Speedway 95 and other Maine auto racing tracks ready for season

Speedway 95 in Hermon, which opened in 1966, will kick off its auto racing season at 7 p.m. on Saturday.

Oxford Plains Speedway and Wiscasset Speedway have already opened; Caribou’s Spud Speedway begins its season on June 7 and Unity Raceway gets underway on June 14.

Del Merritt, who has co-owned or owned Speedway 95 since 1977, is optimistic about the season.

“I think it’s going to be a good year as long as the weather cooperates,” said Merrill. “I think we will have a pretty good field of cars but time will tell.

“We’ll know more after opening day as usual,” said Merritt.

He is hopeful that his top class, the Late Models, will have a resurgence this season.

“If we get all of our regulars back to go with six or eight new ones I’m expecting, that will be good,” said Merritt, who turns 79 on May 5.

Saturday’s race card will include Late Models, Street Stocks, Sport-4s and Cage Runners.

Merritt has experimented with racing earlier in the day over the years but said Saturday night racing “seems to work for us even though it is colder early in the season.”

Wacky Wednesday racing will begin at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, June 26.

“We like to wait until school is out. We don’t draw until the kids are out of school,” said Merritt. “That will give us 13 weeks of racing and that’s enough.”

For the second straight year, the Granite State Pro Stocks tour will race at Speedway 95 with 100-lap races on June 16 and Sept. 15. The Sunday race cards will begin at 7 p.m.

The racing season will conclude on Saturday Oct. 12 and Sunday Oct. 13 with three 100-lap races included on the cards for the Paul Bunyan Speed Weekend.

The annual Ikey Dorr Memorial 100-lap Street Stock race will be run on Saturday, Oct. 12 with the winner pocketing $10,000.

Sunday, Oct. 13 will feature 100-lap Late Model and Enduro races.

Racing begins both days at 1 p.m.

Merritt said they previously held the Ikey Dorr and Late Model races on the same day but “it’s too much to do both on one day.

“It made it hard on the track and our pits were jammed up,” Merritt said.

Wiscasset Speedway’s two headline races will be the Coastal 200 on May 26 and the Boss Hogg 150 on Sept. 1.

Oxford Plains Speedway has added another lucrative race to accompany the prestigious 51st annual Oxford 250 on Aug. 25.

The All That’s Metal Celebration of America 300 is scheduled for July 2 and 3 and will be a 300-lap event that will pay the winner $40,000.

Two-time NASCAR Cup Series champ Kyle Busch will be in the field according to Racing America.

He has previously run the Oxford 250.

Unity Raceway will race on Friday nights rather than Saturdays and occasional Sundays like the other tracks. The opening June 14 race card will include Late Models, Dirt Stocks, Teens, Fast-4s, 4-Cylinders, Warriors, Junkyard Stocks, Pro-4s, Sprint Cars and Ladies Acceleration Tour.

Spud Speedway will have its first racing series since 2015 with six race cards on the docket beginning on June 7-9 and also including June 22, July 21, Aug, 31, Sept. 14 and Sept. 27-29.

There will be a Street Stocks division along with Four-Cylinder and Modified Enduros.

Troy Haney now shares ownership of the track with Jim and Michelle Gamage, who bought into the facility last year.

Haney said they have put upwards of $1 million into new facilities and upgrades to the current venue designed to make it a multi-event, year-round location.

In addition to auto racing, they have added a mud pit for mud truck races; a grass drag strip for all-terrain vehicle and snowmobile races and side-by-side vehicles and a brand new truck and tractor pull area.

On July 21, they will hold a 60-year celebration of the track with a 150-lap Pro All-Stars Series North Super Late Model race highlighting the event.

They have also spent a lot of money making the track safer and more consumer-friendly.

Haney said they are “excited” about the season and the future of the facility.