Unity Raceway will take a week off from its traditional racing to hold the first of its three autocross events at 1 p.m. Saturday.
The event involves two classes of cars negotiating cones like slalom skiers navigate gates. The fastest time wins. The two classes will be Enduros and the Street class.
There will be just one car at a time on the track, and fans can follow the times on the scoreboard.
Nick Huff, who is leasing the track from Ralph and Nancy Nason, said he held one autocross last year.
“It’s something different. We’re trying to attract a different crowd of people,” he said. “It’s like making a road course on our racetrack.
“It’s all about driving skill rather than the vehicle,” he added.
He estimates 50 cones will be set up along the one-third of a mile oval.
“It would typically take an enduro car 19 seconds to run a lap on the track without the cones. It takes a minute and a half with the cones,” said Huff.
“We had 10 last year, and I’m hoping for 20 on Saturday,” the 27-year-old Orrington native added.
Huff is in his second full season leasing the track, and he has had two racing cards so far.
Huff said he “broke even” a year ago, and any money he makes will be put toward the payouts for the Long John Late Model 116 on Oct. 16.
“I could have made some money at the end of the year, but I wanted to put it back into the Long John purse. Last year the winner received $3,500, and this year my goal is to pay $5,000,” said Huff. “I don’t see why we can’t do it.”
Huff has made some changes, and the track is running six classes each week instead of four.
“The more classes you have racing, the more race cars you have, the more people you have in the pits, and the more people you have in the stands,” he said.
Huff began leasing the track in August 2014 and, last August, as part of his one-year anniversary celebration and fan appreciation night, he dropped his ticket prices in the grandstand from $10 to $5.
“It worked out great,” said Huff, who has maintained the $5 ticket price. “It has definitely brought in a lot of people.”
The race classes are the Late Models, Sportsman, Wildcats, Outlaw Minis, Super Stocks and the Flyin’ Monsta Minis.
They race on Sunday afternoons beginning at 2:30 p.m. but won’t be racing this weekend because of Saturday’s autocross.
The track also will host a Pat’s Pizza Pro Stock Triple Crown Championship series, which will involve races on June 26, Aug. 14 and Oct. 2.