Marco Gilbert, left, and son Andy Gilbert stand outside the garage at Wiscasset Speedway on Saturday, where Andy competes in the Pro Stock division. The pair routinely make the trip from their home in Jackman, 260 miles round trip, to race. Dave Dyer/Kennebec Journal
WISCASSET — The weekends are meant for long trips, fun and auto racing for the Gilbert family.
Driver Andy Gilbert, 26, and father Marco Gilbert, 55, hop in a camper and make the long drive from Jackman — a mere 16 miles from the Canadian border — to Wiscasset, in order to race Andy’s black No. 17 car in the Pro Stock division at Wiscasset Speedway. Round trip, the drive is 260 miles.
And they wouldn’t have it any other way.
“We’re having fun. When you’re having fun, it’s not the distance (that matters),” said Marco Gilbert, a native of Quebec who first began racing at 16.
“I always have to drive far to race, anyway,” Andy Gilbert said. “It doesn’t change much for me, whether it’s two hours or three hours. It’s always the same.”
Jackman racer Andy Gilbert stands in front of his No. 17 car in the garage at Wiscasset Speedway on Saturday. Gilbert, who competes in the Pro Stock division, routinely makes the 260-mile drive, round trip, to compete. Dave Dyer/Kennebec Journal
The trek for the Gilberts usually starts on Friday, giving the opportunity to at least break up the drive.
“We’ve got the camper, and we stay out in the camper (over the weekend),” Andy Gilbert said. “The week we race, we take Friday off and take the camper. The car stays here (Wiscasset Speedway garage). We set up the car, go out for a few practice runs on Fridays, sleep in the camper. We get ready (for racing) on Saturday and hopefully, maybe we get to drive back (to Jackman) early, maybe we sleep in the camper. We see how it goes.”
The duo clearly has a love affair with racing. Marco started racing in his teens in Canada. In 2022, Marco got to live a dream by racing at the Bristol Dirt Nationals at the famed Bristol Motor Speedway in Tennessee. In his three starts in the Stock Car division at Bristol, Marco had a top finish of 10th place.
“It was awesome,” Marco Gilbert said. “The hair (on my arms stood up).”
That love for racing has been passed on to Andy, who started working on cars with Marco at the age of 17. Andy Gilbert is in his second season of racing at Wiscasset. Last year, he finished eighth in the Pro Stock division.
“We’re pretty excited (for the new season),” Andy Gilbert said. “We changed a bunch of stuff (to the car). We’re hoping to get a little better result than last year. We had a couple bad luck (races), a couple features where we didn’t run as good as we wanted.”
“We have confidence (for this year),” Marco Gilbert added. “Last year was not too bad, it was good.
“(Andy) is good, but not like me,” Marco Gilbert laughed. “Maybe in a few years, he’ll be like me.”
One condition the Gilbert’s would have loved to have had different was the weather. Saturday afternoon was opening day for the division at Wiscasset Speedway, and despite morning rain, crews were hard at work drying out the track, with loyal fans standing in line to sit in the stands, as afternoon racing was still set to take place.
“We’ll get adjusted (to the track),” Andy Gilbert said. “Our whole setup is new, it’s not like we’re going back with the same (car) we had last year.”
Rain doesn’t stop fans from waiting in line for opening day at Wiscasset Speedway on Saturday afternoon. Dave Dyer
No matter the outcome, or the distance, the duo plan to have fun this season.
“Short trip, if it’s no fun, it’s no good,” Marco Gilbert said. “Long trip, if you have the fun, it’s (a good time).”
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