Chief starter Nate Sennett signals from the flag stand during a practice session on June 6 at Wiscasset Speedway. Joe Phelan/Kennebec Journal Buy this Photo

WISCASSET — Scott Chubbuck is getting his wish.

The five-time champion of Wiscasset Speedway makes his first and only scheduled start of the season this weekend, entering the track’s Boss Hogg 150. The race is a $5,000-to-win open competition for Pro Stock/Super Late Model cars, named after former track owner Dave St. Clair of Liberty.

St. Clair’s nickname, of course, is “Boss Hogg,” thanks to a resemblance to the character from the 1980s television show, “Dukes of Hazzard.”

“I’d like to see this race turn around,” said Chubbuck, of Bowdoin, who will be driving his own car, now three years removed from racing regularly at Wiscasset. “I’ve wanted it to be a good race for the track. Now, I’m more interested in doing this for (track owners Richard and Vanessa Jordan) than doing it for myself.”

Prior to the move to Labor Day weekend three years ago, the race was an add-on to Wiscasset Speedway’s weekly program. It was typically contested by local racers without a lot of attention given from outside competitors.

It has been both a 100-lap and a 150-lap event over the years.

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Now that it’s part of a holiday weekend, the Boss Hogg 150’s place on the calendar — one week after the Oxford 250 — and its fair purse payout have given it a bit of steam.

“The better drivers you can get to come, the better the race will be,” Chubbuck said.

Already entered this week in the event are five of the last six winners of the Boss Hogg 150, as well as a pair of Oxford 250 champions. Johnny Clark of Hallowell, who won the 47th annual Oxford 250 last weekend, is entered, as is 2017 Oxford 250 winner Curtis Gerry of Waterboro, who will be making his first Boss Hogg 150 start.

Last year’s winner Ben Ashline of Pittston, who has won each of the last two Coastal 200s at Wiscasset, too, said he always looks forward to going back to the speedway with his Ajay Picard-led team.

“That’s where it all started. It’s that simple,” Ashline said. “I know I’ve said it from the beginning, but you climb out of the car after having a successful day there, and all the memories just flash back.”

Part of what keeps Ashline, who finished seventh in the Oxford 250 last weekend, motivated for success at Wiscasset Speedway is that his family raced there for many years — but he is the first to compete in the top division.

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“I’m a goal-setter myself, and you want to go to the highest level you can go and be competitive at the highest level you can go,” said Ashline, 29. “To do that is satisfying. I had to chuckle to myself a little bit (on Thursday) when I saw Johnny Clark’s tire guy over there picking out tires.

“I thought to myself, ‘Well, this is going to be kind of cool.’ You don’t become the best by beating the worst. You become the best by beating the best.”

Pittston’s Ben Ashline works on his car during a break in practice runs for the 2019 Oxford 250 at Oxford Plains Speedway in Oxford. Sun Journal photo by Tony Blasi

Mike Hopkins of Hermon (the 2018 Boss Hogg 150 winner) is entered Sunday, as is Brownville’s Nick Jenkins (2017). Andy Saunders (2016) of Ellsworth and Dave Farrington Jr. of Jay (2014) are also expected in the field. Austin Teras of Gray, who in 2018 became the youngest driver in history to lead laps in the Oxford 250, is entered in the car owned by his father Jay Cushman. Reigning track champion Nick Hinkley of Wiscasset, the most recent feature winner at the speedway, and Kevin Douglass of Sidney, who has finished second in each of Wiscasset’s two Pro Stock races in this abbreviated season, are also entered.

In addition, there is a 75-lap Exit Realty Pro Trucks race on Sunday’s schedule, as well as a 30-lap Street Stock Open for Street Stock teams from every track in Maine.

“It was always a pretty racy track, that was the good thing about it,” Chubbuck said of Wiscasset Speedway. “It can produce pretty good racing. I think it’s a track where a driver can make a little bit of difference. If you take a car to Oxford that’s not good, you’re not going to be any better by driving it harder. You’ll just make it worse.

“You look at some of the guys coming, and it won’t be easy. But I like that. It’s going in the right direction.”

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