Track N Treat Halloween

Episode 337

November 1, 2020

For some yet to be determined reason over 1500 words of this episode were not published earlier today. Sorry!

Track N Treat a hit

Certain aspects of the COVID-19 pandemic really rot, however, it may have forced folks to look for alternative ways of conducting business, church, or in this case Halloween. Why not use a racetrack on Halloween afternoon and have racers decorate cars and hand out treats?

Such was the idea hatched by Lindsey Walker and her parents, Dan and Sue Walker to give youngsters in the Scarborough area a safe outdoor environment to Trick or Treat.

Some may know Dan Walker from the Beech Ridge Motor Speedway Lifetime Achievement Award given to him by track owner Andy Cusack on left in 2017. (Walker family photo)

Lindsey Walker and her Dad, Dan at 2020 Track or Treat at Beech Ridge Motor Speedway. The event’s other organizer, Sue Walker is the photographer.

How did this feat of organization take place in a compact 2 1/2 week time frame. No one better to tell that story than Sue Walker and her daughter Lindsey. Sue first, “About yesterday. Where do we even begin. Trying to find the words to even start to thank everyone for the outpouring of love and fun that we all witnessed yesterday is impossible.”

“Lindsey texted Dan 2 1/2 weeks ago and said, ‘You know what would be fun is trick or treating at Beech Ridge’.

“Dan came home and mentioned it to me. I said we should reach out to Andy {track owner of Beech Ridge} and ask.”

“We had a meeting with Andy 2 weeks ago yesterday and we were given the go ahead.”

“This is where you all come in. We posted it on social media thinking we may get 20 cars and maybe 100 kids. Every single one of you stepped up and offered your cars, candy, etc. and your time. We never dreamed what was about to happen.”
“We want to thank every single racer, Moms, Dads, siblings, teams, sponsors, and those who donated cash so we could do 2 additional candy runs during the day. We also need to express our gratitude to some people who went above and beyond.”
“First we need to Thank Andy Cusack. His support and generosity to run with our crazy plan is incredible. He is about the racer and fan always.”
“We also need to Thank……
Wayne Poland, and Casella for donating the portable potties. Wayne and Nate McLean were also our unexpected runners to the store for more candy.
Bob Craft will hate us for this but he donated towards the candy fund and got the ball rolling.
Warren Hamilton for the banners.
Patriot Subaru for the use of the van and the candy donated.
Scott Lamb and Stephen Perry for the use of the golf cart and side by side.
Our incredible volunteers:
Franklin Noiles
Steven Brown
Al Lappin Jr.
Amanda Greco
Duke Bennett
They gave their all yesterday and managed crowd control.
Lela Worrey, Jackson Carr, and Brody Taylor for enormous task that you took on yesterday with the mascots.”
“We had participants who drove hours to be a part of the event and we truly appreciate you.
We are happy to announce that we put smiles on over 2700 people’s faces. We cannot Thank You all enough. We look forward to doing this again in 2021.

BTW

Lindsey Walker’s phone number has been blocked in both of our phones. "</p

As mentioned in Sue Walker’s comments above, the idea for Track N Treat began in Lindsey Walker’s vivid imagination. Walker is a Financial Services Specialist at Machias Savings Bank in the Portland area.Her work in the banking industry helped her with organizational and promotion of this ambitious idea.

She filled me in saying, “Yes this was my idea. I just thought with trick or treating being so questionable given the circumstances, we should host an event for people to attend where there was no question whether is was okay or not. We hosted 76 participants and approximately 2,700 trick or treaters.”

At the track

Socially distanced racers stretched in both directions from the point of this photo. Mainely Motorsports’ Stephen Perry remarked “Fun day at Beech Ridge for the Track N Treat Halloween event. Great idea organized by Dan Walker, Sue Walker, & Lindsey Walker. Once again the racing community knocked it out of the park with the support.” (Stephen Perry photo)

PASS Modified racer Spencer Morse with his girlfriend Hannah Leigh Pierce. In one of Morse’s bags that they presented to kids was a $20 bill. Morse is one of many kid friendly racers in southern Maine. You may recall he was the driver selected by the ASPIRE Racing Team at Oxford Hills Middle/ High School as their team driver. (Lindsey Walker supplied photo)

Pro Stock racer Corey Bubar’s wife Ashley with daughter Kinsley enjoying the simple joy of laughter and a good day. (Lindsey Walker supplied photo)

With their Super Mario themed race trailer was the Wyatt Alexander Racing (WAR) family left to right Jennifer, Quinn, Brett, and Wyatt Alexander. (Lindsey Walker photo)

“Such a fun day, thank you guys for saving Halloween”, said Audra Wimert.

Matt Deering commented, “Me and my family thank you all for putting that surprise event on. Couldn’t have gone better across the board from what we saw.”

“It was amazing and made so many needed smiles on the kids’ faces and to feel ‘normal’ in these crazy times”, said Stacy O’Brien Ward! “Thanks to all of the people that helped”.

The plan is to have Track N Treat on the official Beech Ridge Motor Speedway calendar.

