Dynamite in 1975

The race found its identity with 50 laps added and Dave Dion started his legacy with the win in the first true ‘250’

Pictures Below Recap (None Yet)

Recap courtesy Steve Pellerin (and posted with his permission)

July, 1975 - "And coming up Sunday night July the 20th. The big one in all of New England. The 1st Annual Oxford 250 NASCAR National Championship. 250 green flag laps, with 5000 dollars going to the winner. Reserved tickets ($8.50) for this great race are on sale now at the Speedway ticket office. Also available from Betsy's Country Store Rte. 26 Oxford, & Seavey's Appliances in No. Windham. General admission is $7.00 & 8,000 general admission tickets go on sale race day. Cars from all over Maine & New England, the East Coast, the deep South has well as Canada. Mark your calendars now for this great event." - Oxford Plains Announcer Bob Walker, June 1975.

Timeless words spoken some 35 years ago by the "Voice of the Plains" during a caution flag for Getty #4 in June 1975, a 100 Lapper won that night by Milton Vt.'s Bobby Dragon in John Kiehfer's #71 "Dragon Wagon". To this day those words still invoke the drama & excitement that unfolds each year with the race, this year no different. Although the 250 has had some ups & downs, fans in recent times drawn by the hyped appearance of some NASCAR stars have brought the numbers back to view this event at the scenic Rte. 26 oval, some 45 miles northwest of Portland Me.

Other than the running of full fenders, today's 'Super Outlaw' LMS, Pro Stocks, or pricey builder assembled after-market commodities bear little resemblance to the Late Model Sportsman cars that ran in 1975. "Late Model Sportsman" cars were called as such by NASCAR & promoters to differ between the Modifieds and the fendered crowd. Note that there was an attempt by NASCAR in the early 70's to have a "Late Model Modified" class. LMS cars of this era ran under fairly standardized rules. Imagine that......NASCAR had at that time oversaw an LMS North Tour called 'Northern NASCAR' that frequented tracks like Oxford Plains, but home based from Thunder Road, long gone Catamount Stadium & Plattsburg Raceway (Airborne?) has well as forays to Seekonk, Stafford, & Thompson, Conn. Nearly all the Northerners ran stock bodies & frames, some with smaller power plants. Additionally, there were many tracks in the Northeast not affiliated with NASCAR yet ran very similar LMS cars. The Southern LMS were a bit more of a contrast, but with an edge. Coming from the heartland of racing these well financed teams generally had a finger on the current trends in that area, has well as having the chance to run several times a week, due to lucrative sponsors. More money meant the chance to chase NASCAR points over the road and many did in places like South Boston, VA, Hickory & Asheville, NC, or Greenville & Columbia, SC. Many of the Southern teams were using chassis with names like Laughlin, Pistone, Zervarkis & Allison. Plus they had they had the experience of running in places like Martinsville, Bristol, North Wilkesboro, Richmond, & Nashville......Big venues for the LMS boys.

A Late Model Sportsman race car in Oxford's top weekly class from 1975 was something the Bahres tried to keep as affordable as possible. Model years ranged from 1959 to 1969. Racers had to run Chevy body, frame, & motor that all matched for that model year. Same with Ford. 64'-68' Chevelles were very popular, along with a sprinkling of early Novas & Camaros. (The drawback being a unitized car.) Fairlanes made up most of the Ford ranks along with a few Mustangs. Dodges & Plymouth were the least in number though the short track "Kit Car" available from the local Dodge Dealership would give hope to the Mopar crowd. Ralph Nason of Newburgh Me. would see to it.....soon. OPS Sportsman from that time had to run full stock floorboards, with a stock firewall. Body & all aforementioned had to be in the stock position....NO setback. All LMS cars had to start a race with fenders, hood & bumper. Tech men could toss a car for looks detrimental to racing. Engines were mostly stock. Chevys'.... 283, 302, 327, 348. Fords....289, 302, 351, 352, 390. Flat top pistons and production steel heads. NO polishing or porting. No Ram Air intakes or Box Ram Intakes. (Goodwin recalls...) No light weight flywheels. Headers allowed but COULD NOT exit up thru front fender. Safety hub & 11" GN tire mandatory for RF. Optional on RR & LR. Min. wheel base 112". Traction Bars hmmmmm.......were optional. Weekly LMS could not run quick changes..........only 3/4 Ford Dana 60 rears. Franklands were OK on Open cars. Few weekly OPS runners however could afford a weekly car & an Open car. Most just ran the big races heads up, figuring that their knowledge & setup for the track would give them an edge over high dollar parts & horsepower that many could not run..........nor afford.

