BANGOR – Ever wonder what it’s like to drive that big, white, 1976 Cadillac with the extendable starter gate arms at Bangor Raceway?

Well, try to imagine being one of two people driving one of those crane trucks or fire department ladder trucks, only with more maneuverability and the ladder or crane straddling the back of the vehicle horizontally. Now you have a good idea what it’s like to be Roger Smith Jr. and Rick Crane.

Smith, a Hampden native now living in Old Orchard Beach, has been involved in the harness racing industry since the early 1960s when he started out picking up rocks on the track. He’s served as a driver, starter, judge, and track manager.

“I started off driving, but they needed a starter, so I learned to do it,” Smith said. “Then I went to the United States Trotting Association’s officials’ school in Columbus, Ohio, and became a judge. I’ve done a lot of jobs all around the country. Then I went into racetrack management and managed other tracks around the country.”

Crane, a Bangor native who used to own horses, has been driving Bangor Raceway’s starter’s vehicle for the last six years.

“It got to be expensive and there wasn’t that much action, plus we didn’t know where this industry was going and it didn’t look good,” Crane said. “So one day they asked if I wanted to drive and I’ve been doing it ever since.”

By the way, the extendable arms are called the “wings,” and it takes quite a bit of time and practice to flap them smoothly.

“The hardest part of my job is being in the exact right place … Not being inside too far and crowding the one horse or having it way out by the fence to making it hard for the eight to catch up,” Crane explained.

And that’s with a partner controlling the V8 Cadillac’s speed.

“The main thing the public doesn’t know is the guy driving the car isn’t in charge of the gas,” Crane explained. “I’m steering, watching out for the track, and watching for anything or anyone on the track.

“We’re also watching for a recall or having to slow up the horses. Last week a driver fell off the horse and I’ve got this horse with no driver, so I kept [the horse] behind the gate and guided him toward the paddock, and he slid off and into the paddock where they got him as he was almost at a complete stop.”

That’s just one of several harrowing tales these two have to tell.

“One night we were here, the wings didn’t close. See, I switch to watching the outside pylons to make sure they’re closing before I head out over that way because if they don’t close, I’m taking everybody out over by the beer tent,” Crane said. “Well, I kept going because I knew I couldn’t stop because I have eight drivers and eight horses I’m going to kill.

“I kept them open all the way around the track and went as fast as I could, got ahead of the horses, and got off the track and into the paddock without hitting anything.”

Smith – whose father, Roger Sr., is the state racing steward at the age of 91 and whose wife Brenda is Bangor Raceway’s clerk of course and assistant charter – says that close call might have been avoided in the old days.

“Back then we had an escape down the front in the first turn. It was a little chute we could get out through,” Smith explained. “It was safer, in case something like that happened.”

Of course, there are other potential mishaps, such as a wild animal or stray pet wandering onto the track.

“There isn’t much I can do with that. Thank God we’ve never had one get run over,” said Crane. “What can I do? I’ve got eight guys and eight horses behind me, so I don’t have much of an option with maybe a foot inside and a foot outside to work with.”

Going out at a gallop

Today and Sunday mark the final two days of racing on Bangor Raceway’s nine-week, 28-day schedule and the spotlight will shift from fledgling, future drivers to seasoned veterans.

The rookies take the stage today as the U.S. Trotting Association’s five-day Harness Horse Youth Foundation camp winds up with three races sandwiched around the first two betting races on tonight’s program.

Ten drivers ranging in age from 11 to 13 will put what they’ve learned this week to the test and compete for bragging rights on the Bangor Historic Track at the Bass Park fairgrounds with the first race starting at 7:20 p.m.

The youths will be racing trotting-bred horses, which are roughly three-quarters the size of a standard trotter. This is the first time Bangor Raceway has hosted the program, which teaches participants everything from blacksmithing to the training, exercising, feeding, and driving of horses.

Sunday’s feature event is the 12th annual Paul Bunyan Invitational race. Six pacers will race for a $10,000 purse in the 11th race Sunday afternoon. Post time for the 12-race program is 1:30 p.m. The horses racing for the big money are (in gates 1-6, respectively): Arts Planet, driven by Don Richards; Jate’s Skyhawk with Heath Campbell; Artchie Andrews with Jason Bartlett; Powerhouse Sahbra (Shawn Gray); Jason’s Jiffy (Drew Campbell), and Perfect Trick (driver TBA).

Andrew Neff can be reached at 990-8205, 1-800-310-8600 or at aneff@bangordailynews.net