Once in a Lifetime

Driver Spotlight: Kyle Kilgore

It’s been 4 years since Oxford Plains Speedway revived the figure 8 division after taking a 27 year break. Figure 8 legends Jon Lizotte and David Smith along with some new faces who showed they could run with the best of the best.

Kyle Kilgore, 33, driver of the number 4 figure 8 car is currently the youngest driver in the division driving with guys in their 40s all the way up to their 60s.

“My first year racing figure 8 it was pretty intimidating racing with them. Now that I’ve been racing with them for a while, I'm pretty comfortable out there.”

The South Paris native Kilgore, began attending races at a young age at Oxford and when he was 15 convinced his father to let him race. Soon after he with help built an enduro car. Along with racing enduros at Oxford, Kilgore also raced in the Wednesday

After taking a 15 year break from racing Kilgore decided to get back behind the wheel in 2015.

“I bought a 1981 Oldsmobile cutlass in the fall of 2015 and planned on building an outlaw car with it. I decided instead to build a figure 8 car with it.

“ I really wanted to race with David Smith.” Kilgore explained

After Jon Lizotte dominated the season in 2015 winning all but one race, Kilgore finally got his first win in the figure 8’s in May of 2016. Kilgore ended up finishing 2^nd in points with two wins at the end of the 2016 season.

In 2017, Kyle Kilgore became teammates with fellow figure 8 driver Eric Hodgkins when they became part of Gary Davis Racing.

“Gary Davis started helping with my car then Eric’s and Rob’s, it just sort of happened, a small group of us just formed a friendship and started helping each other with our race cars.”

Both drivers have improved by becoming teammates at the end of the 2017 season, Hodgkins had 6 wins and Kilgore had 2 with quite a few podium finishes.

Only 3 races into the 2018 racing season Kilgore is off to a strong start with one win, two 2^nd place finishes and a 3^rd place finish. With it only being the beginning of the season a championship isn’t even on Kyle’s mind.

“Anything could happen, I could misjudge the X and turn my car into a pretzel.”

Kilgore doesn’t have a favorite racing moment but also can’t remember ever really having a bad moment in racing.

“Gotta keep racing fun. A bad night of racing is still better than a good day at work.” He remarked.

Not many people can say they’ve liked racing with everyone in their division but then again not everyone has gotten to race with veterans drivers like Jon Lizotte, David Smith, Larry Hewins and Mike Rowe.

Kyle’s favorite thing about racing doesn’t actually take place at the race track. His favorite part is getting to spend time at the garage with his race team, working on the race cars and eating the good food his friend’s wives feed them while they are there.

Figure 8 is a very unique division at Oxford, while other division just go around the oval, these guys actually race in the shape of an eight and risk colliding in the middle with another car. To a fan it looks intimidating and many probably think it might be fun but are too scared to do it.

“Quit thinking about it and just do it, you only live once. We figure 8 drivers really aren’t crazy and going to the X with someone isn’t as scary as it seems, though it is bit of an adrenaline rush.” Kilgore replied when I asked what advice he would give someone who want to try racing in the figure 8 division.

Behind every driver is crew members and sponsors who help the car continue racing every week. Kyle’s sponsors that help pay for expenses are: Flanders electric, Affordable pest care, Maineline plumbing and heating, Willie's repair, Turnkey homes of Maine, Rhodes concrete, Daryl D. Gushee heavy rigging and hauling, Wicked water graphics, Russell and sons towing and recovery, Custom engines, Pleasant hill property services and last but not least the Gary Davis Family.

The guys who keep his car running are “Wildman” Sam, Eric Hodgkins, Chris Smith, Poppa K(Barry Kilgore), Gary Davis, Mr. Snowman, Rob Crepeau, Jason Cummings and Dale Lawrence.

Kilgore enjoys racing in the figure 8’s but his favorite division to watch at Oxford over the years has been the street stock division which is also a division he’d like to race in the future.

