Countdown: Maine

Part of Massachusetts, the Pine Tree State became the 23rd state in 1820 under the Missouri Compromise. Known for its rocky coastline and fishing harbors, 90 percent of the land is covered in forests, so it's no surprise that Maine's biggest industry has been lumbering, sawmills and ship building.

Because the winter weather can be severe, Maine has produced a glut of creative individuals, including director John Ford, writers Stephen King, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and Edna St. Vincent Millay and artist Andrew Wyeth. Henry David Thoreau also wrote about the Maine woods.

"Remember the Maine" was the cry that launched the Spanish-American War and Roger Miller's "King of the Road" had Bangor, Maine as his ultimate destination.

NASCAR's road to Maine includes one race winner and a couple of long-time tracks.

	Ricky Craven has a combined seven career wins in NASCAR's top three series. Credit: Streeter Lecka/Getty Images
	Ricky Craven Cup career   Cup Busch Truck Years 11 13 2 Starts 278 141 26 Wins 2 4 1 Top-5 17 27 4 Top-10 46 57 9 Poles 6 4 0 Avg. Start 23.2 14.7 18.4 Avg. Finish 24.5 16.4 16.6

Best behind the wheel

• Ricky Craven, Newburgh

A look back at Ricky Craven's career begs the question: "What if?"

What if there had been SAFER barriers at Texas Motor Speedway in 1997? What if Craven had had never suffered from post-concussion syndrome? What if he had stayed with Rick Hendrick?

Craven started his racing career in 1982 at Unity Raceway, winning 12 races and rookie of the year honors. He followed that with another rookie of the year award in 1984 at Wiscassett Speedway, then went on to finish fourth on the American-Canadian Tour in 1988.

Moving to the Busch North Series, he won seven poles, two races and was named rookie of the year in 1990. He did one better the following season, parlaying 10 victories into a series championship -- and made his Cup debut for Dick Moroso, finishing 34th at Rockingham -- all of which earned him a ride in the Busch Series for 1992.

Craven captured yet another rookie of the year title, then finished second in the 1993 and 1994 standings, capped by wins at Hickory and Nazareth. After two seasons with Larry Hedrick, Rick Hendrick hired him to drive the No. 25 Chevrolet in 1997 -- and Craven responded with a third-place finish in the Daytona 500.

However, crashes at Atlanta and Darlington, followed by a major accident during practice at Texas, left Craven with a broken right-shoulder blade and a concussion. He would finish the season but begin to suffer from dizziness and headaches.

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"I felt like I was ready when I got back in the car after the crash in Texas." Craven said. "It was something that didn't seem that serious and I thought it would go away. Looking back, obviously it affected my performance more than I realized.''

After sitting out four months, Craven returned to the driver's seat and promptly won the pole at New Hampshire. However, he failed to crack the top 10 the rest of the season and was faced with the prospect of having to rebuild his career.

Craven ran 40 races in the next two seasons with smaller teams before getting a chance to drive a Ford for Cal Wells in 2001. That seemed to rejuvenate Craven, who seemed to grow in confidence with every good finish. He won the pole and finished second at Michigan, then finally broke through with a victory at Martinsville late in the season, edging Dale Jarrett.

However, Craven may be best remembered for his side-by-side duel with Kurt Busch at Darlington in 2003. The two cars finished just .002 seconds apart -- but at the time, Craven wasn't sure who won.

"Everyone was [talking] on the radio and I was actually a little bit frustrated because I thought, 'Great, great. Glad that we entertained you, but did we win the race?'" he asked. "I came off of Turn 2 and I looked up and it showed us first on the scoreboard ... that was the confirmation."

Craven was released from his driving duties in the middle of a disappointing 2004 season and wound up with Jack Roush, driving in the Craftsman Truck Series in 2005. Martinsville was good to Craven again, as he posted a win there, but driver and team parted ways at the end of the season.

Other noteworthy drivers from Maine

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• Joe Bessey, Scarborough: Long-time Busch campaigner made his lone Cup start at Loudon in 2000

• Stan Meserve, Winslow: Made 31 starts in 1968, including a 10th at Weaverville.

We wish ...

Marathon runner Joan Benoit Samuelson had become a NASCAR driver.

The Cape Elizabeth native won the first Olympic women's marathon in the 1984 Games at Los Angeles in a record time in 2:24:52. With that kind of endurance, she'd be a perfect fit for NASCAR's longest race, the 600-miler at Lowe's Motor Speedway.

Gone but not forgotten

Richard Petty and Bobby Allison used to tangle in Oxford Plains. Credit: Getty Images

• Oxford Plains Speedway, Oxford

It took six weeks in 1950 to clear a lightly wooded area of flat land and build what is now Maine's largest spectator facility. But it was the arrival of Bob Bahre as owner in 1964 that set into motion NASCAR's three visits to the Pine Tree State.

Originally a dirt half-mile, Oxford Plains was a paved third-mile when Bobby Allison won the first of his two victories there in 1966, beating Tiny Lund and Richard Petty by more than a lap in front of a crowd of 13,000.

Allison repeated a year later, despite the fact that Petty led 221 of the 300 laps. However, Petty finally broke Allison's stranglehold on Oxford Plains in 1968, leading 187 laps to hold off David Pearson and collect the $1,350 first-place check.

Oxford Plains remains in operation as a three-eighths-mile paved oval.

Other tracks which host NASCAR races

• Beech Ridge Motor Speedway, Scarborough: Bobby Babb Jr. was the 2005 Pro Series champ at the paved third-mile, part of the NASCAR Dodge Weekly Series

A word from our sponsor

• MBNA, Belfast

MBNA Corp., the largest independent credit-card issuer in the world, added four new facilities and 2,300 employees in rural towns across Maine in 2000. The credit-card company first came to Maine in 1993 expecting to employ only 50 people in one facility. MBNA now has seven facilities and more than 3,200 employees in Maine.