The south entrance New Hampshire Motor Speedway will begin to take on a new look once the snow melts. Speedway officials announced plans to break ground there for the future home of the 20,000 square foot state-of-the-art North East Motor Sports Museum. The museum will be built in two phases. The first 10,000 square feet will begin in the spring of 2015, while an additional 10,000 square feet will be added at a later date. New Hampshire Motor Speedway will be celebrating a quarter century of racing in 2015. Tracing its roots back to the original 1/5-mile dirt oval at Bryar Motorsports Park, the more modernized 1.058-mile oval and 1.6-mile road course of today gives the affectionately known Magic Mile its own rich history of racing that makes it the perfect locale for such a project.
The speedway currently hosts everything from NASCAR’s three major touring series to regional series like the American-Canadian Tour, K&N Pro Series East, and Whelen Modified Tour to local racing series like the Granite State Legends Cars, Bandoleros, and Loudon Road Race Series (motorcycles). IndyCar and the Global RallyCross Championship have also held events at the speedway over the years, as well as various car clubs, racing schools, and driving experiences. The RHPG, the parent corporation for the NEMSM, is made up of local prominent motorsports personalities, including Dick Berggren, Ricky Craven, Lew Boyd, Joe Freeman, Ken Smith, Russ Conway and Ric Mariscal to name a few. The NEMSM will be used to house the history of motor sports from the Northeast area with a plethora of displays, vehicles and racing-related artifacts.
Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park (TSMP) is pleased to announce the date for their second annual Vintage Motorsports Festival. The three-day event will be held June 19 – 21, 2015, with a test day for participants on June 18th, and will once again be co-sanctioned by the Vintage Racer Group (VRG) and Vintage Sports Car Club of America (VSCCA).
“Our inaugural Vintage Motorsports Festival was a rousing success,” said Josh Vanada, General Manager of TSMP. “Showcasing cars from each of the periods that our road course has operated, it is a fantastic event which embodies our rich 75 year history. We are looking forward to working together with two of the finest vintage automobile groups in the country – VSCCA and VRG – for an even bigger and better event in 2015.”
The inaugural Vintage Motorsports Festival held this past June, featured a large array of over 220 vintage race cars ranging in years from throughout the past century.
“We in the VSCCA had a great turnout this year particularly in the pre-war group,” said Mike Virr, VSCCA Event Chair. “Judging by the positive remarks I kept getting, even months afterwards, everyone enjoyed both the racing and the facilities. We look forward to an even bigger entry in 2015 and great racing.”
The festival will continue the tradition of celebrating the history of Thompson’s 1.7 mile road course as the oldest closed circuit road course in the United States, since it originally opened in 1952. All four days of the event will be open to spectators.
“The Vintage Racer Group (VRG) is proud to co-sanction the 2nd Annual Vintage Motorsports Festival (VMF) at TSMP – one of the most historic motorsports venues in the nation,” said Paul King, VRG co-chair of the event. “The 2014 inaugural event was a huge success, with over 220 cars on track for 3 days of great racing. If you missed it this year, you will most certainly want to include the VMF in your racing calendar for 2015!”