Milo’s Shaun Washburn puts in long hours at work.

But he doesn’t mind.

That’s because he “loves” his job as a machinist for the ppc.Racing team in the Busch and NASCAR Craftsman Truck series.

During the week, he works on suspension and chassis parts, the fuel cells and spoilers for the Busch cars of John Andretti and Kenny Wallace along with the Craftsman trucks of Terry Cook.

On race day, he is the pit crew coordinator for Andretti.

“I’m in charge of the pit box,” explained the 26-year-old Washburn. “I set it all up. I make sure everything is right and we have everything we need. It’s a lot of responsibility.”

The long list of necessary items in the pit box range from tools to “computer stuff.”

As a machinist, he finds himself “modifying and improving parts and coming up with our own parts. It’s pretty cool stuff.”

He will often receive a blueprint of a chassis and suspension and “they’ll tell me to make this. If I need to make changes, they’ll tell me to go ahead.”

He added that, “I learn something different every day.”

Washburn is a 1999 graduate of Penquis Valley High School and then attended Eastern Maine Community College where he earned a degree in machine tool technology.

He worked for the General Electric plant in Bangor “until they had a layoff when they moved half the plant to Mexico.”

A friend of his, Robbie McKusick, had moved to North Carolina and talked Washburn into moving down there.

Washburn landed a job for Race City Machine and Fabrication in Mooresville, N.C., making race car parts.

He eventually moved over to ppc.Racing thanks to his friend, Dave Charpentier.

Charpentier was the crew chief for Andretti’s No. 14 Nextel Cup team, which shut down last season. Charpentier currently works for DEI, helping to oversee the operations of Martin Truex Jr.’s Nextel Cup team and Paul Menard’s Busch team.

The ppc.Racing team is having a decent season.

Wallace is 12th in the Busch points standings and Andretti is right behind in 13th. Each one has four top 10s and Andretti has a top five. There have been 28 Busch races.

Although he has an extensive Nextel Cup resume, Andretti is considered a rookie in the Busch series and is leading the rookies in points. He is 280 points ahead of runnerup Burney Lamar.

“John is hoping to win that,” said Washburn.

Cook is ninth in the Truck series with a win, two top-fives and nine top-10s in 18 races.

“It has been a good year,” said Washburn. “We’re hoping the [Busch] cars can finish in the top 10 in points.”

He said his job is “very demanding” and it requires some “long days.

“I’ve worked a few 18-hour days in the same week before,” said Washburn who, in previous years, has worked on cars driven by Michel Jourdain and Brent Sherman.

But he isn’t complaining.

In addition to loving his job, he enjoys living in North Carolina and said “we get paid really well.”

PASS 400 racing at Beech Ridge

The second annual PASS (Pro All-Stars Series) 400 weekend will be held on Saturday and Sunday at Beech Ridge Motor Speedway in Scarborough.

Last year’s event, marking the first time the PASS tour had run at Beech Ridge, was a big success according to Beech Ridge owner Andy Cusack.

Cusack said the New England Dodge Dealers 150 PASS race two weekends ago was also well-received.

“Last year, we had 210 cars in the pit area for qualifying [for the various races] on Saturday. That’s the most I’ve ever seen,” said Cusack. “We only had three more places available. It was neat to see that many cars.

“And we had a great show two weeks ago. The racing was great for all divisions,” said Cusack.

He said the PASS events have been “good for the local fans” who have encouraged him over the years to hold a big, year-ending race weekend.

“But I never wanted to do one on my own because we were so busy doing the Thursday, Friday and Saturday night shows,” said Cusack. “And it was a risky deal weather-wise.”

But PASS President Tom Mayberry said he and his staff would run the show for him.

“Tom was confident it would work and he was right,” said Cusack, who rents the track to Mayberry and keeps the proceeds from the concessions.

Cusack said Mayberry and his staff do an outstanding job running the show.

There will be heat races beginning at noon on Saturday and there will also be a 35-lap PASS modified feature and a 75-lap wildcat/strictly street feature.

On Sunday, also beginning at noon, there will be a Super Late Model/Pro Stock 50-lap last chance (qualifying) race; a 100-lap PASS Outlaw Late Model feature; a 100-lap Sport Series/Limited race; a 40-lap PASS Modified feature and then the 300-lap Super Late Model/Pro Stock feature.

The entry list for the 300-lapper includes three former Busch North series champs: Kelly Moore, Dave Dion and Dale Shaw.

Moore leaves Key Motorsports

Scarborough’s Ryan Moore has abruptly left the Key Motorsports Craftsman Truck Series team.

Moore had run 11 races for the team and had three top-20 finishes including last Saturday’s 15th-place finish at the New Hampshire 200 at New Hampshire International Speedway.

Moore, who is under contract to DEI Motorsports but hadn’t raced for them in the Busch series this season due to a lack of sponsorship, will be replaced in the No. 40 truck by Tim Fedewa.

Team owner Curtis Key Sr. said in a press release, “Ryan just basically disagreed with our philosophy and quit. He left us high and dry at the worst possible moment. We certainly wish Ryan the best of luck, and thank him and his family for their support this year. But it’s just a shame that he ended up leaving as abruptly as he did when we’re so close to the next race.”