Kart racing sponsor passes away

Timothy (Tim) J. Cowett, 57 died November 1, 2020, surrounded by his family at his Caribou residence following a long battle with cancer. Northern Maine Karting Association (NMKA) members knew Tim as a loyal supporter of kart racing at Spud Speedway and as a sponsor of a single mom with her son and daughter.

Tim got to know the family when their father worked for Cowett at Cowett’s Auto Recycler and Parts (C.A.R. Auto Parts) in Presque Isle. C.A.R. Auto Parts began their sponsorship in 2015. The effort went beyond financial resources.

Team BAS (Bryan Searles Racing) based in Presque Isle; Maine was able to with the help of Tim win track championships at Spud Speedway in 2015-2018. Searles was also track champion in 2017 at Thundering Valley Speedway in St. Albans.

Cowett urged his brothers at Cowett’s Pit Stop and Cowett Auto Sales to provide prize money for the season finale at Spud Speedway September 9, 2017. The Cowett family with deep roots in auto racing were happy to provide prize money for the kart racers. Prize money is rare in kart racing and was appreciated.

Team BAS sponsor Tim Cowett with Ronnie Lynn at Spud Speedway during a NMKA race. (NMKA photo)

Stephanie Ball, the mother of NMKA racers Bryan Searles and Ronnie Lynn Kelly, lamented the loss of Tim Cowett saying, “Of all the pictures I have, this will always be my favorite.”

“I was downstate with Bryan and Sis {Ronnie Lynn Kelly} had to defend Bry’s title at Spud Speedway. He picked up Sissy (usually it was Bry he took), took her to the track, dressed her in her gear, coached her through, manned her pit, obviously kept her smiling, and sent me this picture.”

“He also then packed up, took her back to town, hauled the kart/gear, cleaned the carb and the kart, then got it ready for the next weekend. He was a friend I didn’t deserve. He had no obligation to me or the kids, except maybe that God brought him into our lives for the reasons he more than fulfilled.”

“I can’t even begin to tell you how he cared for me and my children, the support he was in the hard times (and good), or how he never asked for anything in return. I called him infinite times crying or would show up at the shop at 06:30am with something broken, when all he wanted to do was drink his morning coffee!”

“We had some of the best conversations. He remembered small things and put up with my attitude that I so freely (and regrettably) gave. We didn’t always agree but no matter what, he was my friend. He said every time we talked that he ‘loved our little chats.’ I know I was a source of anxiety for him but he knew he could create a calm for me.”

“I’m thankful he isn’t in pain anymore. I know that my grief is less than that of his family, but damn, it hurts to lose a friend like him.”

Thank You Tim Cowett!

NHRA Champions’ trophies made by local connected man

Tom Michael Patsis, Cold Hard Art owner, Brownsburg, Indiana, graduated from Ellsworth High School in 2000. Patsis then attended and graduated from the University of Northern Ohio in 2003. He then began his career in the high-performance industry in the Indianapolis, Indiana area.

Patsis went on his own leaving his job as fabricator at Don Schumacher Racing in October 15, 2015 to continue building trophies and memorabilia full time using so called “racing trash”.

His latest project involved the building of the NHRA Pro divisions champions for the 2020 season finale at the Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway last weekend.

The trophies were the work of several Indianapolis area craftsmen. The trophies were the work of several Indianapolis area craftsmen. Adam Diaz, ID 10 Tee Design (upper right), Brock Warner, Warner Steel Sales (lower middle), Brandon Blanford, CNC work (lower left), and Todd at Indy Paint Shop (lower right). (Cold Hard Art photos)

Owner/artist Tom Michael Patsis with the completed NHRA trophies just prior to shipping. Each trophy weighed about 35 pounds. (Cold Hard Art photo)

Winners of the NHRA Pro Divisions:

Erica Enders 4-time NHRA Pro Stock World Champion (Mark Rebilas photo)

Winning his fourth NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle World Championship is Matt Smith (Mark Rebilas photo)

Matt Hagan won his second NHRA Funny Car World Championship. (Mark Rebilas photo)

With the Cold Hard Art NHRA Top Fuel World Championship trophy is Steve Torrence. This was his third world championship. (Mark Rebilas photo)

Watch this thrilling racing video from Road to Indy Champion Sting Ray Robb

We end this episode with a video from Sting Ray Robb the 2020 Road to Indy Pro 2000 Series Presented by Cooper Tires. The AIM Move of the Year took place at Road America, Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin earlier this season. Robb had 7 wins, 11 podiums, 5 pole awards, most races led, most laps led, and only participant to finish all 485 laps in the season.

AIM Move of the Year video:

https://www.facebook.com/stingrayrobbracing/videos/370223287510904

Let’s go racing,

Tom Hale

Soli Deo Gloria (Matthew 5:16)

Tom Hale

About Tom Hale

Tom wrote 14 years as freelancer for the Bangor Daily Sports covering motorsports in Maine. Now blogging and concentrating on human interest stories about people and places in racing. He races Champ Karts and owns HTF Motorsports in remote Westmanland, Maine