Bubar closing out 2023 racing season in winner’s circle

By Ed Pierce

Auto racer Corey Bubar of Windham is finishing the 2023 season with a flourish by winning the finale for the Granite State Pro Stock Series in New Hampshire on Oct. 1 and will compete Sunday in his final race this year at the Oxford Plains Speedway.

Auto racer Corey Bubar of Windham takes the checkered flag
for winning the Bosowski Properties 150 Pro Series Race,
the final event of the 2023 Granite State Pro Stock Series, at
Lee USA Speedway in Lee, New Hampshire on Oct. 1. 
Bubar's victory earned him a first-place check for $8,500.
SANDY HALEY PHOTOGRAPHY     

In winning the Bosowski Properties 150 Pro Series Race and the $8,500 first-place check at the Lee USA Speedway, Bubar continues to impress after a handful of races there this year. Earlier this summer, he finished third and fourth in the races that he entered there.

“We built a new car this year, so it took a while to figure it out and all of those good finishes were in the last three races there,” Bubar said. “We just have worked really hard on trying to improve it little by little and slowly we kept getting closer to where we needed to be and had a race where everything went our way.”

Bubar, 31, was second in time trials for the Bosowski Properties 150 Pro Series Race in New Hampshire, and that gave him a good feeling about his chances to win the race that night.

“We time trialed second, and I knew we had a good car because I suck at time trialing,” he said. “We had a couple of good battles with Jimmy Renfrew Jr. and Ryan Green but ended up with the big check. Thank you so much to my crew, Dan Bubar, Alan Berry, Karen Salvo Bubar, Dylan Bilodeau, Tinker Doughty, and Michael Landry. We lost a clutch in the second practice, and they all busted their butts to get it changed in time to make it out there for the scuff session. Thank you to Ryan Green for letting us take his spare clutch.”

During the race, Bubar held off challenges from drivers Ryan Green and Jimmy Renfrew Jr. to pull away down the stretch and win his second Granite State Pro Stock Series event.

His passion for racing began at a young age when he started competing in go-kart races at Beech Ridge Motor Speedway in Scarborough in 2004. His father Dan started racing at that track in the 1980s and as his racing career was wrapping up, he stepped up and helped his son launch his own career.

Bubar moved up to auto racing in the Sports Series division in 2007 at Beech Ridge, and then just a year following his graduation from Windham High School, he won the championship in the Sports Series division at the Beech Ridge track in 2011. He raced there in the Pro Series division in 2012 and enjoyed breakout success, winning more NASCAR Night races than any other racer at Beech Ridge and was eventually honored with the “Driver of the Decade Award” at Beech Ridge for the 2010s.

A key to his continued success on the racetrack is his knowledge of mechanics and being able to quickly size up problems with his car as they arise. He started working as a used car mechanic at Lake Region Imports in Westbrook while still in high school and in 2020, Bubar started a new job at Viking-Cives in Lewiston building plow trucks and performing welding there.

By 2021, he had built a solid Bubar Motorsports racing team and Bubar won three different races that year along with his first touring series race. He narrowly missed winning the championship in the last year of racing at the Beech Ridge racetrack, trailing by only four points in the standings. Last season was tough for Bubar, but he’s rebounded in 2023 and appears to be back in business and aiming at another title.

He debuted his new car in April built by Berry Racecars and Customs during a race at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon and Bubar says he’s grateful to everyone who has helped him get to this point in his career, including his wife, Ashley, and daughters Kinsley and Gracey.

“Thanks to my sponsors, Jef Simpson from J.A. Simpson, Strictly Roofing, Union Wharf Market, and T&L Racing,” he said. “And thanks to Tom Mason, and Alan and Stefanie Berry. Thank you to Robbie Harrison for all the help he's been this year.”

As far as the future goes, Bubar said he takes it one race at a time but will be back racing again next year.

“We don't have plans for next year yet,” he said. “I think we will wait until the schedules come out to decide but we will probably race some at Lee and some at Oxford again.” <

Taking checkered flag in first ACT race lands Windham racer in record books

By Ed Pierce

Windham’s Brandon Barker joined some prestigious auto racers when he entered the record book by winning his first race on the American Canadian Tour at Lee USA Speedway in Lee, New Hampshire on May 21. Barker, 26, is only one of three drivers to win in their first ACT start, with the late Dale Earnhardt and DJ Kennington being the only others to accomplish that feat.

