It was quite a night for Readfield native Pete McCollett at Wiscasset Speedway on Saturday.

McCollett held off a small field to win a 15-lap Thunder 4 race, thanked the crowd at victory lane and then announced his retirement in the pits.

“I’m done,” he said. “I wanted one more victory and I got it. This is how I want to go. I wanted to go out with a bang, and I did. I’ll be a car owner now and let some young kids drive.”

McCollett, 52, has bounced around at a variety of tracks in recent years, from Unity to Oxford Plains and Wiscasset.

This season, he competes in two classes with a pair of Volkswagens he converted on his own — a Scirocco and a Golf.

He drove the Scirocco to victory Saturday — his second straight in the class. The week before, McCollett earned a victory in the Outlaw Mini class with his Golf.

Advertisement

“Three straight weeks,” McCollett said. “But it’s now time.”

McCollett is letting Shawn Kimball, 34, of Augusta drive the Golf and Dan Trask, 34, of Chelsea drive the Scirocco.

“I’ve never won a (points) championship as a driver but we’ll shoot for two in two different classes,” McCollett said. “Hey, I’m getting old. This is a little harder for me.”

Trask, Kimball and McCollett became friends through racing at Wiscasset.

Trask said he’s “having a blast” driving for McCollett.

“We go a ways back,” he said. “I’ve had my own cars in years past but this will work out. I’m looking forward to it.”

Advertisement

* * *

Last Saturday was a rough night for car owner Ed Trask, an Augusta native. Trask had not one but two Pro Stock cars wreck at Wiscasset Speedway.

Madison native Jeff Burgess crashed the No. 1 car coming into turn four during a heat race. The team then entered the No. 11 — a Late Model that was converted to a Pro Stock last week — into the 40-lap feature, but it wrecked, too, with John Rideout behind the wheel.

Rideout of Washington got tangled up with Manchester native Reid Lanpher with about five laps remaining and crashed.

“It was a bad day,” Burgess said. “My wreck happened in the heat race and so I watched the feature from the backstretch. Then John and Reid bumped in the corner with both trying to take the same real estate. These things happen, but it was a bad day.”

Burgess said Wednesday the two cars should be ready to go in the next Pro Stock race at Wiscasset, a 30-lap feature on Aug. 31.

Advertisement

“We got one of them done,” Burgess said. “The other we should finish up early next week, which should give us plenty of time to get ready.”

* * *

Justin Drake was supposed to race just once this season — the Pro All Stars Series North opener in April at Oxford Plains Speedway.

But once became twice and twice became three times, and so on.

“That was the plan,” said Drake, 24, of Burnham. “Just go once. But we just couldn’t stop so we kept going.”

Drake was back at Wiscasset for a 40-lap Pro Stock race Saturday. He finished sixth in a seven-car field.

Advertisement

“We’ve been going pretty good,” Drake said. “We’ve tried to stay consistent. We’ve had a few tough breaks here and there, but otherwise we’re hanging in there.”

* * *

Chris King wrapped up his second Strictly Street title in four years at Unity Raceway.

King, 42, of Burnham has 948 points while Steve Rackliff is second with 576.

“We’ve clinched,” said King, who was runner-up in the division in each of the last two seasons. “It’s been an odd year here because we’ve had a lot of cars every week but I’m the only one who committed to racing the whole year.”

King won the Strictly Street title in 2010, a year after being named rookie of the year at the track. He has three victories this season.

Advertisement

“The car has been great,” he said. We had a few failures early but we overcame them.”

* * *

Ajay Picard, the defending Late Model points champ at Unity, is close to returning to the track. Picard of Palmyra decided to race a Pro Stock at Beech Ridge Motor Speedway in Scarborough this year, but wrecked in a June 8 race. He suffered a concussion and the car had extensive damage.

Now, more than two months later, he’s ready to return.

“We’ll come back and race at Unity for a little bit,” Picard said. “We’ll go back to Beech Ridge next year. We like it down there.”

Picard added he plans to return for the 150-lap Late Model feature Sept. 1 at Unity.

Advertisement

* * *

Left turns: Skowhegan native Kris Matchett is second in points behind Kris Watson in the Sportsman division at Speedway 95 in Hermon. … Bradley native Dean Smart leads the Late Model division at Unity Raceway with 1,028 points. He is fourth in the same division at Speedway 95.

Bill Stewart — 621-5640

bstewart@centralmaine.com


Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.

Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.