Episode 212
May 13, 2018
Racer with County roots named national finalist
Wyatt Alexander from Ellsworth, now living in Charlotte, North Carolina where he is studying Mechanical Engineering with an emphasis on Motorsports at the University of North Carolina-Charlotte, was named by Valvoline as one of the Final Four in their Fast Track to Fame online contest.
Alexander qualified for the contest by a selection committee. Finalists were determined by fan votes, interview process, and social media links. The field was narrowed down to the four finalists from 840 entries.
Alexander competes in the family owned super late-model and his Legends car in southern races as well as Spud Speedway in Caribou, where his grandfather, Hall of Fame member Bob Alexander, got his start. They will be one of the favorites at the Firecracker 200 July 3rd.
Grand prize winner will receive a prize package valued up to $50,000 in cash, prizes and/or experiences. Runners-up will receive cash prizes and sponsorships. Voting will take place until July 3 and winner announced July 11. You may vote once each 24 hour period.
The four finalist include Alexander, John Baker, French Lick, Indiana, Jonathan McKennedy, Chlemsford, Massachusetts, and Morgan Ward, Watertown, South Dakota.
Register and vote by clicking below
http://www.teamvalvoline.com/fasttrack
Crouseville drag racer begins season with victory
Drag racing season has begun for Gene Cyr, Cyrious Motorsports, whose race shop in Crouseville is the breeding ground for speed in a straight line. A winter of rebuilding the Ford Mustang included changing to a new engine builder, TRE, Cleveland, Texas, netted Cyr a first place last Friday with a 5.94 second 116.8 mph speed at the eighth-mile Oxford Plains Dragway.
Cyr was planning to race at Winterport Dragway on Saturday, however a leaking o-ring behind their transmission pump on their final pass at Oxford finished their weekend of racing. The racing automatic transmission will be shipped back to Connecticut for rebuilding.
Cyr commented, “We currently lead in points in the Top Eliminator class at Oxford. The next point race is Friday May 18. We will try to be there.”
Cyr is assisted in his racing effort by his father Dan, a veteran in New England racing.
Locals with ties to Maine at Formula SAE Competition this past weekend
Many of you may know about Philip Lapointe from Van Buren, Maine now living and working in Marysville, Ohio. I have featured Philip in several episodes of UpNorth Motorsports. He works for Honda Americas as the Technical Information Manager. He also worked for Honda Performance Development in England and California before moving back east a couple of years ago.
Philip enjoys being a judge at the FSAE contests. I believe it is because he can relate to the college age engineering students from all around the world who, like him, have dreams about working with high performance motor cars.
“EU competitors are much higher quality and have higher skills,” said Lapointe about the competitors he judged. “The Wisconsin car was one of the best domestic for design.”
For more information about Formula SAE and results go to their homepage here:
http://www.sae.org/attend/student-events/formula-sae-michigan
Big announcement about the Aroostook Savings and Loan Firecracker 200 on July 3rd coming soon. I think the racing community will be pleased.
Do not forget to vote for Wyatt Alexander!
Let’s go racing,
Tom Hale
Soli Deo Gloria