John Albert isn’t sure what to expect when he opens Spud Speedway in Caribou at 1:30 p.m. Sunday.
But he is hopeful that his first year leasing the track from owner Troy Haney will go well.
“We’re going to give it our best shot. We’re going to do the best we can with it,” said the 74-year-old Albert, a Limestone native who has been a racer for over 30 years.
H e said the track is in good shape and they will race every Sunday afternoon except the weekends of July 3-5 and Aug. 14-16. They will have night races on Friday, July 3, and Saturday, Aug. 15. Racing will start at 7 p.m.
Albert is taking a calculated gamble in bringing back the state’s most expensive class, the Pro Stocks or Super Late Models.
“I’m not sure how it’s going to go,” said Albert. “It will probably be like everybody else. We’ll start out with four or five cars. Hopefully, we’ll build from there.
“The Pro Stocks are on their way back. They’re basically the same as the Late Models. It’s the same chassis. The only difference [pertaining to the body of the car] is in the motor, and that’s not a big deal,” said Albert, whose track won’t have a Late Model class.
The other difference is the tires.
The Pro Stocks race on 10-inch tires and 10-inch rims, while the Late Models run on 8-inch tires on 8-inch rims.
“Anybody who has a Late Model and wants to run in our Super Late Model class only has to buy tires and rims,” said Albert, who owned and operated the one-third of a mile oval for four years during the 1990s.
“Hopefully, we’ll get some cars from Canada. We’ve had some drivers inquire from Speedway 660 [Geary, New Brunswick],” added Albert, who hopes to get some cars from Wiscasset Speedway and Speedway 95 in Hermon, which both race on Saturday nights.
Speedway 95 doesn’t have Pro Stocks, but it does have Late Models.
Speedway 660 is 144 miles from Caribou, and its race cards also are on Saturday night.
Spud Speedway has become the fourth of Maine’s six major tracks to adopt the Pro Stocks along with Wiscasset, Beech Ridge Motor Speedway in Scarborough and Oxford Plains Speedway.
There will be three other classes: Street Stocks, Northern Lights (four-cylinder cars) and Enduros for entry-level drivers. In addition, there also will be several classes of go-karts.
The admission prices will be $5 for adults, $3 for ages 6-12 and free for under 6.
The Pro Stocks, Street Stocks and Northern Lights features will be 30-lappers, and the Enduros will run 20 laps.
Extended-lap races scheduled are: a 150-lap Pro Stock event on Aug. 15, a Street Stock 100-lapper on July 26, a Northern Lights 75-lapper and a Street Stock 50-lapper on July 3, and twin 50-lap Enduro races on Aug. 9.
The final race day will be Sept. 13, and there will be 35-lap features in each class. Go-karts will not race on the final day.
Special events also will be held throughout the season like a demolition derby, two tug-of-war competitions, involving vehicles, a chain race and a tuff truck competition.