Bangor Raceway to host Driving Championship on June 11

If you stepped up to the parimutuel window at Bangor Raceway and had to make a wagering choice in the live Bangor racing program between Herve Filion or Ronnie Waples, which one would you choose?

Well, that’s one of the choices racing fans may have to make on Sunday, June 11, as Bangor Raceway hosts The North American Driving Championship. For the first time in the history of the track, Bangor race fans will be part of the top-notch driving competition featuring 17 of the sport’s leading reinsmen.

During the previous 10 championships, the annual racing promotion by Bob and Jeanne Ferland has become a yearly classic as it has moved from track to track throughout New England. This year, it’s Bangor’s turn to host the event and the drivers’ roster reads like the “who’s who” of the standardbred sport today.

Bangor race fans will have an opportunity to see driving styles unlike those they are used to watching on the Bass Park half-mile oval. If past performances are any indicator, it won’t be single-file, twice around the track and get home easy type racing. From the starter’s “go,” each race will be a speed duel for the front end.

Horses and drivers will charge full tilt into the first turn going three and four wide and battle through the stretches and turns the entire mile. At the three-quarter-mile pole, things may equal out as they usually do, but each mile will be contested for point accumulation and the title of “Best at Bangor” on Sunday, June 11. It should provide some very exciting pacing action for racing fans at Bangor Raceway.

Each driver will compete in three races of his choosing. Points are awarded for the finishes, and the top eight in accumulated points advance into a feature race. The winner of that race is the North American Driving Champion.

The NADC began in 1982 at Lewiston Raceway and Norman Dauplaise copped the driving title. Last year, Walter Case Jr. won the coveted title at Foxboro Park. The title has been won twice by Bill O’Donnell (1983, ’88), Ruel “Dude” Goodblood Jr. (’86, ’87), and Ted Wing (’85, ’93). Other winners include Bill Faucher in 1984 and Steve Warrington in 1989. There were no championships from 1990 to 1992.

Leading this year’s list of nationally ranked drivers scheduled to compete in the NADC at Bangor Raceway is the legendary Herve Filion of St. Angers, Quebec. What can you say about Filion and his records? Filion, from St. Angers, Quebec, has earned more honors, trophies, and accolades than the president of a banana republic. Wherever there is a list of accomplishments in this sport, Filion’s name is on it. He is the undisputed, all-time leading dash winner with 14,525 career wins through December 1994. His win record is twice that of his nearest competitor, Carmine Abbatiello who has 7,132, according to USTA figures. From 1968 to 1981, he was the leading dash winner 11 times and tied once with Eddie Davis. Filion was also leading dash winner in 1988-90.

In addition to Filion, the roster includes: O’Donnell, Waples, Marvin Maker, Wing, Gary Mosher, Jimmy Doherty, David Ingraham, Faucher, Goodblood, Don Richards, David Pinckney Jr., Leigh Fitch, Freeman Parker, John Nason, Paul Battis, and Gary Hall.

It’s a special event in the third week of Bangor’s extended meet that may never happen again at Bangor Raceway. Maine racing fans won’t want to miss it.

Legislative Update – Five harness bills are in various stages of legislative consideration. LD 829 – an act to strengthen Maine’s live harness racing industry by a more equitable distribution of purse funds – came out of the Committee on Legal and Veterans Affairs with a unanimous (with one abstention) “ought to pass” recommendation. Next stop is the Legislature.

LD 269 – an act to increase the revenue from off-track betting – came out of the tax committee with the opposite recommendation: “ought not to pass.”

LD 637 – an act to change the commission payable to the state from off-track betting – had a workshop hearing on April 11 and another workshop is yet to be scheduled.

LD 1218 – an act to amend the laws relating to harness racing which authorizes the operation at existing regulated parimutuel facilities of video lottery terminals and establishes the state’s share of net terminal income at 40 percent. No hearing has been scheduled on this bill.

LD 1373 – an act to prohibit fairs from restricting simulcasting at off-track betting parlors. This bill would remove the statutory provisions (35-mile radius rule) that give a non-commercial racing license the authority to prohibit an off-track betting parlor from simulcasting racing events when the licensee is running live races. This bill is in Legal and Veterans Affairs Committee and no hearing has been scheduled.