lake Winnipesaukee. He served as a sharp contrast to Smith, who fans believed was planning to move one of the Loudon Cup races to Las Vegas as soon as bought the track from Bahre.
Meanwhile, Bahre cut a down-home, folksy, unassuming figure who could be seen roaming his Superspeedway picking up trash and wearing the same colored khakis, tan, and button-down shirt, white, each and every day.
Craven and Bahre remained close friends to the end, with the red-headed driver handing a lot of the credit to Bahre for launching his career and bringing a new fan base to the sport.