OXFORD – Remember those two years in the mid-1990s when the NBA’s Houston Rockets won back-to-back championships?

Take nothing away from Hakeen Olajuwon and friends, but most of the basketball world will remember the first campaign and most of the second as a stretch during which a guy named Michael Jordan took a respite from the hardwood to pursue a professional baseball career and hone his golf game.

Once Jordan returned, the Rockets’ red glare was over.

As Oxford Plains Speedway launches its season this afternoon, a driver who answers to the nickname “Rocket” recognizes there may be an asterisk at the end of the tunnel.

Scott Robbins exhibited his mettle as a regional Pro Stock headliner by winning Oxford’s showcase event, the True Value 250, in a fast Ford Taurus last summer. After Jeff Taylor won his record eighth OPS track championship in the fall and announced that he wouldn’t be returning to full-time competition in 2003, Robbins and Gary Drew immediately headed a lengthy list of heirs apparent.

Just as was the case in 1998-99, when Taylor left Oxford for a two-year stint in the NASCAR Busch North Series and Stan Meserve and Jerry Babb captured the OPS title, Robbins knows there are observers who will view this campaign as a five-month elimination bout for a vacant heavyweight title. He bristles at the suggestion, however, that it would be a paper championship.

“I’m a little disappointed if we happen to win it this season that Jeff won’t be here,” said Robbins, “but that’s certainly not a knock on the competition that’s still here.”

Indeed, Taylor played the points game splendidly in supplanting Mike Rowe’s legendary name in the record book, but he didn’t dominate the last two seasons. Taylor carried a checkered flag twice in 2001 and only once last summer.

No driver won more than three features in 2002, a level of parity matched only one other time since 1970.

“On any Saturday night, you’re racing against 10 other guys who are capable of winning the 250,” Robbins said.

Today’s New England Dodge Dealers 100 is not a points-paying race for Oxford’s weekly series drivers. It’s part of a three-race Oxford Open series that will be rewarded from a separate point fund.

Only the four supporting divisions — Late Model Stock, Limited Sportsman, Strictly Stock and Mini Stock — will christen their championship charge this afternoon at the newly paved, 3/8-mile oval.

That minor detail won’t break Robbins’ opening-day fever. Robbins and his team aren’t enamored with the way they concluded last season, failing to score another triumph after their lucrative July 15 victory.

“We accomplished what had been our ultimate goal for so long, and we were kind of in la-la land after winning that race,” said Robbins. “I think we lost sight of what we were doing. That made us hungry for this year.”

Just as Ricky Craven said that his recent Winston Cup victory at Darlington, S.C., validated his initial conquest two years ago in Martinsville, Va., Robbins knows that a track championship or a second major race victory would cut off the one-hit wonder tag forever.

“We want to back up that big win,” Robbins said.

Those aspirations are one reason Robbins didn’t flirt with a move to a touring series for very long.

Another reason, he said, is that Oxford is “home.” And owner Bill Ryan made some giant home improvements in the offseason, paving the asphalt surface for the first time since 1992.

“We didn’t think about going anywhere else for long, anyway, and once we heard he paved the track we said ‘forget it.’ There wasn’t any more thinking to be done,” Robbins said. “Oxford really is home. We live in Dixfield. We’ve all been coming to the races every Saturday and making a day out of it for years.”

Robbins expects Drew, Mike Maietta Jr., Alan Wilson and Tim Brackett to challenge for the championship. In his corner once again are top-notch sponsor Rowe Auburn and a tight-knit crew led by chief mechanic and younger brother Spencer Robbins.

“We’re pretty much going to focus on one track and be ready for 250 time,” Robbins said.

koakes@sunjournal.com

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