 “The thought has crossed my mind to build a Street stock, it might happen in a year or two.”

When Kyle Kilgore isn’t racing at Oxford he enjoys spending time with his family and friends, fishing, hunting, trapping and tinkering on stuff in the garage.

You can catch Kyle Kilgore racing through the X without hesitation in his red, white, and blue, number 4 figure 8 car at Oxford Plains Speedway on Saturday nights during the Oxford Championship Series.

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.”

Driver Spotlight: Bryce Mains

At Oxford Plains Speedway wins don’t come easy, yet 23 year old Bryce Mains has already won 5 street stock races this season.

Photo Credit: Joseph Johnson

The Bridgton native grew up watching his dad Richard Mains race and was always around race cars. As the saying goes “like father like son”, Bryce began racing 7 years ago in the Oxford Acceleration series Outlaw division. He raced in the Outlaws division 4 years, finishing 3rd in points twice before making the move up to the Coffee Brandy Street stocks division in the Oxford Championship series.

“I really have a lot of respect for almost anyone I've ever raced against, we all have times where we hate each other but at the end of the day we also have some really close finishes and great runs together so I feel it would be unfair to name a few.” Mains said honestly when asked who his favorite competitors have been.

Bryce put a lot of work into his blue number 77, 1978 Camaro during the offseason which paid off when he won the first street stock quad race on opening day. Since then he’s been having a great season.

“The off season always predicts your season you have to put in the time at the shop to get the results at the track. My brother, my dad, and I put a lot of hours into that car this year whether it was body or setup we focused on things that count.”

Mains has been lucky enough to become friends and get help on the car from the previous driver of the Rodney Williams owned car, Carey Martin who Bryce says in his eyes is the “King of leaf springs”.

He also gets a help from his teammate Matt Dufault who also drives a Rodney Williams owned car, and David Vaughan. Bryce feels though that he would have as good of runs without Rodney Williams since he supplies him with such good equipment.

Bryce’s favorite moment so far is winning at the second street stock quad crown series race at Beech Ridge Motor Speedway on April 30^th.

“It my favorite moment for 2 reasons: 1. we won the week before at Oxford, 2. We won the heat race but had technical issues in tech so we had to start from the rear in the feature but I was able to drive up the outside and took the lead around lap 30. It was a special day for sure!” Mains explained.

Photo Credit: Oriana Lovell

Bryce Mains like many other drivers have an addiction to racing that they are not looking to cure any time soon.

“It’s very hard to put into words but you get an adrenaline rush from it and I just can't get enough of it. I love everything about it: the long nights, working on the car. Honestly I feel like could probably do it every day, all day.”

Bryce’s biggest supporters are his girlfriend and his family.

“They are there for me no matter what I do in racing and where I finish. I cannot thank them enough for their wonderful support for years.”

When he isn’t racing, Bryce enjoys going to PASS races with his girlfriend and hopes that someday he will get the opportunity to race side by side with some of those talented drivers.

“Racing is our life that's what we do. There’s really nothing else that comes between it even in the off season.” He explained about his passion.

Mains is currently 42 points behind the street stocks points leader with still a handful of races left in the season the championship is in his reach.

“Words couldn't even come close to describing how much it would mean to me. My car owner Rodney Williams has come close to winning street stock championships but every year something would get in the way, he deserves one that man didn't have to give me a car to drive for these past 3 years and give me nothing but the best. I just want to hand him that 4 post championship trophy as a thanks for everything he's done and continues to do.”

Richard Mains, Bryce’s father is another big reason why he wants to win a championship. He currently races a white number 02 in the outlaws division on Wednesday nights at Oxford and just recently on July 19th picked up his first win in 23 years. Like his son he’s also 2nd in points.

Photo Credit: Susan Johnson

“My dad came within 2 points of a championship one year so he has always driven me to go for the championship and I think it'd be pretty cool to do it with him watching.”

