Thank you for your interest in the Beaulieu Blog, I still can’t see how anything I have to say can be that interesting, but here it goes. This past weekend we traveled to New Hampshire Motor Speedway for some more road course racing, and I’ve got to say, to whoever may think it’s boring, or not enough action, you should’ve been there this past weekend. Absolutely the best racing we’ve had all season has been in each of the road course races, and each has come down to the last lap. After each one of the races, I say that’s the most fun I’ve had in a car, or the hardest I’ve had to work in the car, we just keep one upping ourselves each time. We started racing Legends full time at the Magic Mile last season, but before that, it was many years of our hard work and dedication that has lead to what it is now.
With the new Granite State Legends Dealership being built and the increased interest in Legends Cars in the area, the one man that has been at it since the start is my father, Todd. As soon as Bruton Smith bought the track back in 2007, my dad and I got right to work to try and get our foot in the door with the Legends Cars. It started off slow, but as soon as we met Tom Blanchette and met with him, we were in. After going to the track for each Nascar Cup race since I was 5, we were treated to something different that next year, as we had a booth by the front entrance promoting both Nelcar and Legends Cars. During that time, it was my rookie year, there was mainly only Maine drivers, and we raced at only Maine tracks with the occasional trip to Lee Speedway. After that, we were much more diversified as a series, and now most of our races take place south of Kittery and there is quite an involvement from New Hampshire drivers that you never saw before. All the credit has to go to my dad, Terry Kirk, Bob Weymouth, Ed Getty, and everyone that put their car in the booth for those weekends, for two years we did that and promoted our product. They are what really got the ball rolling at NHMS.
Early in 2009, we had a test up in the “bowl” behind the backstretch, and we decided at the time that the track was too narrow to work for our cars, but earlier this season, the go-karts took to that very track we tried back then, and it works great for them. Early the next year, we had a test in turns one and two, a test consisting of myself, Bob Weymouth, Ed Getty and Terry Kirk. Terry and I even put on a great demonstration race for the officials at NHMS, and after that day we decided that’s where the racetrack would be. In 2010, we had our first race there, on the biggest stage I had raced on, in front of the Nascar Sprint Cup Series crowd on the Sunday morning of the Sylvania 300. While I had a hard time in the race, I was just happy to be there and appreciated all the hard work that had gone into that race. In 2011 we ran our first full season there and then this season I got my first win there on the road course, and along with seven, second place finishes, it’s safe to say we’ve had quite a bit of success at the track.
The real success though, is the fact that now we are a much more diverse tour with a lot of different drivers and backgrounds, and that would have never happened had it not been for our involvement with NHMS. And I believe it’s safe to say that wouldn’t of ever happened as quickly as it did without the direction and vision that my father had, five years ago. Here’s to many more years of great Legends Car racing in New England, and I’m looking forward to seeing what 2013 brings this great series.