Brandon Barker of Windham won his first 
race on the ACT Tour at Lee USA Speedway
in New Hampshire on May 21. He entered
the record books along with the late Dale
Earnhardt and Canadian driver DJ
Kennington as the only drivers to win
an ACT race in their only ACT start.
PHOTO BY ALAN WARD

Barker is currently in the middle of a busy 2023 racing schedule that includes 35 races running from March through November. He’s been racing mostly super late cars but chose to enter the ACT’s New Hampshire Governor’s Cup 150 race driving a late model car at Lee USA Speedway and defeated 24 other drivers to claim the checkered flag there.

He took the wheel of the Sullivan Construction 0NH car to the pole position in the ACT race with current top rookie Andrew Molleur to his outside after both earned prime racing positions in preliminary heats. Barker grabbed the early lead and then regained it late in the race. He traded first place back and forth with driver Jimmy Renfrew until lap 145 when Renfrew spun out. With just five laps remaining, Barker held off a challenge from driver Gabe Brown to earn his first American Canadian Tour victory in just his first and only start on the ACT Tour. In winning, Barker joined an elite list of ACT winners in their only start which includes Earnhardt’s victory at Cayuga Motor Speedway in Ontario in 1983 and longtime NASCAR Pinty’s Canadian Series standout Kennington who won at the Lee USA Speedway in 2004.

“What I love about racing is the competition part of it mostly,” Barker said. “But also having a good group of crew guys going to the races, they make it fun. The challenges I’ve found about racing professionally have got to be the money aspect of it. It’s so dang expensive. I’m extremely grateful I got a good group of sponsors and people backing me.”

His start in racing came when Barker was 5 just turning 6 in 2003 at Beech Ridge Motor Speedway’s go-karting series. His grandfather obtained a couple of go-karts for Barker and his cousin to race there, and it prompted Barker to go on and pursue an auto racing career outside of his day job working for the Maine Turnpike Authority.

“Right now, I’m racing Super Late Models basically every weekend. And late model a few times,” he said. “I race on the Pro All Star series for Sam Snow, the Granite State Pro stock series, and the NASCAR weekly series Pro stocks at Lee USA Speedway for Archie St. Hilare, and a few American Canadian Tour Late Models for Chad Sullivan.”

He’s raced in Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, and North Carolina and his sponsors include DLM Property Care, NLM Custom Homes, Keen Parts, Corvette Parts, Sam Snow Construction, CBS Lobster, R.N. Craft, DiRenzo Rentals, and Maietta Towing.

“What I hope to accomplish in my racing career before I am finished is I have yet to win a Pro All Star series race. I really want to do that, it’s the only series I have raced in where I haven’t won,” Barker said. “If it happens and not at Oxford, then winning the Oxford 250 would be one because that’s my favorite race and one of the biggest races in the country. The most challenging track I’ve raced on has got to be the Thompson Speedway in Thompson, Connecticut. I have no idea why I’m terrible there, it’s a high bank of 5/8 mile with long straightaways. It’s the second fastest track we go to. Speed doesn’t bother me but I’m just not very good there.”

According to Barker, Maine has many great drivers like Mike Rowe, Ben Rowe, and Joey Doiron because of the abundance of great racetracks in the state.

“Beech Ridge is closed now but I think that flat tracks are the toughest tracks to get a handle on and if you do, you go to places with banking,” he said. “It helps your car’s handling usually, so if your good at the flat tracks you can usually go anywhere and be competitive.”

He credits other auto racers from Windham for giving him confidence and offering sound advice about racing when needed.

“Support from others in Windham comes from friends like Brad Babb and Bobby Timmons,” Barker said. “They’re older than me so they were always a step ahead. I looked up to them and would ask their advice. Whether it was good advice or not, it seems to have worked out.”

Barker’s girlfriend, Sara Wear, has a brother and father who also race, so she is used to the competitive aspect of the sport and tries to attend as many of Barker’s races whenever possible.

