Lottery 104 offers trial run for drivers $3,500 payday awaits stock race winner

Pro stock drivers with their eyes on the lucrative DNK Select 250 in June will get the opportunity to test the Unity Raceway track on Sunday for the Maine State Lottery Pro Stock 104.

There won’t be a $25,000 check awaiting Sunday’s winner like there will be for the DNK Select 250 on June 13.

But the $3,500 that goes to Sunday’s winner is nothing to sneeze at.

Bangor’s Gary Smith is one of several Pro All-Stars Series regulars who will be gunning for the $3500.

“This will give us a little more time on the track so we can get a feel for it,” said Smith, who finished third in the PASS tour’s Community Pharmacies 150 at Hermon’s Speedway 95 on Sunday.

Smith said Unity is a stark contrast to Speedway 95.

“At Unity, you want to run on the bottom,” said Smith noting that the fast groove at Speedway 95 is the top one. “One of the good things about Unity is you can race two-wide (which you can’t do at Speedway 95). It’s faster on the bottom but you can pass on the outside. It’s kind of fun. It’s a good place to race.”

He said the key to being successful at Unity is “getting up [to speed] off the corners. You have to slow down so much going into the corners and then get back on the gas for the straightaway.”

Farmingdale’s Johnny Clark, who was second to South Paris’ Sam Sessions in Sunday’s PASS race, is another PASS regular expected to run at Unity Sunday along with Turner’s Mike Rowe, Falmouth’s Scott Mulkern, Wiscasset’s Scott Chubbuck and Scarborough’s Larry Gelinas.

Track owner and three-time Oxford True Value 250 winner Ralph Nason will also be in the field as will veteran racer Jeff Taylor, owner of Distance Racing Products.

John Crawford, who manages the track along with Tammy Pooler, said there will be a full race card Sunday.

Racing will begin at 1:30.

He expects 14-18 cars in the Budweiser super sportsman class; 22-26 in the DNK Select Used Car super street class; 12-16 Coca Cola late model pro fours; 18-25 Stevens Siding and Window Co. mini-stocks and 18-25 Sun Auto and Salvage mini trucks.

“And I think we’ll have 30-40 for the 104,” said Crawford.

Crawford experimented with mid-week, low-budget entry-level racing near the end of last season, in addition to the weekend racing, and he intends to have a full season of it beginning Thursday, May 27.

It will be held every Thursday.

Mid-week entry-level racing like Speedway 95’s Wacky Wednesday and Beech Ridge Motor Speedway’s Thursday Thunder have been very successful.

“It’s good. You need something in the middle of the week,” said Crawford. “From that, people can [eventually] get into Saturday night racing.”

The classes will be wildcats (V8 or V6 engines); men’s four-cylinder peanuts; ladies’ four-cylinder peanuts; kids thunder (14-16 year-olds in four-cylinder automatics) and the ramp race where cars are required to go over a ramp that is 14 inches high and eight feet wide.

“They have to hit the ramp with two [same-side] tires on every lap. The ramp is big enough for two cars,” said Crawford.

Meanwhile, the DNK 250 continues to add to its impressive list of entrants.

Among the entrants are Kennebunkport’s Dick McCabe, a former Busch North Series champion and Oxford 250 winner; two-time Busch North titlist Andy Santerre of Cherryfield and Stan Meserve, a former top-notch driver who works in the DEI shop these days.

“We have 58 signed up right now and I expect 70-85,” said Crawford who anticipates the total purse being in the $170,000 range.

“Even the last place finisher will get $2,000,” pointed out Crawford.

Tickets are going fast, he said, and they can be obtained by calling DNK at 582-4531.