The Outlaw Wins the Oxford 250

“Dynamite” Dave Dion Uses Last Lap Magic to Pass Joey Kourafas and Win His Second Oxford 250

Pictures Below Recap

Recounted by Mark Truman using Stock Car Racing Magazine Recap, November 1985 by Herb Dodge

NOTE: Exact quotes from the magazine will be in italics!!

July 1985 – “I live for this race”, Dave Dion stated before the start of the 12^th Annual Oxford 250 on July 7^th. “My crew is obsessed with winning another Oxford 250.” Back in 1975 he won his first and only 250. “I was devastated for a month when we didn’t make the show a year ago,” he recalled. Dion crashed in his heat in 1984 (along with Junior Hanley) putting him out of the race.

That time was probably the lowest moment in Dion’s 22 year racing career. The popular Hudson, Hew Hampshire charger was unceremoniously booted out of Northern NASCAR in 1983, and he was having a dismal season in 1985. He was bouncing around racing his Ford in open competition events, and not doing very well. Dion had been made an “outlaw” by NASCAR North Tour Manager Tom Curley on July 4, 1983. Dion had a fierce on-track battle that day at Thunder Road with Keith Cavanagh. An on-track incident led to both cars wrecking and while Dion was still in his car, upside down, his crew ran to Cavanagh’s car and a shoving match took place with Cavanagh ending up on the ground.

After months of discussions and appeals all the way to Daytona, three of Dion’s crew members, including his brother Roger, were fined a total of $3,000. Dion refused to pay. Roger commented, “We could have paid it. Heck, we spent more than that fighting it. I flew to Daytona with a video tape of the incident and it showed I never punch him (Cavanagh). Even so, the fines stood, and Dave Dion stuck by his crew. He became a reluctant outlaw,racing where and when he could.

One of the places that Dion could race was at Oxford Plains Speedway. He had been one of the top competitors in the open competition races at the track for many years and, of course, had that win in the 1975 Oxford 250 under his belt. The 1985 version of the Oxford 250 did have a NASCAR sanction but as usual, it also had rules for allowing non-NASCAR racers and cars to enter as well and Dion entered under the open rules. For the Oxford 250, Dion had a brand new stock Thunderbird body on his Seekonk Pro-Stock chassis. It was the first time in years he had run with totally new sheet metal. Still, his car was not in the same class as some of the others. Luckily, Dion had made a few important friends in his Grand National ventures. Leonard Wood took a liking to the kid from New Hampshire and gave Dave used Grand National motor parts. “He gave me rods and pistons and blocks,” Dion recalled. “The pistons were all sized. When you wore out a set you cleaned up the block a few thousandths and put a little bigger set in.”

“Junior Hanley came here with heavy Ford sponsorship and involvement. In all these years we never got a dime from Ford.” Hanley arrived at Oxford with a beautiful, immaculately prepared red Thunderbird that was said to have direct Ford factory backing. Hanley failed to make the 250 field.

As always, the luck of the draw qualifying system received more criticism than ever from the author, Herb Dodge: The heats were crash filled, and a lot of good equipment went out on a hook. With over eighty cars in the pits, a bad draw in one of the five twenty lap heats meant you could start as far back as sixteenth. The two consis were even worse, as red flags had to be thrown in both because of serious crashes. Over the years it seems every fan and competitor has offered a suggestion on how to “fix” the Oxford 250. “Do away with the tire rule,” some say. “Open up the body rules to allow mid-western ASA cars to be more competitive,” others comment. But the most persistent complaint is the qualifying system. “Run time trials and eliminate the draw,” is the most common suggestion from southern sportsmen teams. They feel many more Southern cars would make the long tow up to Oxford if they didn’t have to rely on the luck of the draw to qualify. “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”

Ron Moon, a local competitor at Oxford, won the first heat race and put his car on the pole. Kelly Moore would start alongside with Pete Silva and Mike Rowe making up the second row. Far back in the field were Jeff Stevens, two time Tour Champ Robbie Crouch, Randy Lajoie, 1974 winner Joey Kourafas, Oswego Champ Bentley Warren, two time Tour Champ Beaver Dragon, Sub Fadden, and Morgan Shepherd (who was given a promoter’s option spot at the rear of the field).

When the green flag waved, Kelly Moore took the lead and Mike Rowe moved up quickly from fourth, driving his own 311 CID Monte Carlo instead of the Borderline Frams V6 he won with last year. Rowe took the lead on the fifth lap. Flying up from his ninth starting spot was the Skoal Bandit driver, Chuck Bown. His Pontiac V6 was the fastest thing on the track. Ron Bouchard tangled with Wes Rosner on lap 28, bring out the first caution. Five laps later, Bown took the lead from Rowe. At this point in the event, the fans were treated to some tremendous racing, as the top six cars fought it out for a shot at the lead. Bown held off the challenges of Dick McCabe, Rowe, Moore, Bobby Dragon, and Jeff Stevens.

On lap 76 McCabe muscled his way past Bown in traffic and led until the yellow flew on lap 99. Bown and Dragon elected to stay on the track as virtually all the other competitors, including Dion, made pit stops. It would turn out to be a critical mistake for Bown and the Quint Boisvert Skoal crew. The $50 lap leader money was in effect for the race and Boisvert thought Bown should stay out, lead some of the race, and then pit when there weren’t as many cars on the track. It was the kind of mistake in strategy that had cost McCabe a win two years ago. They were thinking of lap money instead of insuring a win. It would cost them.

