Back on track

I first started covering the NASCAR Cup Series appearances in Loudon back when there was two visits a year from the cycle and it was still New Hampshire International Speedway and owned by Alton resident Bob Bahre.

Over the years, I have missed a race or two, but always try to get to the track for at least part of the race weekend. When I first starting covering these races I marveled at the monstrous undertaking that putting on a NASCAR race was and I remember being impressed at how it was pulled off. I also remembering how cool it would be to cover the races all season long, going from track to track as the series moved around the country.

Since that time, I have started covering the Olympics and while NASCAR is a huge undertaking, the Olympics take that to another level. The work that goes into putting on the Olympics is like nothing else on earth, with multiple facilities, thousands of press, volunteers and staff to move around those multiple facilities is incredible.

That being said, I still love coming to Loudon. The atmosphere of a NASCAR event is different in many ways from any other sport. One of the big things that makes it so unique is the access that fans have to the inner workings of the sport. As a member of the media, I am used to having pretty decent access to pit road, garages and the like, but those things are available to the public as well. Garage and pit passes allow fans to get close to the action as teams get their cars ready for the race and even watch them work in the pits. For the most part, fans are not allowed to sit in the Fenway Park dugout and give Garrett Crochet pitching advice or sidle up next to Mike Vrabel on the Patriots sidelines and suggest a play to run. NASCAR is built around fan access and that is one of those things that makes the sport so unique.

When I am at the Olympics, I get the chance to get behind the scenes with some of the greatest athletes of our time and talk with them about their experience on the biggest stage in the world. If I am in the mixed zone at the bottom of a race course or in the bowels of a large arena or stadium, I know that I am getting access that most people don't get, but in NASCAR, fans can get pretty close. Sure, we get media center access, which includes press conferences and other amenities, but the NASCAR fan experience to me is probably the best of any sport.

Yeah, it's not Sochi, PyeongChang, Tokyo, Beijing, Paris or Milan-Cortina, but Loudon on NASCAR weekend is a fun time and getting here and spending the day is much cheaper than traveling around the world for the various Olympic experiences. '

As long as NASCAR keeps on coming through New England and I am able to get the credentials, I will continue to be here.

And I am pretty sure that I am the only person in the media center today writing stories about Gilford-Prospect Mountain girls' soccer, Kingswood football and Plymouth football.


Back at New Hampshire Motor Speedway for NASCAR weekend.

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