This weekend marks the unofficial start to the auto racing season with the 29th annual Northeast Motorsports Expo at the Augusta Civic Center.
There already are some changes in store for 2017 involving Speedway 95 in Hermon.
Orrington native Nick Huff, a graphic designer who had leased Unity Raceway from Ralph and Nancy Nason the last two seasons, has been added to the administrative roster at Speedway 95.
George Fernald Jr. bought the Unity racetrack from the Nasons in July.
“He will be in charge of the drivers. If the drivers have any questions or if problems build up, they’ll talk to Nick. And he’ll be doing a little bit of work on the website, and he’ll be doing some announcing,” Speedway 95 owner Del Merritt said.
“He will be a good asset,” Speedway 95 office manager and head scorer Kim Baker Allen said. “He’s a hard worker, and he has a lot of drive and ambition. He’s really good at social media. And he’s a great guy.”
Baker Allen also announced that they are going to have a combined class for “four or five events” on their Saturday night race card as two recently defunct classes, the Speedway 95 Sportsman and the touring Outlaws, will team up.
“We will provide them with Granite State Takeoff tires. They won’t have to pay for them. If the class grows during the season, we may add it for 2018 and allow them to compete for points and better payouts,” Baker Allen said.
Baker Allen will be on hand for the Northeast Motorsports Expo, which ran from 4:30 to 9:30 p.m. Friday, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Saturday and 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday.
The annual five-member team pit crew challenge will take place beginning at noon Sunday.
The media pit stop challenge was held Friday, and the tracks and tours, ladies and kids pit stop challenges will begin at 4:30 p.m. Saturday.
There will also be a memorabilia auction and three seminars.
There will be a safety seminar hosted by Andy Biron of Speedway Safety Services at noon Saturday and one pertaining to how social media impacts short-track racing at 6 p.m. Saturday, involving Steve Perry, the owner and host of Mainely Motorsports TV, Speed51.com editor Brandon Paul, veteran race director and Pits Radio Show co-host Scot Tapley and Star Speedway promoter Bob Webber Jr. and a spotter seminar hosted by Shawn Waddell at 10:30 a.m. Sunday.