A pair of racers head down the dragstrip at New Oxford Dragway in Oxford earlier this season. Photo courtesy of New Oxford Dragway
OXFORD — The “new” in New Oxford Dragway is more than just a word signifying a change in track ownership over the winter. For Les Williams, he hopes it reflects a positive atmosphere at one of two drag racing facilities in the state.
“I know you can’t please everybody,” the 36-year-old speed shop owner from Arundel said. “But if something makes sense to me, and it only takes a little time and energy to make somebody happy with what we’re doing, I want to do it.
“That stuff goes a long way.”
Previous Oxford Dragway ownership announced late last fall that the 1/8th-mile strip would not open for a 50th season this summer. Williams stepped up over the winter, inquired with Tom Mayberry — who owns the attached Oxford Plains Speedway, the property the dragway sits on — and by early January had reached agreement to lease the strip for the 2019 season.
It operates on Friday nights, just as it did last year. Car counts are similar to what they were in 2018, but Williams said they’ve grown every week despite uncooperative spring weather.
Immediately, Williams and track manager Matt Gagne began implementing significant improvements to both the property and the actual racing strip.
Beginning in the winter, renovations were made to concession areas, to a faulty timing and scoring system, and to the traction compound used for racing. Before the end of this summer, new asphalt is expected to be laid down in the shutoff areas beyond the finish line — a notoriously tricky and dangerous part of Oxford Dragway with its creases, bumps and worn-out pavement — and in other needed areas throughout the pit and return lanes.
Scoreboards, lighting and reflective finish line markers have also been updated or added.
Williams said the feedback he has received has been positive.
Junior dragsters wait in the staging lanes for their turn to race at New Oxford Dragway in Oxford. Photo courtesy of New Oxford Dragway
“We’ve gotten a lot of support, which has helped a lot,” said Williams, himself a part-time street class racer and snowmobile racing enthusiast. “Ninety percent of this has come out of my own pocket, but I’ve done it just because I really want this to work more than anything. It’s not about the money, it’s about getting this right.”
One source of support which people outside the drag racing community might not have expected has come from Winterport Dragway, the oldest drag racing track in the state and the only other one in Maine.
On one hand, having Oxford not reopen could have boosted the competition at Winterport. On the other, Williams said, what’s good for drag racing is good for both tracks.
“One week we were low on traction compound (because the order had not arrived), and we were so worried,” Williams said. “Somebody from Winterport met me that morning halfway, sold me a half a drum of compound.
“I can’t believe how this drag racing community comes together. That’s above and beyond for them. They could have kicked us when we were down, but they saw it as a chance to help all of us.”
Ironically, it’s the same approach Williams is taking to New Oxford Dragway, which will hold a 50th anniversary celebration on July 20 in conjunction with Oxford’s well-known and long-running Show, Shine & Drag event.
“I’m listening to the racers,” Williams said. “From what I heard about the past, they lost a lot of racers because of the conditions. But at the end of the day, everybody just wants a place to race.”
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A third of the way through the 18-race Pro All Stars Series season, there is a changing of the guard at the top of the standings.
Of the drivers currently occupying the top five spots, only second-place D.J. Shaw — the defending PASS North champ — has won a series title. And only one of the drivers is even from the state of Maine.
For Scarborough’s Garrett Hall, a two-time winner in six starts this season, that’s not necessarily a problem. Hall is the current PASS point leader, 31 points clear of second-place Shaw.
The rest of the top five shows how PASS has changed, as does the bottom half of the top 10 in the standings. Teenager Gabe Brown, the reigning Oxford Plains Speedway champion, is third, while most recent winner Derek Griffith is fourth. Vermonter Nick Sweet, a multi-time track champion at Thunder Road in Vermont is fifth.
Sixth through eighth in the standings are all former PASS champions — Travis Benjamin, Ben Rowe and Johnny Clark, three drivers with 12 series titles between them. Reid Lanpher, who has never competed full-time in the series, and Vermonter Bobby Therrien complete the top 10 in the standings.
Only seven drivers have attempted all six PASS races this season, a trend which has developed over the last few years as teams opt for better preparation between appearances versus grinding out making every single race over the course of a long season.
That low number has been augmented by another significant one. Fifty-seven different drivers have made PASS starts this season, 35 of which attempted two or more races.
PASS heads to New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon this weekend for the New England Short Track Showdown and a 50-lap event on the 1.058-mile oval Sunday afternoon.
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Beech Ridge Motor Speedway in Scarborough is celebrating its 71st season in a big way with Super Saturday this weekend. The program boasts 71-lap features for all three of its NASCAR Whelen All-American Series divisions — Pro Series, Sport Series and Wildcats. … Oxford Plains Speedway, where two-time Beech Ridge champion Curtis Gerry leads the points, is taking this weekend off from weekly racing in favor of a Motor Mayhem event Friday night. … Wiscasset Speedway has its Group 2 divisions on the docket Saturday night, including with 40-lap features for both the Late Model and Modified divisions. Racing begins at 6 p.m.
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