You can watch Bryce Mains driving up the high side and going 3-wide Saturday nights in the Street stock division at Oxford Plains speedway.

“I will keep digging this season, I won’t give up no matter what happens. I'll put everything I have into the rest of this season and we will see what happens on championship night.”

Driver Spotlight: Brandon Varney

Photo Credit: Susan Johnson

In only 6 races of his sophomore season in the Bandits division at Oxford, 19 year old Brandon Varney has shown he’s no longer a rookie. Besides June 3^rd he hasn’t finished out of the top 10 so far this season.

After hitting the wall and not finishing on June 3^rd, Varney bounced back and led the entire 30 lap feature the following week on June 10th to win his first race of the season.

What some people may not realize is that the 3^rd generation driver Auburn native has been racing since the age of 8 starting out in the Oxford go-karts series. During his Go-Kart career he won 5 championships and holds the record for most go-kart wins at Oxford.

Brandon’s first visit at Oxford Plains Speedway was when he was only 4 days old.

“My parents actually met at the track so I’ve been coming to Wednesday and Saturday night races all my life” He explained.

You can say racing is in Varney’s blood with his grandfather Gardner "Gardy" Tripp, Uncles Skip and Kenny Tripp, Uncle Chris Varney and his dad Kevin Varney all spending time behind the wheels of race cars at Oxford Plains Speedway.

As a driver he looks up to his uncle Skip Tripp, Kyle and Ryan Hewins who he used to sit with in the stands as small child before they started their racing careers, and Jeff Moon, Brandon's parents actually used to own a mini stock that Moon raced and it was always one of his favorites to watch, now as a driver Moon has become one of Varney's biggest supporters and mentors.

While he hasn’t gotten the chance to race against any of his family members he loves racing with the other guys who he grew up watching.

“Those are the guys you need to learn from so you can better yourself and hopefully be as good as them to teach the next generation of drivers” Varney said without hesitation.

It’s no wonder his favorite competitors are Charlie “Chachy” Hall (Who is currently letting him drive one of his cars), Jamie Heath, Kyle Hewins and the guys who have a lot of racing experience.

Photo credit: Susan Johnson

“If I can hang out with those guys on the track I must be doing something right.” Varney said about the veterans.

On May 13^th he was able to “hangout” with Jamie Heath, he raced him hard and clean to finish in 2^nd place one spot better than last year’s bandit champion.

With this being only his 2^nd year behind the wheel of a race car Brandon is eager to learn and take any advice given to him by veteran drivers like Kyle Hewins and Dustin Salley who have really been great mentors for him. 


Advice Brandon would give a new driver starting out is don’t give up.

“No matter where you finish, no matter if your frustrated, in racing you have your ups and downs, Whatever it is you, have to keep on keeping on and don’t give up.”

Varney knows this from the experiences he’s had the past few weeks. He went from his lowest hitting the wall to a high point coming back the next week and winning.

“It was huge thing to go out there with a new car we’d just pulled out of the woods and win especially after last week that wasn’t fun and this week was so much fun!” He explained on June 11^th.

Two things that Brandon loves about racing is: the adrenaline that he gets from racing and  being able to watch his heroes, he hopes there are kids out there that think of him as their hero too.

Every race car driver enjoys winning but Brandon feels as though his greatest accomplishment so far is to just be able to get sponsors, spend time with his family and just getting to have fun on the racetrack.

Brandon has two wins under his belt already this season after winning in the Bandits on June 10^th and winning in his rebel on June 14^th. Since the beginning of last year he has collected 6 wins.

The people who help Varney and his 1 cars are his parents Jamie Tripp-Varney and Kevin Varney, Chachy Hall and Richard Kimball.

 Brandon has 26 sponsors this season including Maine Mobile service, AGF, Henry's Concrete, Craig Moore Trucking, R and R Automotive and Vinyl, Mainely Awards and Great Choice Vending.

