Sisters seek data on 1950s car racing in Exeter

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Today, I offer you a fun request from an acquaintance of mine who lives in Eddington and winters in sunny southern California.

Linda Conn wrote that she and her sister, Millie Cannon of Bradley, have been working on a family genealogy for several years.

In connection with that project, they are seeking some very specific information, and they need the help of local stock car racing fans.

Their father, the late Vaughn “Junior” Rogers, raced at Exeter Raceway in the 1950s.

He drove car No. 99, a 1935 Ford.

The car was sponsored by Jerry’s Lunch in Brewer, and owned by their late uncle Harold Walker.

“I’m told that uncle Harold was founder and president of the Pine Tree Racing Association, but I can’t verify that,” Linda wrote. “Dad drove in the 1956, 1957 and 1958 seasons at Exeter. Uncle Harold once told me that ‘Junior’ could drive an 8-foot car through a 6-foot space.

“My dad quit racing when he had his fourth daughter, at about the age of 24,” she added. “However, he always had racing and cars in his blood.”

Linda wrote she and her sister have searched the archives at the University of Maine in Orono, the Bangor Public Library, the Bangor Daily News and the Bangor Commercial for information about racing in our area in the 1950s “with no luck.”

Harold Wilcox of Glenburn provided the sisters with the only picture they have of the car, “which is a good one of the car,” Linda wrote, “but Dad’s back is to the camera.”

Linda added that Arthur “Farr” Rowe of Brewer owned a 1934 Ford her father drove “at or near the site of the former Brewer Drive-In, and that would have been pre-1956.”

Rowe thought local stock car racing was covered by the Bangor Commercial, but the sisters failed to find information about the years their father raced.

Recognizing those connected to that era are quickly aging, the sisters would love to hear from anyone who has information about people associated with Exeter Raceway or the Pine Tree Racing Association.

If you have any information about this particular racing site and era, write Conn at 50-915 Paloma Court, LaQuinta, Calif. 92253, or e-mail JConn9458@aol.com; call Cannon at 827-7537 or e-mail MACannon47@aol.com or mcannon@otsd.org.

A public spaghetti supper to benefit Derrik Kenney will be held from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. Saturday, March 4, at Stockton Springs Elementary School.

Derrik, 11, is being treated for cancer.

Admission for the supper is $10 for families, $5 for adults and $3 for students and children.

Donations to help Derrik and his family during this difficult time will be most welcome.

Help with filing state and federal income tax returns, courtesy of UMaine accounting students, is available from noon to 2:30 p.m. Mondays, now through Monday, April 17, in Room 113 of the Donald P. Corbett Business Building on the UMaine campus in Orono.

The students will work with taxpayers on a first-come, first served basis and will be overseen by associate professor Steven Colburn, director of the UMaine Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Program.

Although the program is designed for low-to-moderate income taxpayers, people with disabilities, the elderly, or students, the service is available to anyone, on campus or in surrounding communities, who have basic tax assistance needs.

If you are seeking assistance, you should bring W-2 Forms from all employers, Form 1099 for dividends and interest, if applicable, and any other forms or information regarding income, deductions or credits.

If needed, volunteers can download tax forms from the IRS Web site.

Because April 17 is Patriots Day and a state holiday in Massachusetts where some taxes are processed, taxpayers who are residents of Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Vermont and the District of Columbia have until midnight April 18, to file their taxes.

For more information, call Colburn, 581-1982, or e-mail steve.colburn@umit.maine.edu.

Hannaford Bros. Co.’s annual Have a Heart for Hunger campaign ends Saturday, March 4.

Donation coupons, in $2 and $5 denominations, are available at all registers, and customers can make donations part of their food bill.

All collected funds will be donated to local food banks.

In Maine, recipients of your generosity will be Good Shepherd Food Bank and Wayside Soup Kitchen.

Joni Averill, Bangor Daily News, P.O. Box 1329, Bangor 04402; 990-8288.