Twisted Thoughts by Mike Twist
Recently, the Maine Vintage Race Car Association asked on their Facebook page, “What is
your most memorable Oxford 250?”
The fans ran with that question and there were some great answers posted:
1984, when Dick McCabe and Geoff Bodine battled hard, but it was Mike Rowe who won.
1985, when the ever-popular Dave Dion won.
1988, when McCabe won a rain-delayed race that ran past midnight.
1995, when Canadian Dave Whitlock went back home over the border with a new 250 trophy in
his luggage.
1996, When Larry Gelinas scored one for his Beech Ridge fans.
1998, when Ralph Nason showed big speed and would not let anything keep him from victory
lane.
I’ve been to more 250s than I can count. It is a magical event for me that I’ve been blessed to
be a part of in different ways. I’ve been a crew member, writer, announcer, photographer, TV
reporter, radio commentator, sponsor, and neighbor.
Most of all, every single year, I have been a fan.
My first Oxford 250 was in 1992 and that will likely be my most memorable one ever.
I was a 17-year-old at the time and went there with my Dad. We had a small motorhome at the
time and stayed right at the track. Although I had never actually visited the 250, I knew about
the mystique of the race by reading stories about it on the pages of Stock Car Racing magazine
every year.
At the time, the race was sanctioned as a NASCAR Busch Grand National North event. The
year before, it was a Busch North/Busch South combination event. That brought southern and
national stars like Jeff Gordon, Tommy Houston, Bobby Labonte, Ward Burton, Joe Nemechek,
Jeff Burton and Kenny Wallace to the race. In the end though, it was Maine’s own Ricky Craven
who won that 1991 race and used that accomplishment to work towards a career in the top
levels of NASCAR racing.
The official Busch South tie-in was gone for 1992. The series actually raced on that Saturday
afternoon at Watkins Glen International in upstate New York.
Yet on Sunday morning at Oxford, a walk through the parking lot outside of the pit gate would
find that among the guys who raced at Beech Ridge or Star or Unity on the night before, there
were several NASCAR Busch Grand National haulers that had left Watkins Glen on the day
before. It was an off weekend for the NASCAR Winston Cup Series, so a few of those stars had
250 plans.
Houston, Wallace, Terry Labonte, Ernie Irvan, Chuck Bown, Jimmy Spencer, Chad Little, Mike
McLaughlin, Dave Rezendes, Morgan Shepherd, and even Craven (who at that point was now a
Busch Grand National Series regular) all raced at The Glen on Saturday and in the 250 on
Sunday that year.
I thought it was so cool to see those drivers doing double duty.
I did not know it at the time, because I was young and naïve when it came to racing politics, but
Dave Dion almost did not show up for the 250 in 1992. He had been in a disagreement with
NASCAR, and it took (then) track owner Michael Liberty to broker a peace agreement to get Dion
and his #29 Dion Brothers Racing outfit to the race.
During the race itself, I was pulling for Joe Bessey. A chance conversation a year prior at New
Hampshire International Speedway (as it was called back then) led to a friendship between us
that exists to this day. Bessey had been leading and collecting the $100 per lap leader bonus
money until there was contact from behind by Dion. Bessey went spinning and eventually, Dion
went winning. Dale Shaw got to Dion’s bumper near the end of that race, but they ran each
other clean. Dion won with the #29 Berlin City Ford over Shaw in his #60 R.D. Roy Pontiac.
Multi-time Star Speedway champion Babe Branscomb finished third. I can remember that top
three entirely from memory but would have to cheat to see who finished third in last year’s 250.
Some memories really are lifelong ones.
It is safe to say that the 1992 Oxford 250, and my experiences there with my Dad, helped create
a love for the race that I will always hold dear to my heart and have now passed down to my
daughter Ella.
A final memory from the 1992 Oxford 250? As my Dad and I returned to our home in
Massachusetts that night, we ended up seeing Kenny Wallace’s SABCO hauler pulled over by a
Maine State Trooper somewhere between Gray and Portland on the Turnpike. Wallace had
finished 34 th in the 250. Sometimes, when it is not your day it is REALLY not your day.
There are a few drivers who were in that 250 field of 1992 who are still very visible at Oxford
these days. Mike Rowe finished fourth in 1992 and recently won his 152nd career feature race
at OPS. Dale Shaw now builds racecars that often end up in victory lane there. Pete Silva
finished 39th and is a very active member of the MVRCA.
Another modern-day tie-in from the 1992 Oxford 250? Bruce Haley, husband of current Oxford
Plains Speedway Photography Queen Sandy started 11th and finished 37th that day.