Santerre’s team will be young this year

Sixteen-year-old Ray Black Jr. is expected to sign a contract later this week to drive in the Camping World (formerly Busch East) series this season for the Andy Santerre Motorsports team owned by the Cherryfield native.

He will be the second driver for ASM, joining Austin Dillon, the 17-year-old grandson of Sprint Cup (formerly Nextel Cup) race team owner Richard Childress.

Santerre signed a one-year deal with Richard Childress Racing.

Santerre explained that Floridian Black and his father worked out a deal with long-time sponsor Casella Waste Systems, which will co-sponsor the car along with Team Scuba. Black’s father is an underwater welder.

The deal with the Blacks is expected to be a two-year contract.

Garage Equipment Supply (Calif.) will be Dillon’s primary sponsor.

Sean Caisse and Jeffrey Earnhardt drove for Santerre a year ago, finishing second and fifth in the points standings, respectively.

“This is going to be a different deal for us,” said Santerre. “In the past, we had Sean Caisse, who was a front-runner racing for a championship. Our goals will be different this year.”

He explained that both Black and Dillon will be learning the ropes of the series and gaining experience.

“Austin has a lot more experience than Ray. He’s very talented. And Ray doesn’t have ties to [Sprint] Cup people like Austin. So Ray’s learning curve may be slower,” said Santerre, who will be seeking weekly improvement from his two young drivers.

He hopes they can churn out some top-5 and top-10 finishes in the latter stages of the 13-race schedule.

They will be teammates in the same shop despite having separate deals.

Santerre will supply all the cars for Black, while Dillon will have cars provided by Santerre and Childress.

“We’ve expanded to 12 cars and we now have 11 full-time employees. We had six employees last year,” said Santerre.

Santerre hadn’t intended to be a crew chief but may wind up in that role with Black, he said.

The season begins at Greenville-Pickens Speedway (S.C.) on April 19.

Santerre also announced his fourth annual charity snowmobile ride will be held on Feb. 9 in Caribou beginning at 10 a.m.

Craven alters snowmobile ride

Ricky Craven’s 11th annual charity snowmobile ride will feature a new twist this year.

It will be held on Jan. 28-29, a Monday and Tuesday, and will involve a junket from Moosehead Lake to Quebec and back with a small band of riders. Craven hopes to expand it in future years, calling this year’s event “exploratory.”

It will follow the first Moosehead Lake Togue (ice fishing) Derby on Jan. 26-27.

“The fishing derby will be the catalyst [for the snowmobile ride],” said Craven.

Wal-Mart will again sponsor the ride and it will raise money for the Children’s Miracle Network. It has raised nearly $250,000 in 10 years.

“The previous 10 years have been fabulous, but we felt it was time to mix things up,” said former Nextel Cup driver Craven of Newburgh.

There will be a dinner on Jan. 26.

lmahoney@bangordailynews.net

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