Veteran stock car racer Dennis Dee slammed into a retaining wall.
By Kalle Oakes
Sports Editor

OXFORD – A local stock car driver was severely injured Saturday night in a heat race crash at Oxford Plains Speedway. The wreck prompted track officials to postpone the remainder of the race program.

Fire and police personnel were called in after the late model stock car driven by Dennis Dee of Auburn hit the concrete retaining wall on the backstretch of the 3/8-mile oval at about 7:45 p.m.

Dee was extricated from the wreckage and rushed in an ambulance to Stephens Memorial Hospital in Norway. After Dee was stabalized there, he was transferred by ambulance to Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston.

A nursing supervisor at CMMC said Dee’s condition was still being evaluated by physicians there late Saturday night. She said Dee’s family had asked that no other information be released at that time.

Dee had placed fifth in his division in OPS racing last weekend, his second fifth-place finish of the season. He was 13th in the division point standings.

Oxford and Maine State Police were reconstructing the accident at OPS Saturday night.

Dee’s car was running in a pack on the sixth lap of a 10-lap qualifying sprint. It appeared to bump another car before veering into the wall right-front first. Upon impact, parts appeared to fly off the car, which was traveling approximately 75 miles per hour just seconds before the crash.

Several spectators standing behind the fence in front of the garage area grandstand surveyed the scene and frantically waved for rescue vehicles. Track stewards and two ambulances were at the crash site in less than a minute.

Speedway owner Bill Ryan convened with track officials, including longtime announcer and publicist Bobby Walker, before making the decision to cancel the remainder of the evening’s scheduled races.

An audibly shaken Walker told the crowd that Dee was severely injured in the crash. In deference to the situation, the full program, including the 100-lap late model main event, would be run next Saturday night, Walker said.

While all weekly racing divisions have safety requirements, many individual drivers have taken an aggressive approach in the wake of four high-profile NASCAR deaths in the past three years. The fatalities include that of seven-time Winston Cup champion Dale Earnhardt. Many drivers have taken to wearing HANS – short for Hutchens head-and-neck restraints – though they are not mandatory.

It was not immediately known if Dee was wearing one of the devices.

Dee began racing weekly at OPS in the mid-1990s and had competed in three different divisions. He was a three-time feature winner in the strictly stock class, which is two notches below late model stock.

After driving a pro stock for several seasons, Dee campaigned a red and white No. 2 car in the track’s second division in 2003.

koakes@sunjournal.com

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