by Jay | Feb 16, 2010 | Maine, New England, PASS
PASS teams out in full force for Racin’ Preview 2010
Naples ME – Florida racing has come and gone and that means it’s time to kick off the 2010 northern New England racing season in earnest at Racin’ Preview 2010, scheduled for Friday and Saturday February 19-20 at the Portland (ME) Expo. The popular show always fills every square inch of the floor with every sort of race car imaginable, and the Pro All Stars Series will once again be well represented.
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by Jay | Feb 10, 2010 | Maine, New England
Portland, Maine – While the pavement went down some 25 years ago at nearby Beech Ridge Motor Speedway and the era of serious dirt track racing seemingly ended in Maine, the regional dirt track scene in Northern New England is on the rebound. The regional dirt track scene will have a healthy presence on Friday and Saturday, February 19-20 as the Portland Expo hosts Racin’ Preview 2010.
Sprint Cars of New England (SCoNE) is a touring series for the fastest dirt track racecars competing in New England, and they race at all three of Northern New England’s remaining dirt tracks. The winged warriors are seeing increased interest in the club and expect a banner 2010 season, which they’ll kick off at Racin’ Preview 2010. At least a couple of the powerful, fuel-injected, winged racecars will be on display at Northern New England’s annual stock car racing showcase.
Bear Ridge Speedway in Bradford, Vermont tops the list of current New England dirt tracks in longevity. Track owner and promoter C.V. Elms IV will oversee the 44th consecutive season of dirt track action at the ¼-mile oval. The weekly racing program is headlined by Sportsman Modified cars. Bear Ridge races every Saturday night.
New Hampshire’s Canaan Fair Speedway also features Sportsman Modified racecars atop its’ weekly racing program. Dick Therrien takes the reigns as general manager of the facility this year. The 1/4-mile Canaan Dirt Speedway, adjacent to a 1/3-mile asphalt oval that uses the same pit area, presents stock car competition on Friday evenings.
Newly-renamed Big Daddy’s Speedbowl operated last season as Rattlesnake Motordrome, and has been known as Legion Speedway, Pines Speedway and Nor-Way Pines Speedway in the past. New promoter Mike Rivers has put a lot of time, effort and money into a near-complete rebuild of the racing facility and has moved the traditional Saturday night racing card to Sunday evenings.
All three tracks will host special events both with the SCoNE Sprint Cars and the Granite State Mini Sprint racing club, and all three tracks will be on hand at Racin’ Preview 2010.
Joining the dirt trackers at Racin’ Preview 2010 will be several paved racetracks, including Beech Ridge Motor Speedway, Lee USA Speedway, Unity Raceway, Wiscasset Raceway, along with touring classes with the Pro All Stars Series, Modified Racing Series and other sanctioning bodies.
Current associate sponsors of Racin’ Preview 2010 include Racin’ Paper, Pave Tek Motorsports of Kennebunk, Redneck Raceway of Acton, Saco Pathfinders, R & D Racing and Fabrication of Limerick, Chad Dow’s Innovative Specialties of Unity and Wayne Elston’s Speed Shop of Carmel.
Racin’ Preview 2010 at the Portland Expo is open from 4:00-10:00 p.m. on Friday, February 19. The show will go on between 9:00 a.m and 9:00 p.m. on Saturday, February 20. For more information call (603) 447-4251.
by Jay | Feb 8, 2010 | Beech Ridge, Maine, New England
Beech Ridge racers look forward to Racin’ Preview 2010 at the Portland Expo
Portland, Maine – Beech Ridge Motor Speedway will be well-represented by a wide variety of oval track racers at Racin’ Preview 2010, set for Friday and Saturday, February 19-20 at the Portland Expo.
Scarborough’s Beech Ridge Motor Speedway is in its’ seventh decade of providing outstanding family entertainment, these days both with the traditional Saturday night racing program – dubbed NASCAR Nites – and their groundbreaking Thursday Thunder program, successfully imitated by many other Northeastern tracks after being pioneered by track operator Andy Cusack well over a decade ago.
Not only is Beech Ridge Motor Speedway the lone NASCAR Whelen All-American Series racetrack in Maine, it’s also the Pine Tree State’s only oval hosting weekly competition at the Super Late Model division level. Future Maine Hall of Famer Mike Rowe is the reigning champion of that top-tier division, the NASCAR Pro Series.
