Speedway says Loudon police chief has his own agenda

New Hampshire Motor Speedway yesterday issued a letter to the Loudon selectmen accusing police Chief Bob Fiske of a "direct financial interest" that the track believes should disqualify him from negotiating the cost of police and fire coverage for next week's NASCAR race weekend.

The track released pay schedules showing Fiske, who could not be reached for comment yesterday, collected $7,350 for 10 days of coverage for last June's NASCAR race and $3,800 for five days of work in September. Over the past 10 years, Fiske has personally pocketed more than $100,000 from the track, said Jerry Gappens, the speedway's executive vice president.

"That's just out of the ordinary that a public official would have that kind of financial gain from a public service," Gappens said.

The disclosure of Fiske's income from the track comes as the speedway and the town are at an impasse over the cost of providing protection during and before the June 27 Sprint Cup race. Fiske, who organizes coverage of the event, believes the lowest he can go is about $170,000, while track owner Bruton Smith is refusing to pay more than $65,000.

Smith said last night that he is "absolutely" considering pulling next year's June NASCAR race out of Loudon if the standoff with Fiske continues.

"I don't have to live like this. I don't have to put my people through this," Smith said. "There are other places where we can run this event."

Gappens said Fiske is straddling a "blatant conflict of interest for creating the plan that personally benefits him as well as members of his family," noting that Fiske's son, Jason, a Loudon police officer, and his daughter, Stacie, an officer in Northfield, patrol at the track.

Throughout the dispute over track coverage, the Loudon selectmen have supported Fiske. On Tuesday, they sent a letter to the speedway citing state law in their assertion that Fiske is the "final arbiter of what is necessary to ensure public safety."

"(Fiske's) integrity, as far as I'm concerned, as far as the other two selectmen are concerned, is unquestionable," Selectman Steven Ives said. "This is where he grew up. . . . He will do what's right for the town."

Selectmen Chairman Roger Maxfield spoke on the phone with Smith yesterday. Regarding Fiske's income from covering the track, Maxfield said, "it only makes sense that if you're the police chief you would have involvement in the operations."

"If we're going to lose the race that's really unfortunate," Maxfield said. "I'd hate to see it go."

For NASCAR race weekends, Fiske compiles a team of about 80 officers from communities throughout the state who earn a $43-per-hour overtime rate for patrolling along the highway and on the speedway grounds.

Gappens said the power Fiske has accrued over the years has made it hard to get the selectmen to diverge from his plan.

Gappens said the track proposed saving about $50,000 by replacing some of Fiske's officers with private security personnel making $21 per hour and running all of the officers covering the track through the speedway's payroll to avoid a $6 administrative fee built into their overtime rate. Gappens said Fiske told him in a private meeting "it's his town, it's his plan - if I didn't like it, tough."

"It's clear Bob Fiske runs the town," Gappens said. "It's not the citizens. It's not the selectmen. It seems it's his way or no way."

Unlike the other officers, Fiske earns $50 per hour for "special duty" pay, Gappens said. For last year's June race, Fiske reported 19-hour days on Thursday, Friday and Saturday and a 20-hour day when the race took place on a Sunday.

"I don't care who you are or what business you're in — is that really necessary and is it safe that . . . he's operating on only a couple hours of sleep?" Gappens said.

Smith said Fiske "gouges that speedway right and left."

But Ives defended Fiske's hours and recalled working similarly long shifts, at least on race day, when he worked for the Loudon Fire Department.

"I'd get there at 6 in the morning and not get out until 2 in the morning," he said.

For the September 2009 race, in response to pressure from the speedway to cut from a public safety budget it viewed as excessive, Fiske shaved the cost of police and fire coverage from $266,000 in June to $174,500. The same amount is what Fiske and the town are requesting this year.

If that figure is not met by the speedway, Ives said the town will still provide police and fire coverage for next week's race.

"In all fairness to the people who are going there, we couldn't leave them high and dry and not provide security," he said. "One way or another, the track would pay."