After the 1974 race Bob Bahre added another 50 laps to the race to force pit stops for tires and fuel. Doing so on pit road in front of the stands would give his fans more bang for the buck, he reasoned. But more so than anything the $25,000 purse & NASCAR points drew widespread interest. The rules for the most part allowed most any car with minor modification to take part. A full field was expected. Virtually all of the tracks in Maine with LMS cars could run as well cars thru out the Northeast.

Oxford's honor would be upheld by top runners Al Hammond, Mike Rowe, Russ Nutting, Dick Glines, Bobby Tibbetts, Earl Jones, Stan Horne, Wally Patrick, Skipper Hogdon, George Coolidge & Leland Kangas. And....recall that Hammond & Rowe are still winning races now......some 35 years later. Awesome! Beech Ridge Speedway, the state's only dirt track would send Homer Drew, Dick Wolstenhulme, recently "unretired" Ralph Cusack, Bob Babb, & Dick McCabe. The Unity/Wiscasset & Speedway 95 contingent would bring former Open winners Dave Darveau & Stan Meserve, along with Larry Reno, Dana Graves of Bangor, Larry Pottle, Jimmy Burns, Ralph Nason, Teddy Palino & Pete Silva. From the Northern NASCAR ranks came Bob & Beaver Dragon, 72' Norwood Arena Champ Dave Dion, Hector LeClair, Stub Fadden, Ronnie Barcomb, Gardiner Leavitt, the "mod squad" (called such cause of their long hair & age) they were 1974 Oxford 200 Winner Joey Kourafas, John Rosati, & Robbie Crouch. Also Danny Perez, Bob Ailes, Steve Poulin & badboy Ronnie Marvin. Plus other prominent northern runners including the driver who came close on a couple of occasions...George Summers. Add Jimmy McCallum, Johhny Tripp, Billy Baldiga, Paul Schulz, Bob Healey & brothers Ronnie & Kenny Bouchard.

North of the border our neighbors took notice...... with veteran Jean-Paul Cabana leading the charge. He would be followed by Guy LeClerc, Claude Aubin, Keith Cavannaugh and Langis Caron. Additionally it was announced that 9 time Indianapolis 500 veteran starter Jim Hurtubise of Indianapolis, Ind. would be driving the Jay-Lin Special #40 another Dodge "Kit Car". Enough for seven bucks?..........there's more...

Giving proof to the phrase "The South will rise once more"...........Dixie sent forth not only many of its best runners, but the TOP 3 point chasers in the nation, to little Oxford Plains. This included current NASCAR National point leader & Champion L.D. Ottinger of Newport, Tennessee. Also, 2nd place in points and the 1963 Daytona 500 Winner Tiny Lund of Cross S.C. & 3rd in points Morgan Shepherd of Conover N.C. Adding depth & tenacity to the lineup.......Permatex 300 Winner Bill Dennis of Virginia, North Carolina veteran runner Joe Henry Thurman of Rocky Mount, Virginia State LMS Champ Al Grinnan, Richard Boswell, & Tommy Ellis. Add to this a couple of other short track legends just over the Mason-Dixon Line............from the tough Beltsville Maryland oval......the Legendary Reds Kagle & Jack Bland.

Race day dawned partly cloudy. It was very hot & humid with a chance of traditional popup thunderstorms late in the day. Adding an air of uncertainty to the race was the fact that relatively fresh pavement had been added to the oval so frequency of tires & compound would not be a given tonight. The faithful flocked to the track and soon a fine crowd was on hand just for warm-ups. Despite many fans having blankets out on the bleachers to save their spots....most all were courteous & everyone had enough room. It was always a thrill to get there early & get one of the bright orange souvenir 250 bumper stickers the folks in the ticket booths gave out. This year's edition featured a bright orange background with a black outline of Homer Drew in the Seavey J2 Camaro. On it are the words "We raced in the Oxford 250, July 20th,1975." It was neat to see so many cars and the different sounds they made has they passed by on the front stretch. The 3 heats took the first 8 cars to the grid with 6 from each of the 2 consolations advancing to the finale, for a total of 36.

Dave Dion in his 72' Torino #27 won the first heat & the pole slot. He was followed by Larry Pottle, Florida's Danny Perez 3rd, Ralph Cusack 4th, Joey Kourafus 5th, Langis Caron 6th, Windham's Bob Babb 7th, Raymond's Homer Drew 8th.

George Summers the "pride of Upton Mass" won the 2nd heat in Bobby Smith's #35 Chevelle. He was followed by Teddy Palino 2nd, Tennessee's L.D. Ottinger 3rd, Morgan Shepherd 4th, Maryland's Reds Kagle 5th, Canada's Jean-Paul Cabana 6th, Bob Healey of Stoughton Mass. 7th, & Gardiner Leavitt 8th.