On the restart Dragon and Bown would trade the lead back and forth for the next 10 laps. On lap 118 Bown got the lead back and didn’t relinquish it for 67 more laps. The Skoal crew was worried. Where was the yellow flag? The race was going too smoothly. Dave Dion was playing it cool, hanging in and working his way to the front. He did not appear to be a threat for the win. Bown got his yellow for a minor spin on lap 185. Because it was such a minor incident Bown’s crew was only able to change right side tires. Scoring was able to get the cars lined up so quickly that before Bown could come back in for left side tires the “one to go” signal was coming from the flasgstand! The Skoal Pontiac was in a lot of trouble, and the crew knew it. Dragon, McCabe, Tommy Ellis, and most of the other top runners also pitted under the yellow. Left out on the track in the top two spots were NASCAR North Coors Tour point leader Joey Kourafas and the outlaw, Dave Dion. Kourafas took over the Sandy McKinnon ride at mid season last year, and immediately started burning up the Northern Tour. He entered the Oxford 250 as the “Comeback Kid”. Certainly Joey Kourafas was one of the people Tom Curley would have loved to see in Victory Lane.

It appeared that NASCAR was going to see one of its cars win. Kourafas led on the green as Dion started to experience mechanical problems. He lost a cylinder in his engine, and later the right rear brake caliper locked up. Bown’s Pontiac was the fastest car on the track, but he desperately needed a yellow if he was going to catch the leaders. He didn’t get it. With ten laps to go, Kourafas held a three to four car length advantage over Dion. The malfunctioning brake caliper was glowing bright red. He engine was sick. Then Kourafas started to encounter lapped traffic. Dion threw caution to the wind. He could have backed off, taken a solid second place and the $15,000 that went with it, but he did not. Instead he wrestled his Thunderbird through the corners, passing lapped cars like they were standing still. As the two cars exited turn four to take the white flag, Dion was on Kourafas’s bumper. No one in attendance was sitting down.

Entering turn one on the final lap, Kourafas came upon the lapped car of Bentley Warren. Coming out of two, Joey made his move, going to the outside. Bentley tried to hold the low line, but he slid just a little high exiting the corner. It was only half a groove, but for Dion it was going to have to be enough. He dove low and buried the accelerator. A cloud of dust arose as Dion’s left side wheels bit the infield dirt. White tire smoke billowed as the three cars rubbed together. If it were not for the roar of the engines and the screaming of 20,000 fans, the grinding of sheet metal could have been heard as the three cars traded paint going down the backstretch. Entering turn three, Dion nosed ahead. Warren backed off, letting the two contenders go, but it was too late for Kourafas. The stands erupted in a volcano of cheers as the outlaw came around to take the checkered flag.

Dion pulled up to the starter to pick up the checkered flag for a victory lap, but he stalled the motor. His crew tried to push start the car as Dave wanted to savor this thrilling moment. Because of the locked brake, seven men were unable to get the Thunderbird moving fast enough to get the sick engine to fire

Kourafas was gracious in defeat, but he was obviously dejected by his loss. “I was in a position where I was damned if I did, and damned if I didn’t,” he stated. “The (lapped) car was there and I went to the outside.” Third place finisher Dick McCabe, who finished second in 1983, then commented to Kourafas, “It’s hard to be second, but the cash rewards help to ease the pain!” Kourafas got $17,250 for second. Chuck Bown was fourth at the checker, challenging McCabe for third.

Dion explained his late race charge. “He (Kourafas) had everything to lose. I had nothing to lose. I took a long shot going down the inside. You still have to come here and risk it all. We had to risk it all in 1975 to beat George Summers. We had to risk it all today to beat Joey.” The risk paid Dion a whopping $27,700. Tom Curley was less than ecstatic about his car getting beaten by the outlaw but he was a gentleman about it. “I’ve no qualms about him winning,” Tom stated. “He earned it. The car was within specs. The last lap move was brilliant.”

CLOSING: This recap by Herb Dodge, again very enthusiastic, gave me great appreciation for his ability to paint a riveting picture with his words. This is also the first recap of his that I disagree with him on some of the details. And maybe that is what makes this particular race so fantastic…every person who saw it might have seen that last lap differently. I didn’t see Kourafas make his move out of turn two. In fact, I think he followed Warren down the backstretch and probably contributed to Warren’s indecision about whether to go high or low. By the time Kourafas finally decided he’d try high, closer to entering turn three, Warren had started moving up the track to give him the low groove. I didn’t think it was so much that he slipped up a half groove but that he was going to give the leader the low groove. It was all in the timing. Dion really did a dive-bomb into turn three rather than getting low off turn two. He did have a that little hole though and by the time they were exiting turn four it was pretty much all over. No matter what you saw or how you saw it, it was a fantastic finish. I completely agree with him about the crowd being on its feet. Everyone knew that something was happening and it was one of the greatest passes for a win in a major event that that I’ve ever seen. There have been other great finishes at the 250, and other races, but a lot of the time the leader holds off the second place challenge. Not on that night. Also, interesting use of the term “outlaw” for Dion over and over again. In the northeast he’s had the nickname “Dynamite” for as long as I can remember, but Dodge didn’t go that route often. Very interesting comments about Curley, NASCAR North, and the dispute with Dion as well. It is .

12^th Annual Oxford 250 Pictures

NONE! Hopefully I can find a scanner!! Dick McCabe (0) with Robbie Crouch alongside! Dick McCabe, one of the greats of the

Geoff Bodine (15) with Mike Rowe alongside! Oxford 250

Four cars up front, less than 50 to go!

Robbie Crouch finished in second place Geoff Bodine became “just another southerner”

for the third time!! In 1984 and was put into his place at the 250.