Unity Raceway lost money this season, but the track will continue to operate after George Fernald Jr. signed another one-year lease with owner Ralph Nason Sr. this week.

“We weren’t going to, but we changed our minds,” Fernald said. “We weren’t going to do it again, but we didn’t want someone else to benefit from all the hard work we’ve done.”

Still, changes are coming to the track next season.

Fernald, who leases the track for $35,000 a year, said he plans to turn over the concessions operation to an outside vendor. He said he will also eliminate as many as six staff positions.

“We had to cut back the help,” he said. “With the concessions, by the time we paid the extra help we just weren’t making any money. So we will lease that out, and that will free me up to do different things. We’re doing away with five or six positions. We’re going down to just one flag man and not two, like we had this year. And we also won’t pay for a race director.”

Fernald, who said he paid a race director $300 a week last season, will handle those responsibilities next season.

Fernald said the track lost about $10,000 last season, but he hopes subtle changes will help him turn a profit moving forward.

The track will continue racing Saturday nights and will feature the same divisions it ran this season.
Furthermore, drivers can expect more “Fernald Frenzy Days” on the calendar next season.

“The most fun we had was one of those races,” Fernald said. “We’ll have more of them next year.”

• • •

Johnny Clark, still beaming after winning his fourth consecutive Pro All Stars Series North points championship, said he is done racing for the year.

Clark, of Farmingdale, previously would compete in the annual Snowball Derby in Pensacola, Fla., the Southern version of the TD Bank 250.

He flirted with running it again this year but decided against it.

“The Snowball Derby is always a good one, but it costs a lot to go to it,” he said. “It’s a very expensive race. We last did it in 2008, and we had raced it three straight years. However, it cost like $12,000 to race it between the travel and hotels and the tires. So, we’re done for the year.”

Bill Stewart — 621-5640
bstewart@centralmaine.com