The Fall Fury race on Oct. 21 was a great success, according to the owners of Wiscasset Speedway, the first and only race day of 2012.
About 3000 spectators and roughly 170 race cars came together at “Maine’s Fastest Track” to provide nearly eight hours of high-speed entertainment.
The races started at 11 a.m. and didn’t wrap up until close to 7 p.m., said Richard Jordan, who co-owns the track with his wife, Vanessa Jordan. “If we had any more racing we’d have had to turn on the track lights,” he said. “Everybody said they’d come, and they did.”
“We had a lot of different types of cars there, and had to sort of meld them together into groups that could race competitively,” Richard said. There were 16 different classes for over 20 types of race cars, he said.
Dale Chadbourne, who helped the Jordans organize the event, said, “If I had to pick one race that was the best, it was probably the Street Stock. There were a lot of cars in it and it was fun to watch.”
A lot of factors came together to make Fall Fury a success, Richard said. “It’s amazing how it just melded…everybody was more than willing and so flexible to make things work.”
“There was not one paid person there…everyone that was working was a volunteer,” said Vanessa.
Richard said he was so busy throughout the day that he couldn’t get around to meet and thank all the volunteers, but he’s trying to contact each by telephone.
Chadbourne “made the race run beautifully,” Vanessa said. “Truly he was the race event director…he was very humble about it, but he did it.”
Vanessa said she and Richard are now focusing on what’s needed for the 2013 season.
A survey of the drivers at Fall Fury will help guide decisions for next year, and rules for the track still need to be established, Richard said. “We want [the racers] and the fans to all be a part of it.”
The first goal is to get the property back into an environmentally sound state “that it deserves to be in,” Richard said. “We don’t have an approved DEP plan yet” to deal with the environmental issues on the property, and the couple need that to see what direction they’re going to take, he said.
The couple plans to announce a schedule and other information at the Northeast Motorsports Expo in January but that isn’t set in stone, Vanessa said. “We’re kind of using the motto that we’re in no big hurry to make big mistakes.”
Karl Fredrickson, a race car driver as well as the publisher of Speedway Illustrated, brought his Modified Stock Car #41 to Fall Fury and the officials had a hard time figuring out what class in which he could race.
Terry Oliveri, who was in charge of technical inspection at Fall Fury, said to Fredrickson, “I don’t know what to do with you…it’s one car that doesn’t fit.”
Neil Danson, Fredrickson’s crew chief said, “We’re here more to support racing than we are to race,” but he’d at least like a chance to run some laps.
According to Danson, the #41 car is so close to the ground it handles like a go-cart. Combining that with its approximately 600-horsepower engine and “it’s like bringing a cannon to a knife fight,” Danson said.
Fredrickson was eventually slotted to race with the Prostock cars, and finished second. “I was doing the best I could – those guys are good,” he said. “I’ve been racing cars since 1984…it’s not easy.”
“No matter how well-prepared the car is, there’s still the driver’s component,” Fredrickson said.
In the 28 years he’s been racing, Fredrickson has seen a lot of things to be proud of in the racing community.
“As a father, our children see us roll up our sleeves, try hard, fail, go home and blame no one but ourselves, try again, and sometimes succeed. That’s a wonderful message,” he said.
“There’s a ton of blood, sweat and tears in those things, each and every one of” the race cars, Fredrickson said. The drivers are willing to rocket those cars around a track, inches from concrete, “a wrong move away from total destruction and maybe personal injury just to prove they don’t want to waste away in front of a TV.”
Most innovations in fuel efficiency and safety in automobiles on the road came from racing “and I’m proud of that,” Fredrickson said.
Racing can be good for a community not only by being a system of revenue at the racetrack and at other local businesses but also by providing an outlet for people who want to drive fast, Fredrickson said.
“A good, well-run, safe environment like a race track is an ideal outlet for those kids to be doing that,” he said. “People outside of the sport think that folks like us enjoy people speeding into our neighborhoods. In reality, nothing could be further from the truth.”
Race, color, and creed play no role in racing, Fredrickson said. If anyone is curious about racing or is thinking about participating, they can go to their local short track and go into the grandstands or the pits and “just walk up and say ‘hello.'”
Fredrickson named dignity, humility, and a sense of the big picture as qualities common to the racing community. “The people are as warm, welcoming and friendly as you could possibly imagine.”