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ON PIT ROAD: Fireworks, firing up and first-come-first-serve

It's Thursday again. That means it's time to roll the old Mini Stock out of the garage, wipe the dust off and shake down the setup with a spin around the dirt track at the end of the street. With that, here's the latest list of notes collected in a dog-eared notebook over the last few weeks...

* SAGGING ATTENDANCE

? Check.

Low car counts? Check.

Purses out of control? Check.

So, you're a promoter at a short track in Maine, and you've got some problems, huh? Well, read on, Bingo, because I'm about to make all your problems disappear.

Wayne Elston on board at Speedway 95

Speedway 95 owner Del Merritt will announce at a press conference on Wednesday at the track that he has hired former racer Wayne Elston to serve as co-promoter and advertising director through the 2009 season.

"This should squash any rumors about us closing," Merritt said in a press release sent to media members on Tuesday.

The press conference is slated to begin at 10 a.m. and is open to the public.

ON SITE: Frank Moulton earns 1st career win

When Frank Moulton's car popped out of gear in turn 2 a few laps from the finish, he was understandably "freaked."

After all, the 18-year-old Late Model driver had yet to win a feature race at any level since turning 13, and he'd lost some in pretty dramatic fashion. While leading a race at Speedway 95 late last season, his car exploded into fire in the closing laps.

On Friday night at Unity Raceway, the bad luck finally bit somebody else.

ON PIT ROAD: Economics, economics and, well, economics

It's Thursday again. That means it's time to roll the old Mini Stock out of the garage, wipe the dust off and shake down the setup with a spin around the dirt track at the end of the street. With that, here's the latest list of notes collected in a dog-eared notebook over the last few weeks...

* MOMENTS AFTER FINISHING 3rd at Unity Raceway on Sunday afternoon, Joe Allard talked about how excited he was to have the Late Model division back at the track for the 1st time since 2005. But he also talked about how expensive it had been just to get there, spending more than $400 on a set of tires to race his car.

Brad Bellows won his 2nd straight Sportsman feature earlier in the same afternoon and wanted to issue a challenge to all the guys at Wiscasset Raceway to come on up and tackle the Unity oval this year. But with tire confiscation rules in effect at Wiscasset, it's asking a lot for support division teams to buy a brand new set of tires just to run 1 30-lap race without a commitment to a full season.

ON SITE: Brad Bellows continues to dominate

"Am I holding up the show?" Brad Bellows said while standing in victory lane after winning his 2nd straight Sportsman main at Unity Raceway on Sunday.

Holding it up? No, Brad, you're stinking it up.

Bellows led every lap against a light field of just 7 cars, beating Kris Watson by nearly a full straightaway. Ryan Robinson was 3rd.

COLUMN: Fernald waited on getting it right

It took 46 minutes to run the season-opening Sportsman 108 at Unity Raceway on Sunday afternoon, which is only slightly longer than the interminable break that took place between the completion of the Teen division feature and the start of that 108-lap event.

Normally, an unannounced 37-minute break like that spells disaster -- both for the grandstand side and the pit side at a race track by leaving fans and competitors grumbling about the stall in action.

Not so on Sunday.

NEWS: Late Model class to return to Unity Raceway

The mission was simple: Keep Unity Raceway going.

In order to do that, George Fernald feels as though he needs to answer every phone call that comes in -- even if that call is from someone with an old race car in the garage looking for a place to race. On Saturday afternoon, during another lightly attended pre-season practice session at the track, Fernald met with the representatives of roughly a half-dozen race teams interested in having a Late Model Sportsman division at Unity.

The division will make its debut with a 30-lap feature paying $300 to the winner on June 8, one week after the track's opening day. The purse is contingent on at least 10 LMS teams making an appearance.

BREAKING NEWS: PASS Outlaws are out

With so few cars committed to running the remainder of the events on the schedule, PASS president Tom Mayberry said he felt he had little choice but to disband his Outlaw Late Model division.

After just 2 of 9 scheduled races, the season has been called off. The Outlaws started racing with 1 event in 2005 at Beech Ridge Motor Speedway before moving to a full slate in 2006.

They were supposed to run next at All-Star Speedway in Epping, N.H., on May 31 -- but low car counts at the first 2 events of the season gave All-Star promoter Bobby MacArthur pause. Nine cars were on hand for the opener at Speedway 95 on May 3 and just 12 were at Riverside Speedway last weekend.

NEWS: PASS dropping Outlaw Late Models

Though there has not been an official word made as of this time, it is expected that PASS officials will soon announce their decision to cancel the remainder of the PASS Outlaw Late Model schedule.

According to most recent Outlaw race winner Mike Harnish, teams that had been running the division were reached via telephone on Wednesday night. They were told that the remainder of the schedule had been canceled.

MAILBAG: Denny Hamlin didn't do what you think he did

It's been a banner week here at the GWC saloon. I think we need to have Dale Earnhardt Jr. get wrecked  out of the lead every week -- it sure creates a firestorm like nothing else in short-track racing.

Unless, of course, Scott Chubbuck and Ralph Nason get in a wreck together.... But I digress. To the inbox we go:

"What a waste of your talent. I used to enjoy your articles. I can't believe you failed to mention the fact that Denny Hamlin was penilized for INTENTIONALLY bringing out the caution that ALLOWED PUNK kyle busch to catch up to Dale Earnhardt Jr who was pulling away for the win.

Beech Ridge rained out

Beech Ridge Motor Speedway joined the rest of Maine on Sunday.

The track's second week of NASCAR Whelen All-American Series racing was rained out. Beech Ridge now moves to Saturday nights at 6:30, starting next weekend with a 40-lap Pro Series feature.

Here in Maine, it's all about the rain

Wiscasset Raceway wasn't the only place to fall victim to Saturday's wet weather.

In fact, if you were racing anywhere in Maine on Saturday, you were probably getting washed out.

PASS came closest to getting a show in, completing the Modified, Sportsman and Outlaw features at Speedway 95 in Hermon before rain washed out the Community Pharmacies 150 for the PASS North Series.

Turning the corner on another week

Got the advance press release from PASS the other day, and I shuddered, my mind re-living every frightening detail from my last trip to Speedway 95 in Hermon.

Ugh-ugh-ugh. I feel like a dog that's just come in from a driving rainstorm, trying desperately to shake free of the cold dampness which clings to me. Can't be done...

* WHAT'S LIFE LIKE in a glamourous press box at a central Maine race track, you ask?

GWC still turning laps

"You're packing a suitcase for a place none of us has been, a place that has to be believed to be seen."
- U2

Wow, I feel like a race car owner in search of a sponsor for his investment.

It was a long, strange weekend, one that sandwiched a feature story about Cassius Clark and a 1-2 Rowe finish at Beech Ridge around the Central Maine Newspapers laying off 9 people on Friday. Luckily, I wasn't one of them -- though I did consider in the aftermath just how fortunate I'd been.

I mean, who pays to have a fishing writer on staff, right? What a gig!

But, as newspapers struggle for their lives in these internet times, tough decisions continued to be made.