To racing fans around New England, Phil Libby of Buxton was a legendary racecar driver. To his family and those who knew him, he was a dedicated father and friend.
Libby died on Friday, Feb. 10, at 78. Libby drove in the first race ever at Beech Ridge Speedway in Scarborough in 1949. He went on to a racing career that spanned four decades.
Libby is a member of the Beech Ridge Hall of Fame, the Maine Motor Sports Hall of Fame and had been inducted into the New England Auto Racers Hall of Fame shortly before his death. He’s remembered as a leader on and off the track.
His daughter, Gayle Libby, said her dad always raced to win. “That’s exactly how he lived his life,” she said. “Always the hero.”
Libby said her dad worked a lot but his five children never wondered how much he cared. She said he was always encouraging them. “He wanted you to be aggressive and work hard but treat everyone with respect,” she said, adding that he was proud of his children’s accomplishments.
Libby instilled his work ethic into his family. “He believed in honest, hard work,” Gayle Libby said, adding her dad believed there was the Libby way or the wrong way. “Everything he did he did with a passion,” she said.
Besides auto racing, Libby said her father enjoyed fishing and dancing. “He loved dancing, he had a full dance card everywhere he went,” she said.
Libby always found time in his busy life for his hobbies. “He loved fishing. He fished from Maine to Florida and went to Alaska and Canada,” said a friend, Cliff Wescott of Westbrook.
Libby said her dad was recognized everywhere he went. Even when he was canoeing down the Saco River passing boaters would greet him, she said.
Former racecar driver Steve Berry Sr. of Gorham said Libby was aggressive on the track, though he was always a gentleman about it.
Berry said Libby wouldn’t give an inch on the racetrack, even to his brother, fellow driver and current Buxton Selectman Bob Libby, unless it was for safety reasons. “He was very entertaining and fun to watch,” Berry said. “He was a hard driver.”
Auto racing historian Steve Pellerin called Libby his friend and said he was a pioneer in Maine motor sports. Pellerin said Libby, a cancer victim, had been unable to attend the recent New England Hall of Fame induction ceremony on Jan. 29 in East Windsor, Conn. Pellerin remembered his friend as a “champion.”
In Buxton, Libby’s hometown, Cliff Emery, chairman of the Board of Selectmen, said Libby made stock car racing what it is today in Maine. “Phil was one of the best Beech Ridge ever had,” Emery said.
Emery, who serves as a selectman with Bob Libby, said the two brothers were legends as members of the driving corps at Beech Ridge that included Homer Drew and Dick Wolstenhulme. Emery said he grew up watching Phil Libby drive when “racing was racing.” “He was a nice guy and a fun person to be around,” Emery said.
Wescott agreed. “Absolutely, a very nice guy, quiet,” said Wescott, who served on the board of directors of the Maine State Stock Car Racing Association when Libby was president. ‘He was a heck of a racecar driver.”
His friends said Libby was equally successful whether he was racing cars or trucks. ‘No matter what he got in, he was good,” Wescott said.
Hall of Fame racecar driver Philip Libby
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