Sharing racing: Wiscasset Speedway welcomes WACC

SUSAN JOHNS
Mon, 09/09/2019 - 5:00pm
Before her four-cylinder race at Wiscasset Speedway Sept. 7, Buxton’s Nicole Benincasa, 16, bundles in a Portland Sea Dogs blanket. Meteorologist William Watson of National Weather Service’s Gray office said winds, clocked at 18 mph in Wiscasset earlier, were from former Category 5 Hurricane Dorian, which also pulled a cool air mass down from the north. At 5 p.m., less than an hour before Benincasa greeted Wiscasset Area Chamber of Commerce members in the pits, the Hurricane Center declared Dorian a post-tropical cyclone, Watson said. SUSAN JOHNS/Wiscasset Newspaper
Mike Bennett, left, of Augusta and Randy Dalton of Jay are among early arrivals to the speedway Sept. 7. SUSAN JOHNS/Wiscasset Newspaper
Chewonki Foundation Vice President Nancy Kennedy checks out the history of drivers Buster and Elaine Grover. SUSAN JOHNS/Wiscasset Newspaper
Wiscasset Speedway owner Vanessa Jordan, left, puts a pits access bracelet on Water Lily Flowers and Gifts owner Datvik Deirkrikorian. SUSAN JOHNS/Wiscasset Newspaper

Grover Auto & Tire owner Danny Grover’s late father Buster won the Sportsman Championship in Wiscasset Speedway’s first season in 1969. His wife, Danny’s mother Elaine, was the first woman at the track to race with the men. Saturday night, their son, a past driver at the speedway, showed fellow Wiscasset Area Chamber of Commerce members around.

Many had never been. “My first time in any speedway, actually. I’m looking forward to it,” Water Lily Flowers and Gifts owner Datvik Deirkrikorian said as warmups continued. “Noisy, but that’s natural,” she added, smiling.

The light shrouds they gathered under in the grandstand building were once part of the track lighting, announcer-promoter Ken Minott told them. 

From greeters to the tech garage, 50 to 60 people, most of them volunteers, run race night, Richard Jordan said. He and wife Vanessa got the track in a 2012 foreclosure auction. He recalled for WACC members a weekday afternoon, days after the auction, when volunteers were all over, bush-hogging the infield and doing other cleanup to help the track reopen. “This is a community project. We love racing, and we love to share racing.”

WACC Administrative Assistant Pat Cloutier asked if she volunteered, could she drive one of the golf carts.

“Certainly,” Jordan said.

In an interview, Grover said he feels connected to the track. “And these owners are doing a good job preserving the history.”

 

 

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