Good show could mean return trip to NHMS for IndyCars

Tomorrow’s MoveThatBlock.com Indy 225 race will mark the return of the Izod IndyCar Series to New Hampshire Motor Speedway after a 13-year hiatus. The drivers are well aware of the importance of putting on a good show to draw more fans and ensure the mile-oval at NHMS becomes a permanent fixture on the IndyCar Series schedule.

“This is a great market and we need to be here,’’ said Ryan Hunter-Reay, driver of the No. 28 Honda-powered Dallara fielded by Andretti Autosport. “Hopefully we’ll have good attendance on Sunday that makes it worthwhile coming back.

“I think we’d all like that. I think the short ovals are good for racing.’’

Mile ovals such as NHMS appear to suit Hunter-Reay, who has the all-time IndyCar records for most laps led in a race, most consecutive laps led in a race, and most laps led in a race by a race winner after winning a 250-lap event June 5, 2004, at The Milwaukee Mile, a flat mile oval to which NHMS has been compared.

“It seems to be really hard to pass in practice, but once you get out there in the race and you have guys falling off, it really comes alive,’’ Hunter-Reay said. “It would be nice to come back year after year.’’

When he was 12, Hunter-Reay and his father came to Loudon in 1995 to watch Andre Ribeiro win his first race in what proved to be the last IndyCar race at NHMS sanctioned by the now-defunct Championship Auto Racing Teams.

“I went to a few races with Dad to Mid-Ohio and Loudon, a couple of others, Road America, maybe,’’ Hunter-Reay said. “I’m not sure why we picked this one. At that time, I was just happy to go to an IndyCar race.

“It’s beautiful around here. It’s a great place to have a race,’’ he said. Boston Globe