At least a half-dozen of the sleek powerful NASCAR Pro Series cars will anchor the Beech Ridge Motor Speedway display at Racin’ Preview 2010. Several other divisions from the entry-level Whiz Kidz class up through the ultra-competitive NASCAR Sport Series will be well-represented at the Expo show.
A dozen or more other racetracks and touring series will join Beech Ridge Motor Speedway at Racin’ Preview 2010, including the touring Pro All Stars Series Super Late Models and the open-wheel Modified Racing Series, which will both be in action at Beech Ridge during the 2010 season.
Unity Raceway, Wiscasset Raceway, Speedway 95, Lee USA Speedway, Big Daddy’s Speedbowl, Canaan Fair Speedway and Bear Ridge Speedway displays showcase both dirt and asphalt weekly racing competitors and their racecars, scheduled to test the local tracks just a couple of months following Racin’ Preview 2010.
If stock cars from the oval track wars aren’t enough, Racin’ Preview 2010 will also feature Karting stars and cars from Richmond Raceway and racing lawnmowers from two Maine-based facilities: Redneck Raceway and Saco Pathfinders.
Along with today’s racers and their machines, an excellent display of Maine’s racing past will be presented by the Maine Vintage Race Car Association, with a salute to late NEAR and MVRCA Hall of Famer Homer Drew featured.
Doors at the Portland Expo open at 4:00 p.m. on Friday, February 19, with several autograph opportunities and other activities ongoing through 10:00 p.m. Saturday show hours are 9:00 p.m. until 9:00 p.m. A limited amount of commercial display space remains available.
For further information please call (603) 447-4251 or email [email protected]
Current associate sponsors of Racin’ Preview 2010 include Racin’ Paper, Pave Tek Motorsports of Kennebunk, Redneck Raceway of Acton, Saco Pathfinders, R & D Racing and Fabrication of Limerick, and Wayne Elston’s Speed Shop of Carmel.
by Jay | Feb 3, 2010 | Maine, New England
Portland, ME – Legendary Maine racer Homer Drew will be the focus of an extensive Maine Vintage Race Car Association display at Northern New England’s biggest and best wintertime stock car racing showcase, Racin’ Preview 2010, set for Friday and Saturday, February 19-20 at the Portland Exposition Building on Park Street (U.S. Route 1).
Drew, a Raymond native who passed away shortly after his two Hall of Fame inductions, is considered to be Maine’s greatest stock car racer ever by most observers fortunate enough to witness his incredible talent behind the wheel of an oval track machine – no matter what kind of car, or what racing surface was under it. Drew was one of twelve inaugural inductees into the Maine Racing Hall of Fame. He had previously been inducted into the prestigious New England Auto Racers (NEAR) Hall of Fame.
At least four restored racecars instrumental in the long legacy left behind by Drew will be on display at the Portland oval track showcase. The display will feature one of the most revered cars in the history of Maine racing on asphalt tracks, the J-2 Camaro, then-owned by another Maine Hall of Famer, Jerry Seavey of Windham. With that famed ‘Playboy Racing’ machine Drew dominated the 1973 Getty Open series at Bob Bahre’s Oxford Plains Speedway against unmatched fields of talented racers in that era, or perhaps any since. Portland firefighter and Maine vintage race car guru Steve Pellerin of Gorham quarterbacked efforts to restore the Drew racecars.
The salute to legendary Maine racing Hall of Famer Homer Drew joins displays from most of the premiere racetracks and touring series competing throughout New England at the region’s only off-season show dedicated to oval track racing. The vast majority of racetracks and touring series operating throughout Maine and New Hampshire will be represented at the annual celebration, with hundreds of door prizes including dozens of free race event tickets to be handed out to lucky show ticketholders.
The extensive historical display by the MVRCA will be joined by dozens of current racecars in competition throughout Northern New England, including NASCAR Whelen All-American Series tracks like Scarborough’s Beech Ridge Motor Speedway and New Hampshire’s Lee USA Speedway along with many independent tracks from throughout the tri-state area.
Super Late Models, dirt and asphalt Modifieds, Sprint Cars and many other types of weekend warrior racing hardware will be on display representing tracks and touring series operating throughout Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont.
Doors at the Portland Expo open at 4:00 p.m. on Friday, February 19, with several autograph opportunities and other activities ongoing through 10:00 p.m. Saturday show hours are 9:00 p.m. until 9:00 p.m. A limited amount of commercial display space remains available.
