unity10

Racin� Ralph Nason enters DNK Select 250 at Unity Raceway

Unity, Maine -- The only man to win three straight Oxford 250 victories hopes the home field advantage will help him to another 250-lap win in Maine�s biggest race of the 2004 season, the DNK Select 250 at Unity Raceway Sunday, June 13.
   Yes, Racin� Ralph Nason, the 64-year-old legendary racer from hometown Unity, Maine, has entered the DNK Select 250. While Nason owns Unity Raceway, he hasn�t operated the racetrack for several years, opting to lease it out to other promoters recently. John Crawford of Oakland, Maine is entering his third season of operating the storied Waldo County oval, and is ecstatic to have Nason entered in his biggest promotional venture, ever, with $25,000 going to the winner.
   �Love him or hate him, nobody gets the fans going like Ralph Nason,� Crawford said. �There aren�t many top-notch veterans from the old guard still racing Pro Stocks, and in Northern New England Ralph�s right up there with only a couple of other guys who are still racing, like Dave Dion and Mike Rowe. And we don�t know how many more big races like the DNK Select 250 at Unity that these guys will be able to race in before they hang up their helmets.�
    While Dion and Rowe have yet to enter the race, Rowe, as a Pro All Stars Series regular, is expected to file his entry blank soon.
    Nason only raced once during the 2003 season, in the season-ending Longjohn 150 Pro Stock race at Unity. He won the event and the $5000 top prize, leading all the way and withstanding a late charge from Billy Whorff, Jr.
    While the $25,000 is certainly incentive for Nason to strap in to his New England Auto Parts / Jim�s Salad Company Ford, the opportunity to beat the best in Pro Stock racing before his legion of Maine racing fans seems to be more of a driving force.
    And he hasn�t already spent the winner�s share of the purse, though he has to be established as the early favorite. �I might have a hard time just qualifying for this race,� Nason told John Crawford, adding that he expects to see the finest field of racecars assembled anywhere in the region this year at the DNK Select 250.
    Nason�s name is the 35th on the list of paid entries for the DNK Select 250, a healthy number for an event still four months away. Other early entries include Cherryfield, Maine native Andy Santerre, the Aubuchon Hardware-sponsored driver seeking his third straight NASCAR Busch North Series championship during the 2004 campaign, and Ben Rowe, the two-time and defending Pro All Stars Series champion, and the winner of the 150-lap PASS race at Unity Raceway last season.
    Connecticut�s dominant driver, Ted Christopher, has inked a DNK Select 250 entry blank, as have regional Pro Stock stars like Sud�n Sam Sessions, Scott Mulkern, Scott Chubbuck, Randy Turner, Chuck Lachance, Billy Penfold, Johnny Clark, Ricky Rolfe, Duane Seekins, Gary Smith, Andy Shaw, Billt Rodgers, Billy Whorff, Lonnie Sommerville and Big John Phippen.