Greg Peters ended his 40-year driving career by taking a memorable last lap around Beech Ridge Motor Speedway last Saturday night.

While racing in the 150-lap American Canadian Tour race for Late Models, Peters slid more than 50 yards through the sand coming out of Turn 3 and ended up taking out part of a grove of saplings at the east end of the 3/8-mile oval.

“I did go out with a bang, but I drove it back to the pits,” Peters said. “The one thing I wanted to do was to go up to the front of the grandstand and take a bow, but I didn’t let the wrecker pull me in. I said put it down, and I drove it in.”

Peters, who started racing at Beech Ridge when he was 17, is done driving, but he hasn’t ended his involvement with auto racing. The Westbrook resident will continue to help his sons in their racing endeavors.

“Both of my kids will be racing on Thursday nights in different classes,” he said.

His elder son, Chris, is the current points leader in the 4-cylinder Beetle Bugs’ varsity division. His younger son, John, has raced go-karts for the past six years and the family is preparing a car so he can race in the Beetle Bugs’ junior varsity division next year.

“I’m going to be in a different capacity,” Peters said. “I’m acting as crew chief because I enjoy that stuff.”

Peters, 58, served as crew chief for Richie Dearborn’s Super Late Models for two seasons on the Pro All Stars tour. For the past two months, he has served as Alby Ovitt’s crew chief in the Wildcat division Saturday nights at Beech Ridge.

 

THE POWERFUL open-wheeled cars of the Valenti Modified Racing Series will make their second stop in Maine this summer with a 100-lap feature tonight at Beech Ridge.

“The Mods always draw in a loyal following on race day,” track owner Andy Cusack said. “There’s something mystical to the cars and the people who drive them. The cars are uncommonly unique in their design and it takes a special breed of person to be willing to race them.”

On July 23, Joe Doucette of Framingham, Mass., recorded his first win of the season in a 100-lap race at Oxford Plains Speedway.

“The track was pretty well founded on open-wheeled cars of varying designs for its first 40 years,” Cusack said. “Although a waning field of participants eventually steered us to discontinue the division in 1990, touring series like this northern regional group and, previously, NASCAR’s touring Modifieds continue to have a steep interest here among our fan base in general.”

Currently, Chris Pasteryak of Jewett City, Conn., and Les Hinckley of Windsor Locks, Conn., lead the series’ points race.

 

FORTY-FIVE ACT Late Model teams participated in a test-and-tune session Tuesday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon, N.H.

Teams from all over the Northeast, plus the Canadian provinces of Quebec and Ontario, were on hand to prepare for next weekend’s All-Star Late Model Challenge at NHMS.

The Maine drivers at the session included Brad Babb of Windham, Ricky Rolfe of Albany Township and Jeff White of Winthrop.

Staff Writer Paul Betit can be contacted at 791-6424 or at:

pbetit@pressherald.com

Twitter: PaulBetitPPH

 

Copy the Story Link