Newburgh native and former two-time NASCAR Cup Series winner Ricky Craven said he is having the “time of his life” as the new owner of the former Speedway 95 in Hermon after buying it from Del Merritt last fall.
Craven has since added multiple corporate sponsors and renamed the race track Speedway Presented By Bar Harbor Bank and Trust.
And one lucky driver is going to have what could be the payday of his or her life if they win the final race of a seven-race Pro Stock series put together by Craven for the upcoming season.
On Saturday, Oct. 10, the 200-lap Bar Harbor Bank and Trust 200 will feature the most lucrative payout to the winner in the 60-year history of the Hermon track, according to Craven.
“With everything, including lap money, the winner’s purse can exceed $25,000,” Craven told the Bangor Daily News on Monday.
He added that the exact amount of purse money and lap (lead) money is “still a work in progress.”
Pro stocks are the fastest and most expensive race cars in the northeast, and this division was the top weekly class at Speedway 95 until 2019 when it was dropped in favor of the slower and less expensive late models.
Pro stock racing returned to Speedway 95 in 2023 in the form of a couple of races a year involving the New Hampshire-based Granite State Pro Stock series.
“When I decided to buy Speedway 95, I also decided that I would incorporate the fastest cars that are common to our area and New England to some degree,” Craven explained, referring to the pro stocks.
The seven-race series will involve a point fund to the drivers, with the drivers garnering the most points through their finishes in the seven races earning the most money from the fund.
The series opener on Saturday, May 23 will also mark Craven’s season debut as the track owner.
It will be called the Speedway 60th Anniversary 60-lapper.
The track opened in 1966 and, interestingly, Craven turns 60 years old the day after the opener.
The other six races will also be held on a Saturday.
The Granite State Pro Stock 100-lapper will be held on June 20 followed by a 75-lap race on July 18; twin 35-lap features on Aug. 15; the 128-lap Granite State Pro Stock Stan Meserve Classic on Sept. 12; a 50-lap race on Oct. 3 and the Bar Harbor Bank and Trust 200 on Oct. 10 as part of the Paul Bunyan weekend.
The times of the races have yet to be decided.
The BHBT 200 will be the longest race in the 15-year history of the Granite State touring series.
All pro stock drivers are eligible to compete in all of the races, not just racers from the Granite State series.
The drivers who win the first six Pro Stock Series events will be ensured a top 10 starting position for the Bar Harbor Bank and Trust 200.
There will be one winner for the twin 35-lap races and it will be the driver who had the highest combined finish in both races. It will be run in inverted style with the winner of the first race starting in back for the second one.
“We are structuring the series to encourage pro stock drivers and teams from all over to come and participate,” said Craven. “They are a very exciting, high-energy, talented group of drivers.
“The last race of the year will always be our marquee race of the year,” said Craven.
In addition to the pro stocks, there will be four other classes that will race regularly at Speedway 95: Late Models, Strictly Streets, Super Streets and Road Runners.
Craven said they are also looking to add a new class called Crown Vics for modified Crown Victorias, Mercury Grand Marquis or Lincoln Town Cars.
“That’s a rage all across the country,” Craven explained.
Craven said he has eliminated Wacky Wednesday racing for the entry level classes and that he has hired Winslow native and former NASCAR Cup series driver Stan Meserve as his competition director.
Meserve, a highly-successful racer who ran 31 races in the NASCAR Cup Series in 1968, has been inducted into the Maine Motorsports Hall of Fame (2007), the New England Auto Racing Hall of Fame (2013) and the Wiscasset Speedway Hall of Fame (2020).
In addition to his racing career, Meserve was also an official on the American-Canadian Tour and NASCAR Busch North Series tour and the creator of Distance Racing, where he built and tuned up some of the top race cars in the northeast.
“Stan is incredible. He was my first hire. He’s like family. He was my mentor,” Craven said. “He has enormous credibility in auto racing in the northeast and he is also known nationwide.
“He will create a lot of confidence among the competitors,” said Craven, who added that Meserve will be assisted by Derek Mingo.
As for the track itself, Craven said the pit area has been expanded by moving it “60 to 80 feet closer to the track.”
He said they have done some paving on the back stretch of the track and have already sold out their 80 pit pads to drivers and their teams.
Pit pads are heavy duty and portable mats where drivers and teams can work on their race cars while protecting the ground from fluids.