|
Fayette Raceway
Box 1690
Watson Heights Road Fayette 04349
(1/4 mile dirt) Norm Currier 207-685-9045
Fayette Raceway is located on Watsons Heights Road at its intersection with Route
17, approximately 14 miles out Rt #17 from Manchester (Rt. #202 from Augusta).
Fayette Raceway is only quietly publicized, and is not well signed - just look
for the old garage and rows of vehicles and equipment resting right there at
the intersection. The dwelling is immediately on the right, with the entrance
to the track just beyond, perhaps 300 feet along Watsons Heights Road. Yes, that
is it , that tiny little woods road on the right. As you progress a couple hundred
yards up that woods road, the scenery broadens, revealing a panorama of racing
courses for a variety of engine powered classes of racing machinery. Norman openly
admits to racing 'anything with an engine' at his facility, whether ATV's, snowmobiles,
motorcycles, 'mud' trucks, lawn mowers, or even stock cars. (Norman further admits
to powering his personal Ultralight aircraft with four gasoline weed-whacker
engines).
Continuing forward you soon encounter a gradual embankment dropping down to a
cute little valley just below, in which Norman hides his fast little 1/4 mile
racing oval. Visibility is FANTASTIC from the hillside, and might remind one
a bit of turn four at Thunder Road in Barre, Vermont. There is a fenced play
area for the kids, allowing Mom and Dad a little extra freedom to watch the races
being run. Lawn chairs from home are a good idea here at Fayette, as there is
a vast area from which to watch these races, almost from an Eagle's perspective.
For nearly two decades, Fayette has run open cockpit 1/4 midgets, midgets, and "big
cars", as well as Legends cars, and the occasional group of stock cars.
Some of the open cockpit cars have been clocked at OVER 90 mph on the dirt surface.
These cars may be modern machines, but they are straight out of the 1940's in
basic design, and they ARE fast and exciting, if a bit dangerous. While many
use big motorcycle engines, it is not unknown to hear the music of an in-line
GMC 6 cylinder or a V-8 60 Ford flathead as it ricochets off the valley walls.
The valley location of the oval has been well drenched by Mother Nature for each
of the past two years (2004,2005), thereby preventing access to the plethora
of racing cars anxious to return to the Fayette dirt. Between downpours, Norman
has placed a network of three and four foot culverts that should better control
the flow of water 'down in the valley', and allow racing to once again take place.
Plans are in place for a return of the open cockpit cars and the Legends cars,
as well as the first appearances at Fayette of Maine's newest racing class -
the authentic 1950's era stock cars from "Wicked Good" Vintage Racing
Assn. These 1930's and 1940's coupes and sedans are the very race cars from which
the Legends cars inherited their unique styling. Seldom has any race fan had
an opportunity to inspect the Legends cars, AND the cars from which they came,
at the same time and same place.
Fayette Raceway, with only a little cooperation from Mother Nature in 2006, should
once again come alive to the delight of its dedicated fans.
|
