WISCASSET

Following a foreclosure process that began early this year, the Wiscasset Raceway is headed to the auction block.

On July 12, the highest bidder will take the nearly 35 acres that includes the 44-year-old, three-eighths-mile auto racing track.

According to court documents filed in June with the Lincoln County Registry of Deeds, a judge in April authorized foreclosure on the property, previously held by Wiscasset Raceway LLC, owned by Douglas White.

White purchased the track in 2007 from David and Sandra St. Clair for roughly $587,000, according to property records.

But while the lot in front of the track pushes up weeds, prospects for a successful future are looking better than Wiscasset Raceway fan Dale Chadbourne of Woolwich expected.

Chadbourne, who with Tony True leased the racetrack in October 2011 for a special event to help keep the raceway operational, said an auction preview day on Friday brought out a better showing than he anticipated for the oval track that did not host a regular racing season last year.

“As much as I’m a Wiscasset Raceway fan, I’m surprised at the interest that’s starting to come out,” Chadbourne said.

Chadbourne said he would like to see someone with professional racetrack experience take over the operation. Shying away from specifics, Chadbourne said he’s aware of a few potential buyers who fit that profile.

For Chadbourne, who raced at the track in its earliest days — even its pre-pavement era — the key to making the operation successful must include attractions other than racing.

“It’s a dying sport,” Chadbourne said of small-track auto racing. “There aren’t many cars that you can race anymore. That’s why the racetrack has got to be used for things besides racing.” In the past, however, other uses created some problems. In May, a Lincoln County Superior Court justice prohibited the most recent owner of the track, Doug White, doing business as Wiscasset Raceway LLC, from hosting concerts or music festivals at the racetrack.

Civil lawsuit filed

The order came after Rhonda and Dale Hamlin, who reside near the racetrack, filed a civil lawsuit in May 2011, alleging that attendees of the Oxxfest music festival in the summer of 2010 dumped bottles, trash and cigarette butts in their yard and that “throughout the day, festival goers urinated on the Hamlins’ property.”

The civil suit also charged that profanity could be heard as far as half a mile away from the stage.

The May 2012 Lincoln County Superior Court ruling also mandates that Wiscasset Raceway LLC pay the couple $20,000 in tort claims as well as interest and legal fees.

The judge declined to award punitive damages to the couple, citing no clear evidence that raceway owners and music festival operators acted with malice toward the Hamlins.

The judgment also prohibited Wiscasset Raceway LLC from scheduling any similar events for which a special amusement license from the town would be required. That judgment, handed down in May, arrived just as foreclosure on the property moved through its final stages.

Chadbourne said he envisions that other events, such as snowmobile races in the winter, could help to keep business afloat during the off-season, though Chadbourne said he doesn’t plan to throw a hat in the ring during bidding July 12.

This week, Chadbourne said he’s preparing a stock car for racing that same day during a race event to benefit the nonprofit Wreaths Across America, which honors military veterans, at Speedway 95 in Hermon.

But Chadbourne hopes he’ll be able to take the wheel in Wiscasset soon.

“I’m hoping there are races this year,” Chadbourne said.

To participate in the auction, at 1 p.m. on July 12, bidders must put down $25,000 in advance.

According to a listing from Keenan Auctioneers, the raceway has a seating capacity of 6,000 and the buildings include a food and ticket booth, tech garage, pit area, announcers and concessions building, and a three-bedroom, one-bathroom rental home.

A property information package can be requested through Keenan Auctions at http://goo.gl/NWCA3.