The Most Heart Breaking Moments From the Oxford 250

There are exciting moments and memorable passes that can take a good race and turn it into a great one. But often times, for these great moments, there is another side of the story that is often forgotten. It is the heart breaking moments of a victory being snatched away and a driver is left with very little to show for their efforts. These moments, much like the exciting moments, have helped to shape the Oxford 250 into the legendary event that it is.

1. Small Fuel Cell – In 1996 Ben Rowe was in his first season as a Pro Stock racer at Oxford Plains Speedway and had moderate success. He was not the regional Pro Stock ace that he is today. That particular year saw the race go back to it’s “roots” and run an Open Competition race (based on Oxford’s Pro Stock rules primarily) with a $50,000 to win promotion! Jeff Taylor and Tracy Gordon were the two cars to watch as they waged a season long battle for dominance and a track championship. Both cars were factors early in the event. However, both drivers would be involved in wrecks that took them out of contention and Rowe took over the top spot in his red #12 Monte Carlo. It was apparent that very few cars could keep up with his pace as he put distance between himself and second place Dennis Demers. Unfortunately for Rowe, his team did not switch out the Saturday night fuel cell (12 gallons I believe) for the traditional larger fuel cell (22 gallons). As he came to the flagstand to receive the “two to go” signal, his car began to slow. He was out of gas just two laps from $50,000. In an unprecedented event (at least as far as I can remember), Rowe was interviewed in Victory Lane when the top three had finished their interviews. He was professional and had a smile on his face. But the disappointment was obvious. Who knows where Ben Rowe’s career might have gone if he’d have won that money?? I guess he’ll have to settle for the many PASS Championships, an IPSC Championship, Oxford Open Series Championship, NEPSA’s final Championship, and two Banknorth 250 victories!

2. Local Driver Can’t Close the Deal – There were very few people who picked Alan Wilson to win the Banknorth 250 in 2004. After all, he had experienced a personal\family emergency just a couple of weeks before the event and many folks thought he would be done for the season. Wilson was a Saturday night Oxford Plains driver and found himself out front in the late stages of the event due to Dale Shaw and Scott Chubbuck wrecking each other out of first place. The wreck did not bring out a caution which scattered the field. When Wilson inherited the the lead he put a great deal of distance between himself and Ben Rowe as the race neared ten laps remaining. For a local driver like Alan Wilson (and Ben Rowe in my #1 heartbreak above) this IS their Daytona 500 and this is the race they dream about winning. Wilson was leading by almost a quarter of a lap when his car broke loose under him out of turn two and sent him into the dirt. Rowe cruised by for the win. Wilson, though disappointed, knew that it was still a great moment for him, “We showed them we could do it”. Sometimes racing seems so unfair, but also, it seems that the sport has a way of giving back when you least expect it.

3. Protest!! – I wasn’t around in 1976 to witness what a fellow race fan, named Big Moe, called a “big joke.” Moe, along with many other race fans, felt that Ralph Nason won the 1976 race and had it taken away due to a scoring issue and the win was handed to Butch Lindley. I’m not sure Nason viewed this as a heartbreak so much as he was more ticked off. Most observers do agree that Nason lapped Lindley in the middle stages of the race. What isn’t clear is how Lindley got his lap back. I’ve heard from local track historian (and the ultimate in Oxford 250 knowledge Bobby Walker) that Lindley gained his lap back when Nason went to the pits and benefited from another quick caution to come all the way around as the last car on the lead lap. I’ve heard from other sources that Lindley did a “gas and go” pitstop at one point and was not properly held up by the pit attendant and gained a lap on the stop. I don’t know the answer, but I do know that Nason let Lindley pass him late in the race because he was sure that Lindley was a lap down. The track scorers disagreed and Nason was forced to take home a second place trophy.

4. Darn Lapped Cars! – I’ve given a pretty good description of the 1985 race and Dave Dion’s famous pass to the low side of a lapped car on lap 250 to win the race in my Exciting Moments section. But there was another side to that story and that was the story of Joey Kourafas who chose to go to the high side of that lapper and cost himself the win. What had to be most disappointing for Kourafas was that he was faster then Dion and had kept him in the rearview for over 50 laps. “The Kid” was the strongest car on track at crunch time and had actually pulled about five car lengths on Dion from lap 246-249 and was going to win pulling away. However, a car who had a rough night, Bentley Warren, was riding out the race and had a late race excursion off the track and came back to the track while the leaders took the white flag. Warren was going pretty slow down the backstretch and as Kourafas barreled up behind him I think he made a split-second decision just a split-second too late. It almost seemed that he made a decision to give Kourafas the low side through turns 3 and 4. However, Kourafas had already made up his mind to go high and when he saw Warren drift up it was too late. Compounding the problem was that Dion DID take the hole down low and kept Warren from giving Kourafas any room. Dion actually won by several car lengths as Joey obviously had to back off the gas to keep his car on the track out of turn 4. Kourafas worked hard in that race and should have won it…but this race does not care about “would’ve” “should’ve” or “could’ve”.

Candidates for #5: I’m not sure which way to go for number five. Here are the candidates that I’m considering.

1974 – In the inaugural race, George Summers was leading on lap 197 (of 200) when he needed to pit for gas and handing the win to Kourafas (thanks Steve Pellerin for that recap!)

1977 – Bob Pressley led for 213 laps but Don Biederman managed to chase him down and pass him for the win late in the event. My sources indicate that Biederman did it on one set of tires!!

1980 – Geoff Bodine had held off Butch Lindley for most of the night so I’m not sure how much of a heart break it was when Lindley ran out of gas on lap 250. He didn’t get that one last chance to go for the win though.

1987 or 1988 – One of these two years saw Kelly Moore lead for most of the night (or so it seemed). But he pitted too often (similar to Gelinas in 2000) and track position at the end was at a premium and it was either Aube (1987) or McCabe (1988) who benefited.

1994 – Ralph Nason was dominating in a Dodge Avenger\Pontiac Firebird hybrid body and was all by himself in the lead when one of his hubs fell apart and took him out. People think Derek Lynch dominated this race. Nope. Nason was destroying everyone until he broke.

1997 – In what was the worst wreckfest I’ve seen at the ‘250 Scott Fraser seemed to be untouchable force at the midway point of the race. Unfortunately, Ralph Nason didn’t like going a lap down and ended Fraser’s night while he was leading convincingly.