When he isn’t racing Brandon keeps busy playing college baseball for Central Maine Community College along with coaching younger kids, working at Ingersoll arena,Auburn rec and at LL Bean.

Though Brandon Varney is still pretty early in his racing career and taking everything in stride, showing he’s got immense talent behind the wheel of a race car.

You can catch a glimpse of Brandon Varney and his black Kyle Hewins Motorsports sponsored 1 cars racing weekly at Oxford Plains Speedway on Wednesday nights in the Rebels division and on Saturday nights with the Bandits.

Driver Spotlight: Jamie Heath

39 year old Jamie Heath of Waterford has been racing for over a decade this weekend he will pick up his sixth championship, his first one in the Bandits class at Oxford Plains Speedway.

Jamie Heath became a fan of racing watching his father race from the grandstands as a kid. Eventually he began helping driver Chris Hatstat before beginning his own racing career in the early 2000’s.

He started out racing in the Outlaws in the acceleration series at Oxford before competing in rebels, mini stocks and just about every class in the acceleration series except trucks.

Photo Credit: Susan Johnson

 He’s managed to win a total of 3 championships at Oxford (2 in renegades 1 in rebels), 2 others at Beechridge and Groverton in New Hampshire.

Though he’s had such a great career his favorite racing moment isn’t one of his accomplishments.

“When my son won his 1^st go cart race his second time out there, that beats everything I’ve done.” He proudly admitted.

Among some of his favorite competitors Heath has raced with over the years has been Matt Dufault who also has helped him with some of his cars and Jimmy Childs.

“(Childs) He’s a great competitor he makes you step up your game a notch. I’ve raced against a lot of good drivers but he’s probably one of the better ones I’ve enjoyed racing with” Heath explained.

The bandit’s class is still a fairly new class only in its 3^rd season many drivers Jamie Heath races against don’t have much experience racing in a weekly class having started out racing in enduros

“There’s some guys out there who can drive pretty good it’s fun because you can learn from a rookies mistakes it makes you a better driver.”

Photo Credit: Susan Johnson

 Heath has been one of the fastest cars in that class this season usually racing up to the front in only a couple laps.

Along with the rookies are guys who’ve been racing OPS a while Charlie Hall who got his first career win this season, Gerard Cote who also races in the running rebels on Wednesdays and Tyler Green, Heath’s biggest competition this season.

“Tyler Green is really good and he’s only two or three years in.”

Not only did Heath pick up 3 wins in the Bandits class this weekend he also won his first New England Mini Stock Tour race on August 28^th in front of the biggest audience of the year.

While racing is a seasonal hobby for drivers at Oxford Plains Speedway it’s also a passion that they can’t easily deny.

“I love the competition and the agony of defeat. Also the fans, seeing all the kids cheering in the stands there wouldn’t be racing without them.” He said explaining what he loves about racing.

Photo Credit:Susan Johnson

Heath has a great team behind him this season helping him out, Wayne Smart Sr and Jr, Susan Johnson, Derek Cairns, fellow Waterford driver Bill Grover, Kurt Dumais who co-owns his race car and of course his wife and son.

Next year Jamie’s priority next year will be his son’s racing career. Some people have great hesitation putting their own child into a race car but Heath will have some great advice to share with him.

”Race other drivers the way you want to be raced and you’re not entitled to respect it’s earned.” Is a couple things he would tell his son about racing.

When Heath isn’t racing he spends time watching baseball and football and tries to get on the golf course one in a while but  most is time is spent with his 10 year old son.

With another championship under his belt, Jamie Heath plans on racing in the Northeast Mini Stock Tour in the 2017 season.

Winning the Oxford 250:Kyle Busch

Photo Credit:Trudy Marshall
 Winning the Oxford 250 is a once in a lifetime experience very few drivers have been able to win it more than once including the father and son duo Mike and Ben Rowe of Turner and legends like Dave Dion and Ralph Nason.

