Former LVMS president, NASCAR track owner Bob Bahre dies
Bob Bahre, who was instrumental in bringing NASCAR to Las Vegas Motor Speedway, has died. He was 93.
The automotive enthusiast and his son, Gary, also once owned and operated New Hampshire Motor Speedway. They were hired by LVMS founder Richie Clyne in 1997 to manage the track and facilitate the arrival of NASCAR in Las Vegas.
“What I’ll remember most about Bob Bahre will be his character — understated yet charming,” said Speedway Motor Sports president and CEO Marcus Smith, whose father, Bruton, purchased LVMS in December 1998. “I always enjoyed our conversations. He was very generous to people in the motorsports industry and to the New England communities where he did business.”
Bob Bahre was responsible for redeveloping Bryar Motorsports Park and reopening it as New Hampshire Motor Speedway in 1990. The connection between Bahre and Las Vegas also was partly responsible for his family getting into the casino business in Oxford, Maine, where he had once owned a dirt track.
He said the first time he had set foot in a casino was when he and Gary ran LVMS.
The local speedway was able to secure its fall NASCAR Cup Series race by moving it from New Hampshire in 2018, although the Bahres were not involved in that transaction after selling NHMS to Bruton Smith before the 2008 racing season.
Contact Ron Kantowski at rkantowski@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0352. Follow @ronkantowski on Twitter.