His next race is scheduled for Saturday, June 3 at Riverside Speedway in Northumberland, New Hampshire for the Granite State pro stock series and then on Sunday, June 4, he’ll compete at Oxford Plains Speedway in Maine in the Pro All Star series.

But if he doesn’t win any further races this year, Barker will remember 2023 for his history making victory in the ACT New Hampshire Governor’s Cup 150.

“First, you never forget your first win, that is the most satisfying feeling, winning your first one,” he said. “But winning your first touring race feels great because it proves you can do it and you belong to be out there.” <

Windham’s Bubar makes great strides on racing circuit

By Andrew Wing

It is common knowledge that driving cars at over 100 mph is dangerous. However, for Corey Bubar, his love for racing is so immense that he doesn’t spend much time worrying about that, but rather he is just focused on having fun racing in the moment.

Windham auto racer Corey Bubar and his team will compete 
for a $10,000 prize at the Keen Parts 150 race at the Lee 
USA Speedway in Lee, New Hampshire on July 15.
COURTESY PHOTO

Before he had even reached his teenage years, Bubar was racing go-karts at Beech Ridge Motor Speedway in Scarborough in 2004. After doing that for a few years, he moved up to the sports series division in 2007, and then just one year after graduating from Windham High School, Bubar won the championship in the Sports Series division at Beech Ridge in 2011.

Following his championship, Bubar moved up to the Pro Series division in 2012 and his overall time in that division was also incredibly successful, winning more NASCAR Night races than any other racer at Beech Ridge and he also won the “Driver of the Decade” award for the 2010s.

Bubar has always had a passion for cars. He started working as a used car mechanic at Lake Region Imports in Westbrook while still in high school. After leaving there at the end of 2020, Bubar began working at Viking-Cives in Lewiston where they build plow trucks for New England towns and he performs most of the welding there.

Despite his passion for cars, Bubar got into racing because the apple didn’t fall far from the tree.

“I got into racing because my dad has raced since the 1980s,” said Bubar. “He stopped in the early 2000s and when the opportunity came for me to get started in go-kart racing, we didn’t hesitate and we’ve been at it ever since.”

Since Bubar started racing nearly 20 years ago, he has come to find many things that he likes about the sport, but his favorite is the thought process that goes into it.

“There are so many options of how to set up your car and you always have to think of ways that can make it better,” said Bubar. “Some of the things that I come up with are really outside of the box, and it’s really cool when they work.”

On the other hand, Bubar has also come to find out that there are some parts of racing that he doesn’t like as much, and the worst part to him is altercations with people.

“Racing is so competitive, and sometimes people’s tempers get hot,” said Bubar. “If you’re successful, then you will have your fair share of them, and I have lost friends because of racing.”

There have been a lot of ups and downs throughout Bubar’s racing career, but last season just might’ve been the best yet for him and his Bubar Motorsports team as they won three races and Bubar won his first touring series race.

“Last season was pretty good for us,” said Bubar. “I had a chance at the championship, but ended up in second place, just four points behind. A lot of credit goes to my team, we had a fast car just about every week.”

Following his exceptional season in 2021, Bubar was excited for what this season had in store, but with Beech Ridge Motor Speedway closing at the end of last year, he and his team didn’t enter 2022 with many expectations. Despite the closing, Bubar and his team have competed in some races, and while their luck hasn’t gone their way so far this season, Bubar and his team still have hope for what’s yet to come.

“The results from our season have been a little bit discouraging,” said Bubar. “However, we have still had good speed at a few of the races, so hopefully we can get some good finishes this year.”

Next up for Bubar and his team is the Keen Parts 150 race that features a $10,000 prize at the Lee USA Speedway in New Hampshire on July 15, and at the Oxford 250 that will be held at the Oxford Plains Speedway on Aug. 28. There are also a couple other races that they plan on going to as well, but without the pressure of a championship at Beech Ridge, Bubar and his team’s goal for the rest of the season is to just go and race for fun.

Aside from the rest of this season, Bubar is realistic about what he can accomplish in racing professionally.

“I don’t really have any higher aspirations for my career. I just like doing what we are doing now,” said Bubar. “I would just like to thank all of my family, crew and sponsors who help me out to be able to keep racing.” <