If you don’t keep up with New England short track racing these aren’t names you would remember. Something that has drawn casual race fans to the Oxford 250 in the past has been NASCAR drivers.

Only 3 NASCAR drivers who have raced in the event have won the Oxford 250 including two sprint cup champions.

 Friday afternoon I had the opportunity to speak with 2011 Oxford 250 winner and reigning 2015 sprint cup champion Kyle Busch about his Oxford 250 experiences.

“What makes the Oxford 250 different from other big short track races is the Payday.Its pressure packed for all the guys, they want to lead laps and they get money for leading those laps and of course the big paycheck of $25,000. It’s a big race for late model drivers anywhere in the country but especially up north there’s a lot of pride and pressure put on the event.”

During the 2015 season, Busch was sidelined with a broken leg for most of the season but he persevered to dominate the remainder of the season and took home the championship.

Kyle Busch made two attempts at winning the Oxford 250 at Oxford Plains Speedway in 2005 and 2006 before finally winning the prestigious event.  It just goes to show hard work pays off in the end.

“Just having everything go our way was what made our last 250 a success” He admitted.

In 2005 they had a lugnut fall off on pit road that got stuck in a brake caliber which led to blowing a tire and when he returned the in 2006 following the year he had engine failure when he was passing for the lead.

“Being able to come back and have a race where we didn’t have the car torn up or the engine torn up we were able to make it through the whole event and win. Obviously the greatest satisfaction was bringing home the checkered flag”

Though the Oxford 250 is held on a short track many drivers including Busch don’t consider Oxford Plains Speedway a very easy track.

“It’s kinda tricky the layout is very round but flat. There’s definitely different grooves you can but running on the bottom and keeping it tight against the curb on the inside is probably the best place to be. Also when the sun goes down in turns 3 and 4 you get a blast of sun as the day progresses.” Busch said about Oxford.

“Also pit road there’s a huge challenge the way pit road is laid out where you have a front stretch pit road and an back stretch pit road where you kind of have to weave through the infield.” He added.

Many short track drivers from Maine never get the chance to drive on the NASCAR level due lack of funding. Busch races every week with the same guys all across the country so when he raced at Oxford with different guys who knew the track well he had a disadvantage.

“sometimes it’s a greater challenge to race local short track drivers because there is some just as good as cup drivers but being on their home turf they know all the things about the track and how it changes. While racing against cup guys every weekend we travel around to different tracks, we’re always moving no guy who races cup races the same track every week.” He explained.

Behind every driver is a great crew during his runs at Oxford, Busch had help from a pretty well-known face around short track racing Seth Holbrook, a 4 time 250 winning crew chief for Mike Rowe, Ben Rowe and for Glen Luce last year.

“I’d been working with Seth a long time since coming up in 2005, Seth is really smart and has a great respect for competitors helping me or the guys he’s won races with for years. He has a lot of wins and does a good job preparing fast race cars.”

“A lot of people talk about the different drivers who have won the race it would interesting to learn about who the crew chiefs were for those races.”

To be on the list of 250 winners with the likes of Mike Rowe, Dave Dion and Jamie Aube it’s truly a great accomplishment.

“The 250 for me was a big deal, I’ve wanted to win any race that I’ve been in during my career. That was a race I knew was a big deal to a lot of people in the northeast it was great finally being able to win and add such a cool race to my resume.”

“To be a winner and championship winner in the sprint cup level is one thing but for me being able to go compete against some of the best talents out there that may or may not ever be recognized. It was cool to be able to beat out guys like Mike Rowe and Jeff Taylor that are well respected and know the Oxford 250 really well.” Busch admitted.

43 years ago Oxford Plains Speedway held its first Oxford 250 I don’t think they truly realized how big of an impact it would have on short track racing in New England. It’s become more than a race for most, it’s an event and a reunion with racing friends and family.