Road Trip Days 6 & 7

Day 6 of the big road trip was mostly consumed with our self-guided tour of the White Mountains.  Overcast skies early in the day cleared up somewhat in the afternoon and I thought we had a chance to get the show in Wednesday night in Oxford, Maine.

We made it to Oxford Plains Speedway at 5:30pm, a full hour before the first race was scheduled to hit the track.  It was almost like the clouds followed us over.  A light sprinkle fell off and on and I was worried we may not get this show in.  Remember, the entire premise of this road trip was to seeing racing in five new states (VT/NH/ME/CT/MA).

At 6:25pm, with the sprinkle turning into a light rain, the National Anthem was played and, to be honest, I knew this one just wasn't meant to be.  6:30pm came and went without a car being lined up in the chute.  With a radar full of multi-colored "blobs", and the rain now becoming more heavy, track officials made the decision to postpone the program to the following evening.

I was disappointed, to say the least.  Not in the track.  They did what they had to do.  Rather, I was upset that there was now no way I'd get to see racing in all of the states I had planned.  Selfish?  Yes.  But justified, nonetheless.

So now a decision had to be made.  For Thursday night's racing, did we go to Thompson International Speedway (Thompson, CT) as we had originally planned?  Or did we head back to Oxford Plains Speedway (Oxford, ME) for the rained out show?

It was a tough call, but we opted to head back to Maine.  I figured, on down the road someday, it would probably be easier to see a race in Connecticut than in Maine.  Yes, this is how my mind works.

Thursday came and went, and we were Maine bound once again with much better weather.  On tap at Oxford Plains, a 3/8-mile semi-banked asphalt track, was a regular racing program with 26 Late Models, 19 Strictly Stocks, 15 Mini Stocks, and 17 Runnin' Rebels.

Oxford Plains is a neat place.  It's very clean and very well manicured all around.  The grandstand seating is enormous, about 24 rows high, and runs longer than the distance of the frontstretch.  The backstretch seating is similar, giving this track more than enough room to accommodate well over 10,000 fans.  The midway behind the grandstands is all asphalt with a few different vending areas and souvenir booths.  The food at Oxford Plains, like every other track in the northeast, is quite a bit more than anything we have in the midwest.

The pits are located off the backstretch with cars exiting the speedway off turn two and entering the track at the end of the backstretch. There are two scoreboards at Oxford Plains - one located off turn two and the other sitting off turn three - both of which display the top five cars as well as laps completed.

The first race of the night hit the track right at the advertised starting time of 6:30pm and the prelims went without a hitch as just one yellow flew in all of the eight heat race.  After a quick 15 minute intermission, the first feature of the night was on the track and, much like the heats, cautions were minimal.  In addition, three of the four A-Mains weren't decided until the final lap.  The final checkered flag of the night waved at 8:56pm making this the quickest racing program I have ever attended in my 32 years.

All in all, this was quite the enjoyable night of racing.  Although I'll always be a dirt track fan, this asphalt show had some good side-by-side racing and the efficiency of the program was second to none.  Oxford Plains gets "two thumbs up" from this camp and is certainly recommended if you're looking for a track to hit in the Pine Tree State.

Oxford Plains becomes track #159 and Maine becomes state #31 on my track-chasing list.