Winterport’s Patrick Thibodeau is a relative newcomer to auto racing.

This is just his sixth season behind the wheel of a race car and his fourth in the pro stock division.

But he has proven to be a quick study.

The 26-year-old Thibodeau finished second in pro stock points to Stockton Springs’ Duane Seekins last year and is currently second to Albion’s Matt Lee in the pro stocks at Unity this season.

He doesn’t envision overtaking Lee and, frankly, it doesn’t bother him.

“For me, it’s more about winning races,” said Thibodeau. “It’s a lot more fun to win races than it is to finish second every week and win the points. I don’t like settling for second. I did that a lot last year. I didn’t take chances because I was trying to win the championship.

“This year, it’s all about winning races. I’ll take some extra chances and sometimes it bites me. But I’ve got a real good crew and they’re with me 100 percent. They want to win,” added Thibodeau. “If they have to fix something on the car because we went for the win rather than settling for second, they’re just as happy.”

Thibodeau has three wins so far, two at Unity and one at Hermon’s Speedway 95.

“The goal this year is to win three more races,” said Thibodeau, who had two wins and seven seconds at Speedway 95 last year.

Although he is racing more for wins, he figures he would probably be leading the points “but I had a few incidents and finished at the back of the pack.”

He says he enjoys being the new kid on the block.

“It’s nice to be the young guy and know I can go out and [occasionally] beat guys who have been racing for 20 to 25 years,” said Thibodeau who has two seconds and two thirds this season.

His passion for racing began at an early age.

“My father [Vaughn] used to take me to the races when I was a little kid and I always told him I’d have one [race car] some day. He didn’t think much of the idea. But when I got married [to the former Tami Hussey], I got one,” said Thibodeau who started out in the wildcat division at Unity six years ago.

Two years later, he made the jump to pro stock at Speedway 95 but didn’t find much success.

“The first year in pro stock was pretty tough. I had a lot of accidents,” said Thibodeau.

But he was undaunted.

“I wasn’t going to turn back. You don’t get out when you aren’t doing well. That means they beat you. At least make it to the top before you get out,” said Thibodeau.

He won his first pro stock race in his second year of racing. He was running at Unity Raceway that year.

Thibodeau credits much of his success to his crew, all fellow Winterport natives.

Crew chief Rick Lynch grew up “over the hill from me.”

Eighteen-year-old Shane Clark and Thibodeau’s brother-in-law, Mike Hussey, complete the crew.

“They’re diehards. We work on the car almost every night,” said Thibodeau, who figures he also puts in a 70-hour work week for his father’s concrete business. “The crew has come a long way.”

Thibodeau, the father of 6-year-old Alyissa and 3-year-old Miranda Thibodeau, has made the switch from Chevy Monte Carlo to Ford Taurus this season and is glad he did.

“I have more horsepower. I’ve been very happy with the Ford,” said Thibodeau who is buying a new Ford Taurus from Jeff Taylor at Distance Racing Products for next season.

Thibodeau, who has run some Northeast Pro Stock Association races and has also run some races at Wiscasset this year, hopes to run more NEPSA and PASS (Pro All Stars Series) races in 2002.

Local racers meet Rusty Wallace

Two youngsters who race at the Sebasticook Valley Karting Komplex in St. Albans, Annie Shaw and Josh Kuester, received a thrill last month when they had a picture taken with NASCAR Winston Cup star Rusty Wallace at New Hampshire International Speedway in Loudon.

The two youngsters compete against each other in the senior sportsman class at Sebasticook Valley.

They were part of the Cumberland Farms American Spectator Driving Challenge.

Several Winston Cup drivers got their starts driving go-karts when they were youngsters.