Dover gives away a concrete monster. Martinsville has a grandfather clock. At Bristol, it’s a sharp-edged sword. But none of these trophies can literally shake a leg. The New Hampshire Speedway is the only track on the Cup Series schedule that presents winners with a living creature, a gargantuan lobster called Loudon. How and when did this tradition of a lobster trophy come into place?
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Officials of the New Hampshire Speedway were at a dinner in a local restaurant called Makris Lobster and Steakhouse when the inspiration struck. Beginning in 2010, they decided to begin a three-week search for large lobsters before the race weekend and bring them all back to live in a tank at the restaurant. The largest one (18-28 pounds) is chosen before the race and brought to the track to be given to the winner.
Once the race ceremonies are over and Loudon is done posing for the photographs, it is taken back to the restaurant to be cooked. The team at Makris pressure cooks the leviathan and takes out roughly six pounds of meat. The meat is then frozen, packed, and shipped to wherever the winning crew is after the race for them to enjoy it. But that’s not where the journey ends for the creature.
The shell of the lobster is sent to a taxidermist who repaints it to look like it was before being cooked. Once restored, it is kept on display at the track for a few months before being sent to the winning driver to be mounted or stored as a memory of having won at the track. While many drivers do enjoy the idea of being awarded a lobster, there are a few who aren’t big fans of it.
Loudon the lobster irks Denny Hamlin after the 2017 race in New Hampshire
After Hamlin won at New Hampshire in 2017, he was presented with the lobster trophy. He was not very keen on collecting his prize and even attempted to run away from the stage, refusing to initially stand near it. He said, “I’m not going to do anything with it. I’ve seen it and touched it for the last time. I have a lobster phobia. I just don’t like them. Can’t look at it. So as far as I’m concerned, they need to put it back in the water and let it live.”
A classic @NHMS @NASCAR pic.twitter.com/T2DOkktVNW
— Samantha Busch (@SamanthaBusch) July 17, 2022
Kyle Busch’s wife, Samantha, was equally grossed out by the lobster back in 2015. She told Today a couple of years back about how she couldn’t stand its stench on the stage. She recalled, “I didn’t realize the lobster would be alive. It was smelly and had massive claws. I made a face, and of course, it was caught on camera. I turned Brexton away from the lobster but you can see how big it is compared to his head.” The Buschs had requested that it be returned to the ocean but the fate of the creature is unknown.
