Motorsports Racing News & Blog Articles

Episode 366

June 20, 2021

Senior Prom Parade primetime for car viewing

When one thinks of senior prom visions of high school seniors dressed to the max on their final chance to be together as a class. Caribou Class of 2021 held their prom last Tuesday and the Prom Parade show of cars did not disappoint.

I was at a spray clinic in Presque Isle early on Tuesday when during the course of conversation with a former student/FFA member, he mentioned that his son, a senior, was going to driving his date to the Senior Prom in a restored pickup. I got the starting time and location and late in the afternoon showed up for the car/truck lineup.

Episode 365

June 13, 2021

WAR finish 6th

Defending 2020 GSPSS Beech Ridge winner, Wyatt Alexander is one of the top teams at the Ridge this season. The team was one of the picks for a repeat win. Not this time.

Kyle Souza, Souza Media described the race saying, ” After 150 laps of tough racing around the flat Maine oval, local track regulars proved to be the dominant force. David Oliver passed local favorite Joe Pastore with less than 40 laps to go and drove away to his first career Granite State Pro Stock Series victory. Pastore crossed the line 1.428 seconds back in the runner-up spot, while Rusty Poland, another local favorite, was third. Garrett Hall was fourth and Bobby Webber Racing driver Bryan Kruczek fifth.

Episode 364

June 12, 2021

Alexander dominates in first Pro Stock win of the season

“Just very appreciative to be in the position I am and thankful for every time I get to go to the track,” said the Ellsworth based driver. In addition to driving responsibilities this summer, he is an engineering intern at Fisher Plows in Rockland which he said, ” I am a little anxious and very excited to take on something new for the summer and step out of my comfort zone a bit. Hoping for the best!”

Episode 363

May 30, 2021

Year of the veteran? 

I just viewed the fastest Indy 500 in history with only two yellow flags. The first was for Stefan Wilson’s spin on pit road. The second flew after a turn two spin by Graham Rahal when a loose rear wheel flew off. The speed record is not what had me excited, rather, it was win number four by Helio Castroneves. He joins AJ Foyt, Al Unser Sr., and Rick Mears as four-time winners in what could be arguably the most prestigious race in the world.

Episode 362

May 21, 2021

Second place finish at Beech Ridge

Named one of seven finalists in the Kulwicki Driver Development Program (KDDP) 2021 in March 2021, Wyatt Alexander age 21 from Ellsworth, continued his march toward winning the 2021 $54,439 award. The contestants range in age from 16-22 and represent states from Maine to California.

Alexander follows the footsteps of fellow Mainer Dave Farrington Jr. who was a KDDP finalist in 2015 & 2016.

Episode 361

May 16, 2021

Chevrolet Cabriolet finished and wrecked on same day

The 1937 Chevy Cabriolet described in Episodes 358 and 359 was Presque Isle’s Greg Roderick’s first “real crack at restoration” according to the owner of Northern Auto Body. That turned out to be an understatement. Now the “Rest of the Story”

Episode 360

May 2, 2021

New England Speed Trial record holder is OK

The holder of the fastest speed for cars at the Loring Timing Association’s (LTA) land speed races is okay. Jason White, Northwood, New Hampshire, owns the fastest speed for cars at LTA at 269.673 mph set in 2019.

White began racing his C6 Corvette at Loring in 2014 in stock form. He went 175 mph. Each year since 2014 he has made competition changes which allowed him to earn the top speed award.

Episode 359

April 25, 2021

Transfer of ownership

In Part I we followed the ownership trail of a 1937 Chevy Cabriolet from the original owners Fred and Mary Putnam, Houlton to Dave Wakem, Caribou. Wakem owned the car from 1960 until the fall 1967 shortly after he got married.

The story is that Dave sold the car to purchase furniture according to Milton Adelman who had seen the car parked. The price was negotiated and the car found a home in Mars Hill.

Episode 358

April 18, 2021

She’s a beauty for sure yet was born in a historic moment

When Putnam Gulf Oil owners Fred and Mary Pearce Putnam watched the unloading of her brand-new 1937 Chevrolet Cabriolet from a railroad car in Houlton in 1937, little did they know the car would one day go on to be a show stopping winner.

