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SEVEN NEW MEMBERS TO ENTER MAINE MOTORSPORTS HALL OF FAME
Auburn, Maine – The Selection Committee of the Maine Motorsports Hall of Fame has chosen seven individuals to be inducted into the Hall of Fame next spring as members of the Class of 2014. The seven future inductees are all race winning drivers with nearly five hundred trips to victory lane between them.
Bobby Turner, co-chairman of the Selection Committee and member of the Maine Motorsports Hall of Fame, announced the names of the seven individuals to make up the Class of 2013 at the General Meeting of the Maine Vintage Race Car Association held on November 3rd.
The Class of 2014 inductees are: Bobby Alexander, Jimmy Burns, Bruce Elder, the late Leland Kangas, Rodney ‘Chink’ Maynard, Mike Rowe and Bobby Tibbetts.
Presented by the Maine Vintage Race Car Association, the Hall of Fame Class of 2014 dinner and induction ceremonies will be held at the Augusta Civic Center on Saturday, April 5, 2014. The Maine Motorsports Hall of Fame was founded in 2004 and presently has 72 members.
The seven members of the Class of 2013, with a brief summary of their contributions to motorsports in Maine, are:
BOBBY ALEXANDER (Ellsworth) – a driver and race car fabricator, won over one hundred races during his twenty-two year racing career (1968-1990); raced primarily at Speedway 95 in Bangor, Unity Raceway and Spud Speedway in Caribou; for ten straight racing seasons raced Friday at Unity, Saturday at Speedway 95 and Sunday at Spud every weekend.
JIMMY BURNS (Winslow) – began racing at Unity Raceway in 1969; won track championships at Unity and Oxford Plains Speedway (1981-1983); also raced and won at Wiscasset Speedway and Speedway 95; competed on the NASCAR Busch North Series for O’Connor GMC.
BRUCE ELDER (Windham) – involvement in racing began in high school helping Bob Bushley Sr.; began driving in 1966 at Beech Ridge Motor Speedway; won ‘C’ Class championship in 1971; retired from racing in 1977; Main State Stock Car Racing Association official from 1977-1982, last three years as President; Beech Ridge announcer for twelve years.
LELAND KANGAS (deceased) – began racing in 1972 at Oxford Plains Speedway; four-time Oxford champion – Charger division 1973, Late Model Sportsman 1985, 1986 and 1988; forty-eight career wins; 1980 NASCAR North Tour Rookie –of-the-Year.
RODNEY ‘CHINK’ MAYNARD (Presque Isle) – twenty-seven year racing career (1965-1992); five-time track champion at Spud Speedway; won over one hundred races during his career.
MIKE ROWE (Turner) – began racing in 1969 at Oxford Plains Speedway and continues to race; has won 150 races and six track championships at Oxford; has also won track championships at Beech Ridge Motor Speedway (two); Wiscasset Speedway, ACT Tour, New England Pro Stock Association (NEPSA) and Pro All Star Series (PASS) Super Late Model Southern Tour; has won three OXFORD 250s.
BOBBY TIBBETTS (Gray) – started racing in 1964 at Oxford Plains Speedway; the first Oxford Board of Directors member named in 1964; raced Sportsman/Late Model Sportsman cars at Oxford, Wiscasset Speedway and Unity Raceway; won open competition (open comp) races at Oxford, Wiscasset and Unity.
Reserved seat tickets for the Maine Motorsports Hall of Fame dinner and induction ceremonies are $40.oo each and must be purchased and ordered by March 1, 2014.