A teenager story of determination and courage fueled by a love of motorsports
Up North Motorsports
by Tom Hale
1M ago
Episode 440 February 18, 2024 Keep your eyes on the “prize: For many readers when you were thirteen, thoughts of spending 8 1/2 months in pain with countless trips to doctor’s offices, hospitals, operating rooms and missing school were not on your radar screen. New England Snocross racer Claire Durepo daughter of Libby and Chris Durepo from Limestone, Maine, has had to endure that maze of pain with no definitive answers from the medical community. In June 2023. she complained of extreme pain in her lower right quadrant of her abdomen. That began the multiple trips to doctor offices, hospitals ..read more
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Cracking Eggs in STEM Motorsports experiment
Up North Motorsports
by Tom Hale
1M ago
Episode 439 February 4, 2024 Egg crunching time In episode 437, I described the STEM exercise where Caribou Tech Auto Tech students built a protective device last month.  This device would be bolted to a “Crash Kart” with the intention of protecting an egg from cracking. As with any scientific experiment, the proof is in the testing. And test day did arrive. Last Friday the combined classes of Auto Tech and Agriculture put their ideas to the ultimate test. Designing their device to protect the egg in the front of a crash kart are agriculture students Trey Brewer and Mason Adams who ..read more
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Spud Speedway schedule and STEM Motorsports in action locally
Up North Motorsports
by Tom Hale
2M ago
Episode 438 January 10, 2024 Spud Speedway Schedule for 2024 It was not that many years ago when working at Spud Speedway that conversations centered around selling, bulldozing it into a big fish pond, opening a mega-sized solar farm, and ideas which never touched on utilizing the only track in Maine north of Bangor for what it was designed for and more. During the summer of 2023, when I looked at the mud and water which inundated the property and with deadlines looming, I must admit I had little hope that the track would open in time for events in 2023. We got a reprieve when a large storm sh ..read more
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The winter motorsports season has begun in the County
Up North Motorsports
by Tom Hale
3M ago
Episode 437 December 17, 2023 Caribou Snowmobile Club beats the rain If the Caribou Snowmobile Club had chosen December 9th as the date for their annual radar run at Caribou Lake, they would have been unable to hold the event due to high temps and rain. Sometimes the race promotor gets a break like the club did this year. The Larry Doody Memorial Radar Runs featured a record 60 snowmobiles registered. These sleds made 235 passes on the ice. Racers seemed to be satisfied with the ice which was bound to get chopped up under the beating given by thousands of ice studs. Three veteran racers were a ..read more
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Gearhead Tour at FFA National Convention at Indy
Up North Motorsports
by Tom Hale
4M ago
Episode 436 November 14, 2023 Gearhead Tour Day I Shane Theriault and I landed at Indianapolis International Airport on time Monday afternoon October 30, 2023. It was absolutely necessary that the two of us and the Caribou FFA group which departed from Bangor earlier than us have on-time arrivals since we had a race date with 7-time USAC Silver Crown Champion and former FFA member Kody Swanson at Fastimes Indoor Karting on the north side of the city at 4:30 pm. Despite getting off course due to my lack of memory of the road to Fastimes, van driver, Dan Blackstone, got us on course and we arriv ..read more
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Critical Path Management The Road to Feed the County
Up North Motorsports
by Tom Hale
5M ago
Episode 435 October 17, 2023 Critical Path Multiple times during the buildup to the Feed the County 150 on September 23, 2023, I thought about a college course I took sometime around 1973 called “Critical Path Management (CPM)”. CPM is defined this way, ” The critical path method (CPM) is a project management technique that’s used by project managers to create an accurate project schedule. The CPM method, also known as critical path analysis (CPA)”. The date for the race and the Dustbowl were set in stone and all the myriad tasks that go into the construction of the track and supporting e ..read more
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The County center of motorsports action
Up North Motorsports
by Tom Hale
6M ago
Episode 434 September 11, 2023 Motorsports activity in the County in September Coming to northern Maine soon…The Dustbowl 2023 The first annual Dustbowl from September 14-17, 2023 is only days away. Included in the multitude of activities will be racing at the newly renovated and expanded Spud Speedway. Earlier today my wife and I drove to Spud Speedway so she could see for herself the changes at the track. She was amazed at the changes. I pointed out the snowmobile drag track, pulling track, hundreds of feet of new fencing, guardrail, new steps for track access from grandstands, and many li ..read more
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Despite weather challenges grass drags were a success in Ashland
Up North Motorsports
by Tom Hale
6M ago
Episode 433 September 4, 2023 Big Woods Grass Drags battle weather in Ashland The 5th Annual Big Woods Grass Drags, a combined effort of the Ashland and Portage snowmobile clubs, proved to be a huge challenge due to rain that cascaded through the area continuing into Saturday. For those unfamiliar with snowmobile grass drag racing the 500-foot race distance typically features about 100-feet of clay/silt starting area followed by grass for another 400-feet with about 1000-feet more grass surface for shutdown. Wet clay and wet grass make a tricky surface even more so with volumes of rain dropped ..read more
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Racing dreams can come true
Up North Motorsports
by Tom Hale
7M ago
Episode 431 July 23, 2023 Dreams can come true Many have attended Indianapolis Motor Speedway over the years; however, a very small percentage have had opportunity to race at the iconic track. Frank Walka like many of us dreamed of actually racing at the track. I can remember listening, yes listening to the Indy 500 on my transistor radio. My dad, a potato farmer, had a flathead Ford in a crate from Sears Roebuck Allstate to put into one of our farm trucks. Yes, an original “crate” engine. Once that engine was installed the core went back into the crate for return. I am unsure that it ever mad ..read more
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Spud Speedway new owners
Up North Motorsports
by Tom Hale
7M ago
Episode 429 June 25, 2023 Spud Speedway ownership announcement. Aerial photo of the September 11th remembrance ceremony held on the front stretch of Spud Speedway prior to the PASS SLM 150 lap race. Take a good look since much will change in the next 60 days. (Derek Patten Drone Photo) This is the official announcement from Spud Speedway owners: New partners at Spud Speedway have big expansion plans that promise to bring economic growth to the Caribou area. Jim and Michelle Gamage are proud to purchase 50% of Spud Speedway. “What an exciting opportunity,” says Jim Gamage, Jr. Together with ..read more
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