WISCASSET — Vanessa Jordan wasn’t sure she’d make it a year. Now the race track she owns with her husband, Richard Jordan, will celebrate its golden anniversary this weekend.

Wiscasset Speedway turns 50 this month, seven years after the Jordans bought the track at auction. On Saturday, the facility will celebrate with a number of special additions to its weekly racing program — including the unveiling of its inaugural Hall of Fame class and the honoring of of all of its former champions and previous owners.

“Richard and I, we’re just touched and can’t say enough about how honored we are just to be able to carry the whole thing,” Vanessa said this week.

But she didn’t always feel that way.

“Richard’s smiling from ear to ear, and I’m just panicking inside,” Vanessa said of the day the couple bought the .375-mile, banked seacoast oval. “I was wondering, ‘What the hell did we just do?’ Everything in the world pointed to it couldn’t be done. The expense of doing it, bringing people back, bringing drivers back. There was a lot of negativity around the track at the time, but truthfully, we knew we had nowhere to go but up.

“I told (Richard) I’ll commit to doing it for one year. If it looks like it can work, we’ll do it. If not, we can’t.”

Seven years later, Wiscasset Speedway is as healthy as its ever been.

Cars and crowds both returned, in part thanks to a forward-thinking pricing scheme and a racer- and family-friendly schedule. Just as in Wiscasset’s first full season of operation under the Jordans in 2013, adult tickets remain just $5 and its eight divisions alternate through an every-other-week schedule during the season.

In many ways, the speedway is a throwback to the state’s early stock car racing days.

The physical track itself hasn’t undergone any changes to Cronk’s original layout in 1969, and it eschews pricey touring series events while focusing on racing in weekly divisions. Wiscasset Speedway is the only track in Maine which runs both Super Late Models (Pro Stocks) and Late Models.

Thirteen people will be inducted into speedway’s Hall of Fame on Saturday, from former champions to car owners, car builders and others who have directly impacted racing at the facility.

Additionally, Cronk, Dave St. Clair and Doug White will also be recognized as former owners of the track. St. Clair owned  Wiscasset Raceway from 1991-2007.

“It is a tribute to, of course, Wilford Cronk. Without that man’s dream and the fortitude to build it — a contractor and a worm digger who thought, ‘I can build one of those,’” Vanessa Jordan said. “I love the fact they’re honoring everybody who took a turn at running this place, because I know for a fact how hard it is. And it’s a tribute to all the guys who raced here in the beginning.”

The night will include a meet-and-greet with former track champions, the Hall of Fame inductions, fireworks and a 50-lap Pro Stock feature event.

The program begins at 5 p.m.