The race track in Hermon has a new owner, and now it’s getting a new name.
Former NASCAR driver Ricky Craven has officially bought the former Speedway 95 from longtime owner Del Merritt, a move announced in August and legally executed this week.
With Merritt’s last race season as owner concluding earlier this month, and the sale being finalized Wednesday, Craven held a press conference Friday to outline more of his plans for the track.
And with Craven bringing on a Maine-based bank to partner with him in Hermon, now the track is getting a new name: Speedway Presented By Bar Harbor Bank and Trust.
Craven said that the only thing he and his new group of partners had trouble agreeing on was the name. That group includes a list of roughly a dozen other partners to be announced in the coming weeks, according to Craven.
“The majority of them wanted my name at the top of the Speedway, I’m just not comfortable with that,” Craven said. “What it is, is ‘Speedway.’”
The former driver-turned track owner said that his name needed to be included in the brand in some way, so he lent his signature to the logo above the track name.
Craven credited Merritt for keeping the race track alive but indicated that he would bring a new approach as he works to grow the venue in 10 phases over the next 10 years.
“We have a very different approach on how we’re going to own a race track,” Craven said. “We’re going to do it with partners.”
Bar Harbor Bank and Trust CEO Curtis Simard was on hand in Hermon on Friday to celebrate the partnership, which Craven said came together after one nearly five-hour meeting.
As a Mainer, Simard said he felt “a little giddy” to be sitting next to the homegrown former NASCAR driver, TV personality and businessman Friday.
“This is going to be tremendous for central Maine. Nothing like this happens every day,” Simard said about the future of the race track. “But it’s going to be great for the whole state.”
He called Craven a careful and thoughtful leader. And Craven has his sights on making Speedway one of the premier short-track facilities on the East Coast.
“We’re building a fun machine,” Craven said during Friday’s press conference at the Hermon Volunteer Rescue building.
Craven previously told the Bangor Daily News that his planned additions at the Hermon venue include new year-round events, a restaurant, expanded seating and the facility’s first beer sales. And he has planned to invest $5 million in the renovations in the coming years.
With rising costs of concrete and asphalt, he’s not positive that early estimate will hold up. But he says the partnerships will help.
“I’m not sure $5 million will be enough,” Craven said.
The Newburgh native has a long history with the Hermon track that stretched back to both of his parents winning races there.
Craven has also moved back to the area from North Carolina and is bringing his Ricky Craven Motorsports dealership with him to the former Speedway 95 property. He plans to carry Corvettes and other muscle cars from the late 1960s and early 1970s, which will be located in a new 10,000-square-foot building at the facility.
He said in September that he is dedicating the next 10 years of his life to this project in Hermon.
Craven intends to move the fence on the back stretch of the track 60 feet closer to the action. Over time, he plans to put 1,000 seats on that side of the track, which is located in front of the pit area.
Some of that work has already begun, Craven said Friday.
He has not divulged the specific amount of money he spent to buy the track from Merritt, but has noted that it was “a significant amount.”
Merritt told the BDN’s Larry Mahoney that he has nothing but positive thoughts about the ownership change, and thinks Craven will do a great job with the track.
“If I thought something different, I never would have sold it,” Merritt said earlier this month.
During his racing career, Craven ran 278 Cup Series races and was one of the first drivers to win in the Cup series, the Xfinity series and the Craftsman Truck series.
His competitive edge helped elevate him from Maine to the national stage, and he plans to bring that same approach to his new business in Hermon.
“If you think I’m just along for a good time, I am uber competitive,” Craven said. “My whole entire life has been about winning. And I want to win at this.”