D.N.K. Select 250 set at Unity with $25,000 prize

John Crawford, the track manager at Unity Raceway, has wanted to develop a lucrative race ever since he began leasing the one-third mile oval two years ago.

He has accomplished it.

The D.N.K. Select 250 will be held on Sunday, June 13 and the winner will pocket a cool $25,000.

The last-place finisher will be assured a $2,000 check.

“I was going to do it my first year but I didn’t want to take that chance,” said Crawford. “I wanted to do all I could for the track and the sponsors. I wanted to see if I could develop a good relationship with the sponsors and the people at the track. I wanted to gain their trust.”

The race is being sanctioned by the Pro All Stars Series and it will be a points event.

Crawford said the field will be made up of 30-32 pro stocks and there will be qualifying heats beginning at 1 p.m. with the race scheduled for a 6:00 start.

There won’t be time trials.

“I think it’s awesome. Twenty-five thousand dollars is nothing to sneeze at,” said Bangor racer Gary Smith. “Since it’s a race early in the season, the drivers won’t have run out of money yet, the cars will still be looking pretty good and the engines won’t have a full season on them yet which should even the playing field.”

He also said the guaranteed $2,000 payout to the last-place finisher means the drivers who don’t have a good race should be able to break even or minimize their financial losses.

“A lot of people are looking at it more that way instead of paying the big money up front [and limiting the payouts to the last-place cars],” said two-time PASS points champion Ben Rowe of Turner. “I think that’s good. I think they’ll get a better car count that way.”

The second-place finisher will earn $15,000 and third place will pay $10,000. Tenth place will pay $3,400; the 15th-place driver will take home $2,900 and 20th place will yield $2500.

“We’re hoping to get between 65-80 cars,” said Crawford. “I’d like to get three to six cars from the southern states. We should get some from Canada and we should get a lot of our Saturday night [Unity] racers.”

Practices will be held Friday from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. and Saturday from 10-3:30.