Dozens of volunteers scraped, painted, picked up and mowed Wiscasset Speedway September 16, ahead of an October 20 race.

A $5 donation will get a person in to watch or compete. The rain date is October 21. The track's new owners, Richard and Vanessa Jordan, made those decisions in consultation with drivers at an open meeting near the end of the cleanup day. The race, for trophies only, will celebrate the track's fresh start. The Jordans hope it will also whet fans' appetite for next year.

The Kingfield couple kept the meeting's focus on the upcoming race, but Richard Jordan did say he would like the 2013 season to include Friday night races. He's thinking of “spicing up” racing with multiple flaggers, multiple people in the announcer's booth “talking with each other, like they do on TV,” and maybe an electronic scoreboard showing drivers' photographs and their positions, he said. “The goal is to sell (racing) to the fans and keep it exciting and affordable.”

“Without the fans, we don't have a racetrack,” Vanessa Jordan said. “You are in the entertainment business,” she told drivers. She praised them and others who turned out to volunteer. “Thank you, and welcome, from the bottom of our hearts,” she said. “You've done an amazing job here today.”

Her parents, Gail and Carl McKenney, and some other volunteers began what they expect will be a lengthy project to restore an old family cemetery, the Benjamin Blagden Cemetery, just inside the front gate.

The 18 grave markers date from the 1860s (at least one, possible earlier) to the 1920s. The markers were so shrouded in trees and brush, many people may have passed by them for years unaware they were there, Carl McKenney said. The town of Wiscasset gave them names and ages of the deceased, including Lucy Munsey, who died at 83 in 1908; and a number of children, including a 2-month-old girl who died in 1866.

The McKenneys belong to the Maine Old Cemeteries Association. They plan additional research to learn more about those who are buried on the grounds. Of particular importance is whether or not any veterans are there, Carl McKenney said. The state has rules for how veterans' graves must be maintained, he said.

Some stones were laying on the ground. Carl McKenney didn't know whether time or vandals were the cause. It could have been either, he said.

Cleaning up an old cemetery like the one at the speedway is a way to honor the people buried there, his wife of 53 years said. “It's sad to see this,” she said of the cemetery's condition. “I hope if my stone ever falls over, someone takes the pains to fix it.”

As the McKenneys and those helping them continued pruning and raking around the stones, the rest of the speedway property was a symphony of hand tools, heavy equipment and leaves rustling in a pre-autumn breeze. Irving C. Doughty of West Gardiner was scraping off the old paint trim outside the bathrooms, while father Irving Doughty Jr. was painting on the new trim nearby; Ryan Chadwick of Wiscasset and Kyle Seiders of Kingfield were pulling plywood off the backs of outdoor bleachers; and Vanessa Jordan was setting up a cart to steam the day's free hot dogs.

Cory Creamer, who sometimes announced the races in the 7 years he worked there, came to test the public address system. He brought extra speakers in case any needed replacing.

Lloyd Delano, a neighbor of the track, was at the helm of his John Deere tractor, dropping debris into a dumpster. “I don't mind it a bit,” he said of the track's reopening. “The sooner the better.”