PORTLAND – Last month, Eddie MacDonald won a Camping World East series race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway for the first time in 16 career starts.

Adding a victory in the TD Banknorth Oxford 250 Sunday would make 2008 an even more memorable season for the Camping World East (formerly Busch East) veteran.

“We’re in the process of getting the car ready now,” said the 28-year-old MacDonald, who will drive a Pontiac. “We’ve got to make sure we get everything fixed. We have a pretty good setup for it.”

MacDonald, a native of Rowley, Mass., broke into the Camping World East series in 2001 and was a regular for five seasons before running just eight races each in 2006 and 2007. He is back running full time again this year and is seventh in points with three top-fives in six races.

He has four wins and 33 top-10 finishes in 104 career races in the series.

MacDonald said he likes to run a “handful of these [Late Model] races” in addition to his full CWE series schedule and the TD Banknorth Oxford 250 is one he enjoys.

“It’s a lot of fun. All the guys are great competitors. The cars are pretty equal so that makes it nice to know what you’re racing against,” said MacDonald.

“I’ve always had a couple of Late Models. I sold one off and needed an engine so I bought this car. And then we ended up having it in the shop so Rollie [crew chief Rollie Lachance] and I decided to put it together to run a few races last year. Dale Shaw put a clip on it and we’ve run it ever since,” said MacDonald.

The clip refers to the front-most part of the race car.

MacDonald has run the car three times on the American-Canadian Tour this season, notching a second and a fourth at OPS and a second at Lee USA Speedway (N.H.).

He made his debut in the Oxford 250 last year and finished 23rd after qualifying fourth.

“It was awesome. There’s a lot of pressure to get in the race. You don’t want to go home from any race [by failing to qualify]. It’s a tough one. Ninety-something cars show up and to get in means a lot. It gives you a chance to be there at the end,” said MacDonald.

Having New Gloucester resident Lachance as his crew chief has been a definite plus.

“I’m lucky to have Rollie. He’s done an awesome job. I’m glad I have him on my side. I wouldn’t want to race against him,” said MacDonald. “Once he came on with us [three years ago], he turned the whole program around.”

MacDonald and Lachance have a busy weekend in store.

On Saturday night, they will run in the Strutmasters.com 150 CWE race at the Music City Motoplex in Nashville. They will fly up to Maine on Sunday morning.

“It’ll be a little hectic but it should be fun,” said MacDonald.

What will it take for him to earn a trip to Victory Lane Sunday night?

“You’ve got to be patient. With 250 green flag laps, it makes for a long race. You’ve got to make sure you stay out of trouble and you don’t get any penalties when you come in and pit. We got a penalty last year. That kind of ruins it,” said MacDonald.

Wacky Wednesday will continue

Hermon’s Speedway 95 will retain its entry-level Wacky Wednesday night program as well as its Saturday night race card for experienced drivers.

Speedway 95 co-owner Del Merritt said last month he was mulling combining the two shows due to low car counts and dwindling attendance.

“My biggest fear is if we combined them into a Saturday night show, which would probably be in our best interest, then Wacky Wednesday would be lost forever,” said Merritt. “And we definitely don’t want to lose those wild Wacky Wednesday shows. There’s plenty of things we can do with those.”

One of those ‘things’ consists of a Small Enduro race on July 30 that could pay the winner up to $600.

The usual amount is $75 to the winner, $50 for second place and $25 for third place.

Merritt explained that he has one sponsor locked up and if he lands a second one, the winner would take home $600, the runner-up would pocket $400 and the third-place finisher would make $200. It would be a 50-lap race.

If Merritt doesn’t land the second sponsor, the payoffs would be $300, $200 and $100 to the top three. That would be a 35-lap race.

Merritt indicated he may have other races with higher payouts.

He said attendance has picked up in recent weeks for both race nights.

“We’ve had 150 to 200 more,” said Merritt.

However, he is still concerned about the car counts.

lmahoney@bangordailynews.net

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