‘I want to be part of the solution’ – Ricky Craven on giving Maine racing scene new life

As the years go by, the local short track racing scene will always see changes, for the bad or the good. Those good changes that happen, they can inject energy, positivity, growth, and much more.

That’s just what Ricky Craven has done over the last year.

Craven, a retired NASCAR Cup Series driver and television analyst, a native of Newburgh, Maine has found his new purpose in the racing world over the last year or so.

In August of 2025, it was announced that Craven was in the process of taking over as owner of Speedway 95, now known as Ricky Craven Speedway presented by Bar Harbor Bank and Trust.

2026 has brought new life and enthusiasm to local short track racing in Maine, and it also has given Craven a new mission in the industry.

“It’s been quite enjoyable, I have my purpose in auto racing again, which is a lot more important to me than I realized probably 20 years ago or even five years ago when I retired from my analyst role,” Rickey Craven explained to Short Track Scene. “It’s as though my life has been consumed with auto racing and I bleed NASCAR and although we’re not a NASCAR track, I think we have that presence and that we’ve created a very special thing in central Maine.” 

Across New England, whether the pit area or in the stands, there’s a strong chance someone is conversing about Ricky Craven Speedway in Hermon, Maine. 

For Craven, there were lots of questions at first and even still early in 2026, what could he change to make things better, how would he be received? That answer stands clear now a year later, Ricky Craven Speedway is flourishing.

“I think people on some level were curious, and perhaps some of them were skeptical, maybe toward the end of last year or the beginning of this year, how much different can it be,” Craven said. “All of the feedback that we’ve received from the competitors, our fans, and customers has been overwhelmingly positive. It’s just very, very inspiring personally for me because they say, ‘I just couldn’t have imagined what we were seeing’.”

Craven has found the feedback he’s received and the positivity generated from his first season to be critically important to himself, as they look at the road ahead for the speedway. 

“This is clearly the fourth quarter in my life, so I established all of what we’re doing with a template of 10 years,” Craven explained. “We’re nearly done with our first year and I knew that we would have to be aggressive and we would have to have a meaningful positive impact right out of the gate.”

This first year as an owner didn’t start just in 2026, it started late fall of 2025, lasting through the winter months. 

“I feel 100% about what we’ve done, and it’s been on the backside of working hard the last nine or 10 consecutive months,” Craven said. “We were putting billboards up in below zero weather. But it’s all paid off now, with that said, no time to rest. We need to do the same thing for year two. We need to. We need to show that we’re constantly evolving and improving to keep this energy that we’ve got, to keep that in our side.” 

There have been a few major pieces of Ricky Craven Speedway that have helped rejuvenate the 60-year-old track.

“It’s had a complete facelift, and its appearance is with the wall through one and two and all the way down the back stretch,” Craven said. “It gives a more modern appearance, and then the advertising billboards, which were sold out in Turn 1 and 2 at 40 billboards. Which I couldn’t have imagined when we first started, but we’ve maxed out our advertising through all the turns and that gives it a very professional look, a lot of color, a lot of vibrance.”

Craven says though, the biggest piece that helped bring this deal all together and create the momentum, started with a phone call. 

“At the very beginning, I had a four hour, 50-minute phone call with Curtis Simard, who’s the president of Bar Harbor Bank and Trust, he’s from Maine originally,” Craven said. “I think he’s one of the most intelligent people I’ve been around in the industry and banking. He’s done a remarkable job and he’s got a race enthusiast personality. Simard loves the sport, but he’s leveraged it, to use it in a powerful way. They came on after that one meeting, as the naming rights title sponsor of the Speedway, and it was that, that literally created this inertia.”

With the partnership with Bar Harbor Band and Trust, signed on for 10 years, Craven says the company has helped with injecting energy in the community, while they provide a Maine feel.

“They are a very positive company to be associated with,” Craven said. “They are Bar Harbor Bank and Trust, and if you know anything about Maine, Bar Harbor is at its core, it’s just a wonderful destination, has a lot of history, and a lot, if not most people relate to it.”

The relationship Craven has built with Simard has been special to Craven. With the most meaningful thing being, the name of the speedway. Even though he’s not as keen on the idea.

“Curtis Simard insisted that it would be called Ricky Craven Speedway,” Craven said. “I’m still uncomfortable with it. It’s not comfortable and it will never be comfortable. But he said, we won’t have a deal if we can’t agree on this. It gave the track my identity along with what I believe is the strongest bank, the most credible bank in New England. We’re very optimistic, we’re very positive. We’re engaging. We literally work for our customers and we have built a partnership with our competitors like it’s not about me. It’s about everyone associated with what I call our Speedway, so the 10 year commitment from Bar Harbor Bank and Trust, and the affiliation with Curtis Simard, and their culture. That’s been the wind in our sail. From my perspective. It just couldn’t have a better partner.” 

As Craven was a NASCAR analyst and big into numbers, he also has covered the stories around NASCAR and short track racing.  Discussing the problem with tracks closing down or poor car counts at tracks. Craven wants to be the solution to the problem and see growth for short track racing in New England.

“I knew that we had a problem, and I’m not convinced that we don’t still have a problem, but I also want to help represent the other side of that, which is, that if done correctly, and if you have the ability, the capacity to differentiate yourself from what’s not working as a track owner, then I think your runway is as long as you make it,” Craven explained. 

