After two-plus years of professional auto racing coverage through its affiliation with Motor Racing Network (MRN), WZON (620 AM) has been overtaken in the latest lap.

Fellow Bangor station WABI (910 AM) is now in the MRN driver’s seat.

WABI officials have the green light and a verbal commitment from MRN to take MRN’s programming during the 1999 auto racing season.

“It’s a done deal,” said WABI operations manager George Hale. “We’ve been talking about it for about a month. We were looking for a major sport to anchor to.”

For WABI, the MRN deal is attractive because of NASCAR’s growing popularity and the presence of three Maine drivers: Ricky Craven (Winston Cup), Joe Bessey and Andy Santerre (Busch Series). From MRN’s standpoint, the switch is desirable because WABI can clear more air time for races, daily highlight shows, and weekly call-in shows than WZON could with its prior commitments to Boston professional teams (Red Sox, Patriots), University of Maine sports, and high school sports.

“It was in the market, but it wasn’t in the market to the degree we decided to put it in,” Hale said. “Some races were being heard, but not to this degree.

“We’re looking at very few pre-emptions. I’m not saying there won’t be any, but barring the tournament and some local school coverage, there won’t be too many.”

WZON program director Dale Duff was reluctant to comment on news of the MRN deal.

“We haven’t received anything in writing from MRN yet, and I’m not at liberty to discuss anything about it until we do,” Duff said. “To be honest, I’m not sure they have MRN yet.”

Hale said the contract, which hasn’t been officially signed, is a one-year deal for undisclosed “financial considerations.”

Duff said WZON plans to air the NASCAR Awards Banquet Dec. 4, but Hale said WABI’s deal isn’t scheduled to kick in until January.

Duff said even if it is official, WABI’s deal shouldn’t drastically curtail WZON’s racing coverage.

“We’ll be covering the NASCAR scene as we have in the past but it’s very premature for me to discuss our NASCAR plans and I’m not going to divulge what we’re going to do,” Duff said.

WABI’s preliminary schedule calls for coverage of 80 races and qualifying sessions plus regular airings of NASCAR Today, Ned Jarrett’s World of Racing, Bud Pole updates, and reports. MRN offers coverage of NASCAR’s Winston Cup, Busch Series, and Craftsman Truck Series, but WABI won’t air any Truck Series races.

“We thought with the Red Sox out of the mix, what’s the next best sport or option for us,” Hale said. “NASCAR is the fastest-growing sport in the 90s with 60 percent growth attendance-wise since 1990 and we loved its demographics.”

Hale is no stranger to auto racing, having worked at local tracks in the New York-New Jersey area as a child. He also announced races at Unity Raceway for almost 10 years and Speedway 95.

“I grew up on Staten Island and used to work at tracks as a kid just to get in for free,” said Hale. “And I watch it on TV regularly, when I’m not out and about. I’m really pleased about this.”

Keith Olbermann isn’t the only former ESPN anchor-reporter jumping ship for the “S.S.” Fox Network. Chris Myers, longtime host of ESPN’s Up Close interview program and anchor, will join Olbermann as a Fox sports anchor in December.

Olbermann’s departure from MSNBC wasn’t as big a surprise as Myers’ from ESPN. The former SportsCenter anchor has been publicly complaining about what he called MSNBC’s fixation on the Monica Lewinsky-Bill Clinton scandal and its effect on the content of “The Big Show with Keith Olbermann.”

According to published reports, Fox is buying out the remainder of Olbermann’s three-year contract with MSNBC, which still has two years remaining. His new contract reportedly pays him $500,000-900,000 per year and calls for him to serve as anchor and senior correspondent for the network’s flagship program (Fox Sports News).