The Cabriolet was General Motors upscale car loaded with interesting new features which included a redesigned inline 6 engine displacing 216.5 cubic inches and sporting higher compression pistons which helped produce 85 horsepower and 170 foot-pounds of torque. Four-wheel hydraulic brakes were new as was the sporty cars light weight, second lightest in the GM car lineup at 2,790 pounds making it quick on the road. Spoke wheels added a nice touch as did the three-speed floor shifter.

Episode 357

April 11, 2021

SRX makes “amateurs” part of race series 

I thought that the Superstar Racing Experience (SRX) idea would be a great watch on CBS on six consecutive Saturday nights beginning June 12 at Stafford Motor Speedway. The driver lineup includes 10 full time drivers; Tony Stewart, Tony Kanaan, Willy T. Ribbs, Paul Tracy, Helio Castroneves, Bobby Labonte, Bill Elliott, Ernie Francis Jr., Michael Waltrip, and Marco Andretti.

SRX co-founder Tony Stewart was my favorite to win the majority of the races with Bobby Labonte maybe one and Bill Elliott winning another. The concept seemed to fit Stewart’s style with plenty of power, dirt/asphalt, and same car his skill would prevail.

Episode 356

March 28, 2021

Nation-wide driver title finalist from Maine

Wyatt Alexander from Ellsworth with roots in Aroostook County was named as one of seven national finalists in the Kulwicki Driver Development Program (KDDP). The Alexander family has deep roots to potato farming in the Mars Hill/Blaine area in Aroostook County.

Head-to-head nationwide competition is not new for the young man from Ellsworth having won the 2018 Valvoline “Fast Track to Fame” Award with its $50,000 award. Alexander also received additional help with media relations, safety, and products.

Episode 355

March 21, 2021

County connected team wins at 12 Hours of Sebring

In 2020 Jon Bennett, owner of CORE autosports in Rock Hill, South Carolina, decided to retire from driving. I talked to him about the decision and he said he looked forward to flying his airplane as his next challenge.

I spent a day with Bennett last summer when he was in the County. His parents are from the central Aroostook area. We met at Spud Speedway in Caribou. Somewhere around seven years of age, he watched the races at that track when his parents were on vacation in the County. Bennett credits the 1/3-mile oval with planting the racing bug that has stayed with him 40 plus years.

Episode 354

March 14, 2021

It certainly is a unique name and he is a unique guy

In about a month, Sting Ray Robb, last season’s Indy Pro 2000 Champion, will make his debut in the Juncos Racing #2 Indy Lights race car. As the 2020 Champion, Robb earned a scholarship from Road to Indy to help further his career. Others who utilized Indy Lights to further their career include Colton Herta, Marco Andretti, Helio Castroneves, and Spencer Pigot are among several who raced or are racing in the top rung of the IndyCar Series.

Episode 353

March 7, 2021

Tame the Track Houlton snowmobile race postponed

I wish I had a more definitive answer to the question about whether an actual race in Houlton in 2021 will take place. The original race date of March 13 is not going to happen.

Episode 352

February 28, 2021

It was Thursday February 25, 2021 when Taggett Racing, part of Caribou-based Team OCD, heard from a fellow racer that Bald Mountain Camps (BMC) on Mooselookmeguntic Lake, Rangeley, Maine, was hosting radar runs Saturday February 27. Racing was on a 660-foot ice track and a 660-foot snow track. Fellow members of Team OCD, Ethan Rossignol and John Holmquist, decided they did not have time to prepare for the radar run.

Rick Taggett, father of race driver Jesse Taggett, noted, “The races were only for trophies. Not a lot of incentive for older seasoned racers. Jesse, on the other hand, was going with or without me.”

Team OCD had taken the 15-year-old protégé under their wing three years earlier. Race experience, with a seasoned group willing to teach a willing student, tends to accelerate the learning curve. Jesse, a sophomore at Caribou High School, owes much of his success to the association with Rossignol and Holmquist.