“We’ve got a long runway in front of us,” Craven said.  We can do some amazing things because of the energy we’ve created behind our new racetrack,  but at the center of that is that we are doing business a little differently, it will continue to be different. We have seven big events and for every one of those events, we have a live band, and that’s not necessarily new, but it’s certainly new to New England, and it’s new to Maine racing.”

Another big addition to Ricky Craven Speedway, is the return of a points fund for the year end championship. 

“An enormous point fund,” Craven exclaimed. “Our pro-stocks who have seven races, the winner of our pro stock series will win $15,000. Most tracks have no point fund.”

Giving back to sponsors and partners has been a pinnacle point for Craven,

“We have a VIP club tent that all of the advertisers are members of,” Craven said. “They love being a part of something special. We will continue to add things to the facility that make people’s experiences better and different than anything else.”

As a retired analyst, now business person and track owner, he wants everyone involved to feel they have value within his speedway.

“It’s just making sure that they feel like they have equity at our facility,” Craven explained. “Same with the competitors. From my standpoint, we’ve got four more years of hard work.”

At the end of those four years, Craven will look at expanding his reach, to have an even greater influence on Maine short track racing.

“Between now and the end of four years, I’m looking at a second track somewhere that could complement what we’re doing,” Craven said. “I want to be part of the solution, not part of the problem, which is one of my favorite sayings, that’s something that I’m constantly preaching, part of the solution, never be part of the problem.” 

A New England series that has been a supporter of Speedway 95 in years past, and now remains a supporter of Ricky Craven Speedway, has been the Granite State Pro Stock Series. By the end of 2026, the series will have visited the speedway three times, and Craven has enjoyed working with the series drivers and series president, Mike Parks.

“I’ve really hit it off with Mike (Parks),” Craven said. “He’s a great guy to work with, deep knowledge of racing in New England, and he’s very, very committed to the drivers, to the culture of racing in New England. I don’t know that I’ve been around anyone that’s easier to work with than Mike. I like how much he cares. He genuinely cares and I also find him to be a very sincere person, very little very little BS and just a bottom line guy. The series itself has been a nice boost and  I’ve enjoyed getting to know people like Evan Blue, Casey Call, and each of the touring drivers have been very positive to be around.” 

As we close out summer with big races in New England, like NASCAR in New England at New Hampshire, the Oxford 250, Star Class Weekend at Star Speedway, and more. Craven wants Ricky Craven Speedway to have their own big ticket race. 

“It’s something that has to exist, our season won’t be a success or failure based on one event, because we’ve had such a strong year, but our long term identity will in large part, be built on the marquee event, which we choose,” Craven said. 

Craven said their big race is right around the corner, and is looking forward to the inaugural event. 

“We choose for it to be the last race of the year,” Craven said. “There’s elements that are a little risky, and most of them center around weather, but the last week in September and the 1st couple weeks in October, we are peak foliage, and it is the most beautiful place on the planet, so it’s the right week. Our 1st marquee event, The Bar Harbor Bank and Trust 200 is a three day event and it will grow. I want it to grow into a week-long event, not all racing, but I want it to be part of a festival.” 

As the season heads into September, there have been a few vantage points Craven has enjoyed most as a track owner. Especially when behind the wheel of the pace car.

“As an air traffic controller in the center of the racetrack, I have an awareness of everything that’s going on, at least from a peripheral, I’ve got two radios,” Craven explained. “I have complete control of the cars coming to the green flag and helping move the program along as quickly as possible, and that’s not something I expected. I had no idea where my presence would be, but a big part of it is in the paste car, and it works well for me, and then the other half of the night, I’m just bouncing around everywhere.”

When making plans for 2027 and beyond, Craven already has ideas and plans developing.

“There’s a real appetite for entertainment,” Craven said. “We’re gonna have big events next year, and our racing schedule might actually get squeezed, condensed a little, so that we have more big events, but fewer overall events. We’ll always have our pro stock series, because that’s very important to me personally, and I think it is part of our identity. We’re going to repurpose the property. We’re gonna try to bring in all kinds of other entertainment and there’s a handful of things that will be on our schedule that I think we’ll get a really positive response. ‘

In terms of racing, Craven has talked with sanctioning bodies, like NASCAR in hopes of bringing a NASCAR sanctioned race to Central Maine.

“I negotiated with NASCAR, and NASCAR would love to be a part of what we’re building, and I would love to have NASCAR here, but it has to be right for both of us,” Craven explained. “If or when it’s right, I think it opens the door to all kinds of racing, but I bleed NASCAR and I will for all of my time on earth. At what level of NASCAR? I won in NASCAR’s top 3 series. I always am going to think big and it’s home. I expect NASCAR will have a presence at our track. I do, because it’s my life. We negotiated for several months last year on some level, and we just couldn’t get it to the finish line, but NASCAR, I believe, in my heart, I believe NASCAR will have a presence at our speedway. One day.”

Craven believes anything is possible for Ricky Craven Speedway, including bringing regional racing series to his track or even their own touring series.

“Everything’s in play, even the vision or potential of creating our own series or traveling series,” Craven said. “Everything is on the board. I’m planning to fly over for the Milk Bowl. I’ve run Thunder Road and it was brief in my life, but I absolutely appreciate and admire what Cris Michaud and his team and what they have done with their series and with their racetracks. I think that they do things at a very, very high level. I would love to have ACT at our speedway. I don’t know if that’s in the cards. I really don’t, but everything’s on the board. I look forward to having a good relationship with Cris and his team, because I admire what they do and how they do it.” 

The first year as owner for Ricky Craven will come to a close the weekend of October 9th-11th, when they host the Granite State Pro-Stock Series