Oxford 250 Driver Spotlight: Cassius Clark

Photo Credit: Oriana Lovell

A champion is someone who has defeated or surpassed all rivals in a competition. 43 drivers have done just that at the Oxford 250. Only 9 drivers have achieved it more than once. Late model drivers come from all over North America in attempt add Oxford 250 Champion to their list of accomplishments. For any driver that competes in the race it’s a huge accomplishment but for someone who’s from Maine and has roots at Oxford Plains Speedway it means even more.

35 year old Cassius Clark has competed in 9 Oxford 250’s, finishing 6th or better the last 4 years he's competed but has never won.  The Farmington native grew up watching his dad Billy Clark race in the NASCAR Busch North series. His Father actually won the first Busch North race in 1987 that happened to be held at Oxford Plains Speedway. Billy Clark won 21 races at Oxford during his career.

“I was hooked back then and wanted to race for as long as I could remember.” explained the 2nd generation driver.

 In 1999, when Clark was 17 years old he finally found himself behind the wheel of a Legends car. He raced in legends for three years, winning the 2000 NELCAR championship along with winning Beech Ridge’s Thursday Thunder Legend division championship two years in a row in 2000 and 2001.

Cassius moved up to late models in 2002 driving for Ed Chapman. He raced the PASS tour along with racing 5 Oxford 250s with that car. His best 250 finish in that car being 11th in 2003. When the Oxford 250 began racing pro stocks instead of late models in 2007, Clark took a hiatus from the event until they brought them back in 2013.

One of Clark’s favorite racing moments was winning the inaugural Mason- Dixon Meltdown race in 2006 at South Boston Speedway in Virginia.

“I have a lot of great racing moments, but there were a lot of great competitors in that race from all over the country, it’s my most memorable win to date.”

Cassius Clark at the Oxford 250 in 2016
Photo Credit: Sandy Haley 

In 2006, Clark also won the first Pro All Star Series (PASS) National championship. Cassius continued racing PASS with Chapman until 2010, he ran with Woodman Racing in 2011 before teaming up with Hight Motorsports the last few races of the 2011 season.

Clark began racing the 77 Hight Motorsports car in 2012.  He returned to the Oxford 250 in 2013 finishing in 5th. With Hight Motorsports he won the PASS North Championship in 2013 and finished 4th in the 2014 Oxford 250.

When he parted ways amicably with Hight Motorsports in 2015, Clark went north of the border to race for King Motorsports based in Canada. He’s found success in King racing late model, getting the chance to compete in big race events in Canada and New England even winning recently July 29th at the Best of the Best 150 held at Speedway 660 in New Brunswick.

Cassius has competed in many big races during his career such as the Snowball Derby, World Crown 300, Speed fest and the North South shootout but the one race that trumps them all for him is the Oxford 250.

“I’ve raced in a lot of prestigious races but The Oxford 250 is the race I want to win the most. It’s close to home, pays a lot of money and a lot of my idols growing up have competed in it or won it.”

His heroes growing up were his dad, Dick McCabe (1988 Oxford 250 winner) and the late Dale Earnhardt Sr. 

Cassius Clark races to win and is always so determined that if his car has the capability he does just about whatever it takes to try to win even if he has to make questionable moves on the track that may at times upset others.

Cassius believes having great teams has been his secret to success the last few years at the 250.

“We’ve had a fast car every year since the 250 went back to super late models, but haven’t been able to pull off a win.”

Even though he hasn’t won an Oxford 250, Clark has won 4 PASS races at Oxford along with a few legend wins.

The last time Cassius ran at Oxford on July 30th during the PASS 150 he had a really solid run. He led all but the last 12 laps of the feature and still managed to take home 3rd place behind two former 250 champions, Glen Luce and Travis Benjamin.

Winning the Oxford 250 would mean a lot to not only Cassius but also his family and race team.

“My dad tried several times and has gotten close and I’ve been in contention to win too. Rollie Macdonald owns the car and he competed in the Oxford 250 as a driver and as car owner he’s also came close to winning it.”

“I would love to have a picture with my dad, my son and the rest of my family in victory lane holding the trophy.”

Photo Credit: Oriana Lovell

When Cassius isn’t race the number 13 King Motorsports car on the PASS tour and races on the Maritime Pro Stock tour, He runs his own business Nichols Trailers. Clark‘s life isn’t all racing he also enjoys spending time with family and friends, skiing, snowmobiling /racing vintage snowmobiles during the winter and boating in the summer.

Cassius Clark has ran so well at Oxford in the past few years that it wouldn’t be surprising if he’s a front runner on Sunday, August 27^th at this year’s 44^th annual Oxford 250. He’ll be competing against an expected 70 drivers all itching to win 25, 000 dollars and become part of Oxford Plains Speedway history.

“Hopefully we’ll be able to pull off the win this year. With my best friend, Andrew Hicken, as my crew chief and the rest of the King racing team if we were to pull it off, it would be one hell of a party.”