OXFORD – Gard Tripp doesn’t remember leaving his post in the tower overlooking the pit area and backstretch of the racing surface Saturday night at Oxford Plains Speedway.

Tripp saw the cars of Dennis Dee and Jerry Harrison lose control between the first and second turns of the 3/8-mile oval. To his immediate left, he recognized the red No. 2 car of Dee traveling toward the concrete retaining wall at a high rate of speed.

Then he saw – and felt – the impact, a moment he said he’ll never forget.

“I’ve been coming to this track for 33 years,” said Tripp, “and I’ve never seen a car hit like that. It shook the tower. The person standing next to me jumped and screamed.”

Then Tripp jumped into action, racing on foot, following a flurry of rescue vehicles to the scene on the other side of the catch fence. Tripp and his fellow workers almost immediately recognized the gravity of the situation.

Dee, 38, died at Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston of injuries sustained in the crash during his late model stock heat race. The Auburn driver was in his eighth year of competition at OPS.

Tripp, a pit area steward who helped extricate Dee from the car, was more than a concerned spectator. He helped Dee rebuild the car owned by former driver John Thurlow of Durham.

“This is awful hard for me. Dennis was one of my best friends,” said Tripp. “We spent a lot of hours together on that car.”

After meeting members of Dee’s family at the hospital late Saturday, Tripp followed what he felt would have been his friend’s instructions and returned to the track to work his post at Sunday’s Motor Mayhem show.

By then, state and local police who conducted the investigation had released the vehicle. Tripp met with race director Mike Ryan, who suggested that Tripp walk to a nearby garage bay to look over the car.

“I needed to do that,” Tripp said. “All the safety equipment did its job. I needed to find that out for myself.”

Nine cars were dicing for position at an average speed of about 75 to 80 mph in the lead pack when the crash occurred. One car briefly wobbled coming out of the first turn. In the continuing evasive action, Harrison and Dee made contact and lost control in the second corner.

Harrison’s car, which was on the inside, appeared to graze the wall. The car driven by Dee lost little speed before making hard contact with the right front.

Spectators standing along the fence near the scene noticed Dee slumped over in his seat and frantically beckoned the safety vehicles, which were already on their way.

Security guard Joe Newbert was standing at the pit gate, about 1,000 feet from the accident scene, when Dee crashed. He worked at the same spot Sunday afternoon.

“I felt the ground shake,” Newbert said. “Then I heard Mike (Ryan) on the radio yelling, ‘Red! Red! Get me a red (flag, to stop the cars).’ At that point, I knew whatever happened wasn’t good. Nothing about this is good.”

Tripp said that Thurlow intends to take the car back to his shop and bury it, adding, “that’s the only proper thing to do.”

Thurlow drove the car in 2002 before it was damaged in a crash. Dee and Tripp restored the ride, with Dee assuming the driving duties for an American-Canadian Tour race in August.

“We replaced the front clip, the rear clip, everything,” Tripp said.

Dee enjoyed two top-five feature finishes this season, running fifth on June 7. His recent success moved him into the “high-handicap” heat on Saturday night.

Tripp said that Thurlow, who was communicating with Dee via two-way radio, asked the driver early in the heat race how the car was handling.

“His last words were, ‘The car’s awesome.’ That’s Dennis,” Tripp said. “Dennis wasn’t afraid of anything. He knew Jesus Christ, and I believe he’s with him now.”

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