CARIBOU, Maine – Before moving to Caribou, Jim Gamage had never watched stock car races, snowmobiles racing on grass and dirt, or truck and tractor pulls, despite living in Maine all his life.
But he loved snowmobiling in Aroostook County. So much so that he and wife Michelle and their son Noah, 12, moved to Cross Lake from Rockland in 2020. After the family had been settled in for a while, Gamage had an idea for an event that would celebrate the area’s snowmobile culture.
The County newcomer needed someone to help turn his vision into a reality. Luckily for Gamage, Spud Speedway owner Troy Haney was also in need of a partner. Since 2009, Haney had hosted many successful events at the Caribou speedway, including stock car racing and concerts. But Haney’s other business ventures made it difficult to keep up the momentum, which COVID greatly reduced.
Haney was thinking of selling the speedway until he and Gamage paired up last March to host Caribou’s first ever SnowBowl, a four-day festival that featured SnoCross snowmobile races, stunt shows, snowmobile rides and tours and drew in an estimated 8,000 to 10,000 people, some from as far as North Carolina, Florida and Puerto Rico.
“I think we provided an event that people were hungry for,” Gamage said. “There was no real celebration of the snowmobile trails and the hospitality we have in this area.”
Now, in less than a year, Spud has gone from hosting just a few annual events to being one of Aroostook’s most sought-after venues for motor race enthusiasts and families. Haney and Gamage have at least 11 events, including four major festivals, planned in 2024.
Founded in 1964, Spud Speedway put Caribou on the map as a major stock car racing venue, often featuring racers who went on to NASCAR success, including Fort Kent native Austin Theriault, as well as Maine Racing Hall of Famers Bobby Alexander and Mark Jones.
Haney continued Spud’s tradition of hosting Maine’s circuit of the Pro All-Star Series May through September each year, the Maine truck and tractor pull series and weekly local stock car races. In 2010 and 2011, the Spud Summerfest brought in rock bands like Theory of a Dead Man and country stars Gretchen Wilson and Big & Rich. The rock and country concerts drew in 2,800 and 4,600 fans, respectively. The speedway marked 50 years of continuous operation in 2014.
Over the next decade, Haney struggled to balance Spud with his other business ventures, including a Caribou home and garden store, and began hosting fewer events. COVID put a halt on racing, with the speedway coming back with only one major event in 2022 – the Feed the County 150, part of the Pro All-Star Series – after the state lifted crowd size restrictions.
With little revenue coming in from the speedway, Haney started looking for a potential buyer. Then Gamage and the SnowBowl came along.
“The SnowBowl changed people’s minds about what Spud Speedway is. We can bring world-class shows to an area that doesn’t normally see that,” Haney said. “It wasn’t something I could do on my own. Jim brought a whole new energy and new ideas.”
After the SnowBowl’s success, Haney, Gamage and community volunteers worked quickly to put together the DustBowl. Hosted at the end of September, the four-day festival featured the finale of Maine’s grass drag series (snowmobiles racing on grass), a laser light show, carnival rides from Smokey’s Greater Shows, zip lines and children’s ATV lessons. Around 5,300 people attended throughout the weekend.
The DustBowl came after Gamage officially became co-owner of Spud Speedway with Haney. The partnership allowed the pair to invest $600,000 to construct a new 1,300-square-foot, two-lane grass drag track and begin work on a new 500-square-foot truck and tractor pull. They’re also upgrading the speedway’s sound system, building a 5,000-square-foot, tent-covered vendor space, have installed new fencing and made additional parking spaces.
Haney and Gamage plan to have spent at least $1.5 million by the end of next summer on those projects and the construction of 10 tiny cabins near the speedway. Most of the funds are coming from their personal investment, as well as loans from the Caribou Economic Growth Council and Northern Maine Development Commission.
The upgrades will allow Spud to host the second SnowBowl and DustBowl in 2024 and two new festivals: the MudBowl from June 7 to 9 and BikeBowl from Aug. 9 to 11.
“Each event we’ve done seems to have built off the other,” Haney said. “People had such a good time at the SnowBowl, that they told other people. We’ve had great community support.”
The MudBowl will feature a monster truck show, truck and tractor pulls, Smokey’s Greater Show rides, a tug of war competition and over 30 veterans organizations in the vendor space. The BikeBowl will include a Harley Davidson motorcycle stunt show, barbecue and chili cook-offs, a brew fest and Battle of the Bands. The brewfest and Battle of the Bands will feature participants from throughout New England and Canada.
Haney and Gamage are also planning to bring back regular truck and tractor pulls, three classes of local stock car racing, grass drags and host summer drive-in movie events.
They are expanding the SnowBowl to five days – Feb. 28 to March 3 – with more Snocross races and new events, like Las Vegas-based illusionist Kent Axell and a hill climb at Big Rock Mountain in Mars Hill.
Eventually, the pair would like to build more tiny cabins and an indoor event center at Spud Speedway, complete with a restaurant and bar, rental shop and entertainment space. But they have yet to iron out those project details, as they’re more focused on plans for 2024.
Whatever happens, the newfound friends are confident that they’ve found a unique economic driver for Caribou, a city that is also trying to revitalize its downtown and riverfront regions.
“I think we’ve set an example of how anything is possible,” Gamage said. “If you have the dream and desire, you can do something like this for Aroostook County.”
