Nason: Track needs local ownership Caribou’s Spud Speedway still for sale

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Ralph Nason maintains that Caribou’s Spud Speedway could be a big-time moneymaker.

The stock car track hasn’t had racing since 2000 and track owner Nason has lowered his asking price to $75,000.

The price tag was $125,000 just three years ago.

He also is willing to lease or rent it.

“I would even rent it for a percentage of the action but I haven’t had any takers,” said Nason, who also owns Unity Raceway and Autodrome Montmagny in Quebec.

He feels his asking price is more than fair.

“You can’t even buy a new house trailer for that [$75,000]. And how much money can you make off a house trailer?” posed Nason.

He said the track itself is fine but the grandstand and other facilities are deteriorating.

If Nason were to put on a race at Spud Speedway, he said “I wouldn’t put the fans in the grandstand” because of the condition of the seating planks.

“It would be a standing deal,” said Nason, who would also use lunch wagons rather than the concession stand.

He feels the next person to run or own Spud Speedway “needs to live up there. It’s too remote to run it living in central Maine or even the Bangor area.”

So how would someone make money at Spud Speedway?

Nason suggested taking a page out of the Oxford 250 by having just one class and holding several heat races leading up to the feature.

However, instead of racing pro stock cars like they do at Oxford, make it an open class for entry-level enduro-type cars.

“Chain the door shut; take the glass out of it along with the tail lights and head lights and race it,” said Nason.

“They would come out of the woodwork to race,” said Nason.

Nason also feels track owners need to provide more than just auto races to attract new fans these days.

“You need to supply [other types of] entertainment,” said Nason. “In order to have a successful small, local short track business, you have to offer more than just cars going ’round and ’round and ’round. You need to attract the wife and kids.”

For example, at Montmagny on Saturday, there will be loud rock music with disc jockeys, fireworks and professional entertainers who will take microphones into the crowd. There will also be cheap beer, a dance floor and dancing girls.

At Unity Raceway, they have a wheelbarrow race, a ramp race and race your neighbor events some nights to go with the regular auto race card.

In the wheelbarrow race, you have two-person teams. One person pushes the wheelbarrow down the front stretch with their teammate in the wheelbarrow and then when they get to a specific spot, they turn around and switch off with the rider doing the pushing.

In the ramp race, cars must go up a ramp on two wheels on every lap. It can get wild if two cars go up the ramp on different sides at the same time.

The race-your-neighbor involves two passenger cars running two laps against each other. The drivers have to wear helmets and sign a waiver.

Another Cup driver entering 250

Oxford Plains Speedway owner Bill Ryan already has lined up Nextel Cup rookies Denny Hamlin and J.J. Yeley and Newburgh’s Ricky Craven, who has two Nextel Cup wins to his credit, for the 33rd annual TD Banknorth 250 at OPS on Sunday, July 30.

And Ryan said Thursday there will be another Cup driver coming to run the race.

“We will announce it next week,” said Ryan.

Ryan was able to attract Roush Racing teammates Matt Kenseth and Kurt Busch to the 2004 race and Kenseth returned last year with Busch’s younger brother, Kyle.

Kurt Busch had a previous commitment in 2005.

“They have been three ambassadors for the race,” said Ryan who noted that Kurt Busch recommended the race to his brother.

Ryan has moved the Banknorth 250 around so it wouldn’t conflict with a Nextel Cup weekend.

“There has been a lot of interest from Cup drivers,” said Ryan.

Several Cup drivers honed their driving skills on short tracks, explained Ryan.

Hamlin, he said, won several short track races in Virginia.

Hamlin is currently 13th overall in the Nextel Cup points standings but leads the rookies.

Yeley is 23rd overall and fourth among rookies.

They are Joe Gibbs Racing teammates.

They are also running the Busch Series where Hamlin is third in points thanks to two wins, four top-fives and eight top-10s in 12 races while Yeley is eighth with three top-fives and seven top-10s.

He said having Nextel Cup racers run the 250 has been “great for our fans.”