Speedway 95 co-owners Del Merritt and Alice Baker paved the corners in turns two and four at the Hermon track last fall to try to create a second racing groove and provide more side-by-side racing.

That paving was done because the outside groove had been significantly faster and drivers complained that it was difficult to pass on the inside.

The consensus among four regular drivers at the track is that the new paving been continued higher up the track than the 4- to 6-foot swath that was paved.

The hot topping was 187 feet long in each corner. The price tag around $5,000-$6,000. Merritt has said he will consider hot-topping turns one and three if this project falls short of the goal of creating more side-by-side racing.

“To be honest, there isn’t a big difference,” said Glenburn’s Jordan Pearson, who races in the Strictly Street and Truck divisions. “He probably should have paved wider out of the corners and farther into them. If they paved higher up in [turns] two and four and did the same in turns one and three, I think there would be a big improvement.”

“It seems to be a little bit better than it was last year,” said Searsport’s Spencer Garvin, who drives in the Sport-Four class. “It is a little smoother and that makes the car easier to handle. But the outside groove still dominates.”

Garvin would like to see the entire track excavated and more banking added so it would be more equal, but he realizes the cost would be prohibitive.

Longtime racer Duane Seekins of Stockton Springs said he hasn’t noticed any difference at all.

“[The paving] wasn’t wide enough to do any good. It needs to be another eight feet wider going in and out of the corners. Right now, it’s just wider coming out of the corners. And they should do all four corners,” said Seekins.

Super Street driver Steve Moulton of Holden feels the paving has “improved it quite a bit.”

“The inside [groove] has worked great for me. The car can stick down a lot lower and stay down there now. It used to be wicked hard to go to the bottom. It was a lot harder than it is this year. You really had to work the car and you wound up spending more money on the tires,” said Moulton.

But even Moulton felt a wider swath would have been better.

“If they had moved [the paving] up four more feet, it would have been great. It would have helped even more if you could go into the corners just as good as you can getting out of the corners,” he added.

Santerre likes Logano’s future

Cherryfield’s Andy Santerre expects great things from Joey Logano, who will make his NASCAR Nationwide Series debut this weekend for Joe Gibbs Racing at Dover (Del.) International Speedway.

The 2007 Busch East points champion became eligible for the Nationwide Series when he turned 18 last week.

Santerre was a consultant and crew chief for Logano when the Connecticut driver was 15 and racing on the USAR Hooters Pro Cup Southern Division series.

“He’ll be hot right out of the chute. He’s getting one of the hottest cars on the circuit,” said Santerre. “That 20 car has won races and Joey has been testing every week since last year. I don’t expect anything but top-five finishes for him.”

Santerre said Logano is a talented driver who has benefited from having the financial backing of his parents.

“But they wouldn’t have kept going if he didn’t have the talent. He hooked up with Joe Gibbs [in 2005] and proved he could do it. The sky is the limit for him now,” said Santerre.

He said all Logano has wanted to do is race and said he gets the most out of his race car.

“He may not be the fastest guy out there, but he’s really consistent. He qualifies well and makes smart decisions in the car. He won’t put the car in jeopardy at any time. He takes what he can get, and a driver with his patience usually winds up in the top three,” said Santerre.

The Andy Santerre Motorsports owner and his two drivers, Austin Dillon and Peyton Sellers, will run the Camping World East (formerly Busch East) series’ Strutmasters.com 150 on Saturday night at South Boston Speedway (Va.).

The 18-year-old Dillon is leading the point standings and the 24-year-old Sellers, who had a win taken away by a disqualification, is 20th.

“It’s Peyton’s home track and he’s won a lot of races there. And Austin can run up front anywhere. Between the two, we’re hoping to get a win,” said Santerre.

‘Wacky Wednesday’ set to start

Speedway 95’s popular Wacky Wednesday race card will begin next week.

Racing starts at 7 p.m., featuring the Big Enduro, Little Enduro and Ladies divisions along with the new Cheaters class.

The Cheaters class is for stock-appearing front-wheel-drive cars with fuel-injected V6 engines. They must have 7 1/4-inch tires.

lmahoney@bangordailynews.net

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