For further information please call (603) 447-4251 or email [email protected]
Current associate sponsors of Racin’ Preview 2010 include Racin’ Paper, Pave Tek of Kennebunk, Redneck Raceway of Acton, Saco Pathfinders, R & D Racing and Fabrication of Limerick, Wayne Elston’s Speed Shop of Carmel, Big Al’s Photos and Maineracing.com.
by Jay | Jan 14, 2010 | Maine, PASS
FARMINGDALE, Maine — With 10 championships between them, Maine racers Ben Rowe and Johnny Clark are teaming up for a winter road trip.
A long winter road trip — to Florida.
Rowe, who has four PASS North Series championships as well as PASS South and PASS National championships on his resume, and Clark will field a joint effort for the inaugural PASS Winterfest 150 at New Smyrna (Fla.) Speedway on Jan. 29-30. The event is the first of five PASS National Championship races scheduled for the 2010 season.
“We wanted to go down and support this race, because we think it could grow into something really big in the future,” said Clark, a four-time PASS North champion, including the last two series titles. “If everything goes well, we should both have a chance to win this one.”
Clark’s race hauler will carry both his familiar Clark’s Car Crushing No. 54 and Rowe’s new Community Pharmacies No. 48. The deal to pool the resources of Johnny Clark Motorsports and Mulkern Racing was finalized at last weekend’s Northeast Motorsports Expo held at the Augusta Civic Center.
Rowe was named Touring Series Driver of the Year at the Expo.
“I think it’s going to be a lot of fun,” said Rowe, who will debut with his new team and new crew chief, Seth Holbrook, at New Smyrna. “Me and Johnny have never teamed up before, so it’s going to be a blast.”
Of the two drivers, only Clark has New Smyrna experience, having competed on multiple occasions in the annual New Smyrna World Series of Asphalt Stock Car Racing held each February.
He compared New Smyrna’s high-banked half-mile layout to Thompson (Conn.) International Speedway, a track familiar to PASS North Series competitors.
“It’s a lot like Thompson,” Clark said. “It’s big and fast, and it’s definitely a fun and challenging track. It’s extremely hard on brakes, and you need one of the biggest motors you can find there.”
Rowe said he’ll take Clark’s word for it, having never raced at New Smyrna himself. He has, however, watched a number of races there from the pit area.
“It does race a lot like Thompson — at least that’s what Johnny tells me,” Rowe said. “Hopefully he’ll help me out when we get there and we can go from there.
“We’re going to take a bunch of guys from the north down there and see what we can do together.”
Teams hit the track on Friday, Jan. 29 for an extended practice session. Qualifying and feature racing will be held on Saturday, Jan. 30. The Winterfest 150 is tentatively scheduled for a 7:30 p.m. green flag.
by Jay | Jan 5, 2010 | Maine
Three Maine Tracks, One Maine Champion
Spud Speedway in Caribou, Speedway 95 in Bangor and The Wiscasset Raceway are working together in 2010 to help build the Maine Racing Alliance. All three tracks have one common goal, to establish Late Model Sportsmen racing in Maine under one set of rules. Doug White, owner of The Wiscasset Raceway says, “It will take several years of working together to fully realize the goals of the Maine Racing Alliance. Our Maine Late Model Sportsmen Championship Racing series for 2010 is a great start!” The Maine Racing Alliance is hoping that more tracks get involved and join Spud, Speedway 95 and Wiscasset in creating a Maine division of racing with a statewide rules package.
There are three races planned for 2010. All three races will be 100 laps with a posted purse to be announced. The competitors will receive points at each race which will make them eligible for a points fund which will crown a Maine Late Model Sportsman Champion in September 2010. Mr. John Linnehan of the Gospel in Trenton, Maine will again be an associate sponsor of the Late Model Sportsmen Series. Mr. Linnehan will be giving out over $1000 in cash prizes at each race! Please join us in supporting Maine racing in 2010 at one of these exciting events:
The Late Model Sportsmen Championship Series 2010
* Sunday, July 25th , 2pm at Wiscasset Raceway
* Saturday, September 11th, at Speedway 95 in Bangor
* Championship Saturday, September 25th, at Spud Speedway in Caribou
This will be a very exciting series for Maine racers and fans alike! The Maine Racing Alliance is currently seeking sponsors for the 2010 series. For more information please contact any of the three tracks.
