Six weeks and counting: Bangor is getting ready

Bangor Raceway will open its 1994 season six weeks from Friday, but it won’t be business as usual.

For the first time in several years, the city-owned race track will be operated and promoted privately by Fred Nichols and an investor group operating under the banner Bangor Historic Track.

The 34-day extended meet will operate from May 27 to July 24 on a four-day weekly racing format. Post times will be 7 p.m. on Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays and 1:30 p.m. on Sundays.

The raceway will boast all new halogen lights, a fresh coat of paint, a new odds matrix board under the grandstand, new and additional concession stands, new individual seating and a new winners circle in front of the grandstand, where race fans may get a close look at the race winners.

A driver-owner lounge is being renovated in a secured area near the end of the paddock to provide shelter and comfort for owners and drivers when it is cold or rainy. The facility will have television monitors to show the live racing but will not house any wagering terminals.

Possibly the most noticable creature comfort change will be in the grandstand. During the past few weeks, the seating area has been “pigeon proofed.” No more flying souvenirs from Bangor Raceway. The box seats have been re-cemented and new seats have been installed.

Besides the two stationary wagering terminals located at either end of the grandstand, an additional mobile teller will circulate among customers who want to wager but who don’t want to walk up and down the stairs, Nichols said.

Also, most of the horse barns have been renovated this winter. Stalls have been rebuilt and electric and water facilities have been repaired. It has all been done with private money.

Something else that’s new? Raceway officials are considering uplinking live Bangor racing to other Maine off-track wagering facilities, but there will be no incoming simulcasts from other race tracks for Bangor fans to wager on.

There is something else that’s really old, but it is being brushed off, shined up and being brought back as new. Remember when the super perfecta carry-over pool at Bangor was more than $50,000 and people waited in line for more than an hour to buy a ticket? The Super P is being brought back to the wagering pattern every night this season at Bangor Raceway. It will be available only at the track and not at off track betting locations.

“We will have a minimum of 10 races on weeknights and 12 to 14 on Sundays if the horse supply warrants,” Nichols said. The wagering pattern will be win, place, show, quiniela, daily doubles, trifectas for most races and the Super P every night.

Warren Strout, the track manager, said 90 horses are stabled at the raceway. He reported applications for 247 horse stalls and 62 truck-in applications for a total estimated horse supply of 399. Ninety of those horses are from Canada.