My Top 10 TD Banknorth “Oxford”
250 Drivers of All-Time
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Some
competitors at the TD Banknorth 250 stand out more
then others have over the years. They
are the personalities and legends that make this race what it is today. Here is
my list of the top drivers to ever race in the TD Banknorth
250 at 1.
Mike Rowe – For the first ten years of the
race Rowe was the epitome of frustration.
Given his OPS track titles it just seemed that he was destined to win
this race. After he broke through in
1984 he became one of the strongest threats every year. His run in the 90’s and early 00’s and his
overall legacy at the event makes him number one. He’s won three times (1984, 1997, and 2005) and has 5 top three’s, 10
top five’s, and 12 top ten’s in his 30 starts. 2008 Did not attempt. 2.
“Dynamite” Dave Dion – Like Rowe, his records in the event span over three competitive
decades and whenever he was in the race he was one of the cars to watch. The only real difference between the top
two is that Rowe has qualified for four more races and has been more dominant
more recently. This is about as even
as it could be. He has three wins
(1975, 1985, 1992) and has 5 top three finishes, 7
top fives, and 18 top tens. He has
raced in 26 of the 33 3.
“Racin” Ralph Nason –
Nason does not have the number of starts to compete
with the two names above, but his three wins in a row make him stand out
above everyone else. He could have
legitimately had three more wins too (1976, 1994, 2001). His stats include three wins in a row
(1998, 1999, 2000), 5 top three’s, 6 top five’s and
9 top ten finishes in 18 starts. He
did not enter the True Value 250 from 1981-1992. Retired. 4.
Dick McCabe –
McCabe consistently ran near the front and led laps for a high percentage of
the races he entered. While Dion was
the orange car, McCabe was the green car!
Of course, he did win the race (1988) and his number of podium
finishes rivals all of the names at the top of this list. He garnered 5 top three finishes, 7 top
five’s, and 10 top ten’s in 18 starts.
He was THE dominant driver of the 80’s, bar none. With the exception of 1986, McCabe finished
in the top ten EVERY year in the 1980’s including a string of 7 top five’s in
9 years!!! Retired. 5.
Butch Lindley –
Jjust look at the top 3 finishes! As the years have passed, his legend seems
to loom larger. If he were still alive
today you would probably see Lindley’s name closer to the top of this list
and he probably would be a multi-time NASCAR Cup winner as well. He was as smooth as they came and his one
win (1976) was a 250 classic. His
statistics are staggering: He started
only 8 races but collected 6 (six) top three finishes including being the
runner-up 3 times! In the late 70’s
and early 80’s, Butch Lindley was THE ultimate threat at winning the True
Value 250. Passed away in 1990. 6.
Ben Rowe –
This Rowe shows that he cares more about the race then what type of car it
is. He returned to the event in 2008
and cracked the top three a few times before settling in to
another top five finish. Maybe
his accomplishments are too fresh in my mind, but over the past 12 years he
is undoubtedly one of the names that is synonymous with the race.. He has 2 wins
(2003,2004), 4 top three finishes, 5 top five’s and 6 top ten finishes in 12
races 7.
Chuck Bown –Chuck Bown’s
two wins came in completely different ways.
In 1986 he was running up north and his #7 Skoal
Bandit was a fixture at the top of the leaderboard. He moved down south to run the southern
Busch Series and still came back to the 250 and won the race in 1990. In the mid, to late, 1980’s, he could hang
in there with the best of them and beat them on a couple of occasions. He amassed 3 top five’s and 5 top ten’s in
only 12 starts to go along with his two victories. Retired. 8.
Geoff Bodine – Bodine’s
biggest impact on the race is that became the first winner to really move up
to the highest NASCAR levels and have success. He won twice, of course (1980, 1981) and
had 3 top five’s and 4 top ten’s which is a very good
percentage. If he could have
raced a couple of more years then he’d have been knocking on the top
five. His battle with Lindley in 1980
and McCabe in 1984 are two of the most talked about moments in the history of
the event. Retired. 9.
Joe Kourafas – Kourafas won the first True Value 250 in 1974 (which was
originally just 200 laps) and was the biggest open competition race in the
northeast. He was one corner from
winning his second race in 1985 when a lapped car forced him high and Dave
Dion went on to the win. Kourafas, surprisingly, has stats that match up with some
of the best of them. He has 5 top
three finishes, 6 top five’s, and 8 top ten’s in his 15 starts which
undoubtedly puts him among the elite. Retired. 10.
Bob Pressley –
Sometimes, the number of starts does not measure the impact a driver makes on
the True Value 250. Bob Pressley was
one of the original southern stars to make his way north to claim the big
money of the Current drivers who could crack the top 10 –
Scott Robbins continues to dance around the top ten. He won the pole position for the 2008 race
and is on the verge of joining the top ten.
He needs one or two more top three finishes to move somebody like
Pressley out of top ten. His stats of
1 win, 2 top threes, 4 top fives and 4 top tens in 10 races makes him one of
the few current threats who could really crack this top ten. 1996 winner
Larry Gelinas also returned to the 250 in 2008 and
had a strong run into the top five until fading a bit near the end. Best of the Veterans – The
following drivers probably won’t turn many more laps at the race but made a
major impact when they did race.
Junior Hanley, Jamie Aube, Robbie Crouch, Bobby Dragon, Jeff Taylor
and Ricky Craven all deserve some mention for their exploits in this
race. Crouch made the attempt in
2008 and has shown some signs of getting the skills back that he once
had. For Crouch, one win would
catapult him into the top 10. |
The
Reader’s Top Five Drivers of All-Time
|
I
asked the contributors over at http://www.maineracing.com/ forums in 2004 to come up
with their list of the top five drivers in the history of the Banknorth Oxford 250.
I awarded 5 points for first, 4 points for second, 3 points for third,
2 points for fourth, and one point for fifth place. The results are very similar to my own top
ten with one surprise thrown in there.
Twelve people voted. Number of
first place votes are in parentheses: 1.
Mike Rowe (3) – 39 points. The two-time winner is the only driver to
be placed on every list! Rowe’s high
number of races started and his ability to be in the mix after all these
years gives him the edge. 2.
Ralph Nason (2) – 38 points. Nason’s three
wins in consecutive years is an amazing feat.
Couple that with a couple of heartbreak losses and you have yourself
one of the true legends of the event. 3.
Dave Dion (3) – 37 points. Dion
was the show-stopper for so many years and won the race in three different
decades. His heat races were often as
memorable as some of his race performances. Throw in all of those top tens with his
three wins and you have a formidable top three list. 4.
Dick McCabe (2) – 16 points. The number 4 and 5 spots on this list truly
show that the internet is for the young at heart! While McCabe may not quite have the wins
that the top 3 have, I was surprised he wasn’t listed more frequently. It kind of shows the “gap” that has
occurred with regards to name recognition in the event. 5.
Ben Rowe (0) – 10 points. I was a little surprised at this one, but
not every person out there remembers ALL of the Drivers receiving first place
votes: Geoff
Bodine and Gary Drew. Drivers receiving votes: Junior Hanley, Butch Lindley, Jeff Stevens,
Chuck Bown, Ricky Craven, Scott Robbins, Tracy
Gordon, Joe Kourafas. |