Daytona Permatex 300 Winner Bill Dennis grabbed the 3rd heat followed closely by Ralph Nason. Robbie Crouch 3rd, OPS LMS point leader Stan Horne 4th, Vermont's Ronnie Barcomb 5th, Bob Dragon 6th, Earl Jones 7th, & Al Hammond 8th.

1st Consi winner was Hector LeClair, followed by Stubby Fadden 2nd, No. Carolina's Joe Henry Thurman 3rd, Canada's Claude Aubin 4th, Kennebunkport's Dick McCabe 5th & Steve Styles 6th.

2nd Consi winner was Indiana's Jim Hurtubise followed by Guy LeClerc 2nd, multiple Open Winner Russ Nutting 3rd, Bobby Tibbetts 4th, Rick Zemla 5th, & Terry Kirk 6th.

The heats were tough....real tough with crashes dashing the hopes some true contenders. Others were lucky enough to get their cars together & make it thru the consolation rounds. Some of the notables that didn't get in were Al Grinnan and Richard Boswell. Tommy Ellis didn't show due an earlier race wreck, & Jack Bland didn't get in either. You may recall that the Southern boys' time trialed for all their events and heat races were something strange to them. Also loading up.....Beaver Dragon, Ronnie Marvin, Steve Poulin, John Rosati, Dick Wolstenhulme, Mike Rowe, Dick Glines, Wally Patrick, Skip Hogdon, Dana Graves, Jimmy Burns, Pete Silva, The Bouchards', Jim McCallum, Keith Cavanuagh, Bill Baldiga & Johnny Tripp to name a few.

It was during intermission that Bobby Walker filled us in on dealings in the pit area.

Tiny Lund, who had blown his motor while running up front in the 2nd heat, had exercised a little known NASCAR rule that would let him into the field. Lund who was a serious racer had come north to run...period. He had run the night prior at Unity & a side of his car was covered with Unity Decals. He was able to negotiate & purchase the final starting spot from Terry Kirk of Lisbon for the sum of $500.00 & now in the midst of a frantic motor swap......... was hoping to fill in on the end of the line up with NASCAR’s approval. The fans loved it.

The race started shortly after 8 PM with Dave Dion who had won a 100 Lapper in Vermont the night before & Summers bringing them down for the green. Dion spun out on turn 1 seven laps into the race, with Summers taking over. He then led through much of the event pitting for fuel around lap 120 when Dion again took over the lead. Summers regained the lead when Dion pitted for fuel around lap 140. Dion took to the rear of the field and battled back to the front, where the pair set a torrid pace for many laps. Dion was finally able to overtake Summers in lapped traffic and slip into the lead. The race although run quickly was held up by a number of cautions including fire, which involved the race car of Earl Jones. A quick passing shower delayed the event a bit around Lap 198. Dion fought off repeated challenges from Summers whose rear tires were fading. He then built up a lead of several cars in the closing stages to flash under Dick Farrar's checkered flag.

The race wasn't kind to everyone this night. After his motor change & starting from scratch, Lund raced up to the 12th spot in the event when he blew a tire in turn 2. The Southern Ace lost 2 laps in the pits while getting repairs & was never a factor there after. Indy 500 Runner Jim Hurtubise stayed with the field in mid-pack thru out the event early, but a spin in turn 3 around the 100 Lap point put the Open Wheel Vet out of contention. A tired Summers pulled into victory lane for 2nd. NASCAR Point leader L.D. Ottinger of Tennessee finished 3rd, followed by Morgan Shepherd of N.C. 4th, & Glen Alen Virginia's Bill Denis 5th. Stub Fadden was 6th, Bobby Dragon 7th, Langis Caron was the highest finishing Canadian in 8th, Al Hammond was the highest finishing Maine Driver in 9th & Joey Kourafus was 10th.

In victory lane Dion gave credit to his brothers for their extensive work with the chassis and their 'never say die' attitude. He took $4,500 of the purse, missing out on another 500 bonus for tires, not running that brand, which may have been McCreary, I think.

Some of the early retirees were Gardiner Leavitt, Bobby Tibbetts, Dick McCabe & Ralph Nason. Summers took home $3,700 & Ottinger $2,900. More importantly he maintained that point lead. By 10:30 it was about all over. Dave Dion fought off a 36 car field to win the event and we tried to work our way thru 10,000 fans to get out of the place......some thirty five years ago at the 1st Oxford 250.

CLOSING: I don’t have much to add to the recaps of these earliest Oxford 250’s as I was too young to go to them! Steve Pellerin is one of those people who has helped to preserve, and promote, racing history in this region and I am very glad that I was able to find this recap that he put together. I had read about the Dion-Summers battle before but there’s just something about getting another viewpoint from somebody who was actually there. It took me some time to get this posted but I’m sure it was worth it!

2nd Annual Oxford 250 Pictures

- I have some to be scanned from a magazine…need to find a scanner!