Two new classes will be unveiled this season when Hermon’s Speedway 95 stock car race track opens for the season at 7 p.m. Saturday.
The new Limited Sportsman and Tiger classes will join the Dysart’s Late Models, Street Stocks, Sport-4s and Coca-Cola Cage Runners on Saturday nights.
The Late Models, the track’s premier class, will alternate Saturdays with the Limited Sportsman. As a result, the Late Models class will run half as many races as it has in the past.
“That’s what [the drivers] wanted,” said longtime Speedway 95 owner Del Merritt. “That’s what Wiscasset does with its Late Models.”
Wiscasset Speedway’s top two classes, the Pro Stocks and the Late Models, race on alternate weekends.
The Late Models at Speedway 95 and Wiscasset Speedway will run on different Saturdays to allow drivers to race in both, as long as their cars meet the specifications of both tracks.
Merritt said the specifications for the Late Models at the two tracks are very similar so “all they would have to do is buy tires [at the other track].”
In other changes, Merritt said there were several race cars last year that didn’t meet the Street Stocks requirements, so now they can run in the higher Limited Sportsman class or the lower Tiger class.
The feature races are 25 or 30 laps, but most of the classes will have a 50-lap race once a month.
“It’s something new. We’re trying to mix things up a little,” Merritt said.
The Granite State Pro Stock Series will have two of its 11 races at Speedway 95 on June 21 and Sept. 13.
The New Hampshire-based series leases the track from Merritt for those two days.
“I like the pro stocks,” said Merritt, who added that the raceway makes money off the two races.
The All-Star Monster Truck Show will be held at the track on June 6-7.
Wacky Wednesday for entry level classes will kick off on June 25.
The classes will be Road Runners, Cap’s Tavern’s Modified Enduros, Stars of Tomorrow, Maine Outlaw Midget Series and Trucks.
The race season will conclude with the three-day Paul Bunyan Speed Weekend on Oct. 10-12.
On Friday, Oct. 10, there will be a 50-lap Tigers feature and 30-lap events for the Modified Enduros, Sport-4s and Trucks.
Saturday, Oct. 11’s card will include the annual Ikey Dorr 100-lap Street Stock race, a 75-lap Limited Sportsman event and a 50-lap Cage Runner feature.
Sunday, Oct. 12’s finale will have 100-lap Late Model and Road Runner races and a 20-lap Outlaw Midget feature followed by a demolition derby competition.
The defending points champions are Farmington’s Donny Blanchard (Late Models), Thorndike’s Jordan Pearson (Street Stocks), Hermon’s Jason Morse (Sport -4s), Troy’s Horace Crawford (Cage Runner), Hudson’s Donny Silva (Road Runner), Winthrop’s Ben Ashline (Modified Enduro), Hampden’s Austin Beale (Stars of Tomorrow), Southwest Harbor’s Eric Clark (Outlaw Midget) and Orono’s Adam Gardner (Trucks).
NASCAR has expressed concern over the tariffs imposed by the U.S. government because it could raise the cost of its race cars, and Merritt said they won’t be good for business at Speedway 95’s level, either.
“If you put a tariff on aluminum and steel and the other stuff you need to build a stock car, the price will go up,” said Merrill. “I’m sure it will have an effect, but I don’t know [how much] at this point.”