Tire wear could determine True Value 250 champ
By Kalle Oakes
Sports Editor

OXFORD – Funny what a little new pavement will do.

For several years, drivers at Oxford Plains Speedway were tempted to use every tactic imaginable in an effort to keep their cars’ grip on an aging asphalt surface.

There was talk of illegal traction control devices. Even more rampant, perhaps because it was easier to prove, was talk of the use of tire softening compounds.

Suspicion of tire “soaking” reached such epidemic proportions that speedway officials took on the, er, tiresome duty of impounding Pro Stock tires after every weekly race. Tires for the True Value 250 each summer were designated for practice or race use upon purchase, and the technical inspection team kept all “race” tires under cover of darkness until the morning of the race.

When track owner Bill Ryan heeded the plea of a majority of drivers and approved a complete resurfacing of the 3/8-mile oval last autumn, it changed the complexion of the top division and its showcase race for the foreseeable future.

Cheating to gain an advantage where the rubber meets the pavement is no longer an issue. The key to winning Sunday night’s 30th annual True Value 250 is not breaking down those tires but finding a way to keep them intact as long as possible.

“Say we go 100 laps without a caution flag to start the race,” said defending champion Scott Robbins of Dixfield. “You’re going to have a wide range of drivers, some of them getting a lot better wear out of their tires than others. I don’t think we’ll be able to go too far into the race before you see a caution just because of the potential for flat tires.”

Robbins, currently fifth in the OPS Pro Stock point standings with a June 20 feature victory to his credit, believes that Oxford’s weekly competitors will have an advantage in choosing a night-time chassis setup that will provide more favorable tire mileage.

Point leader Andy Shaw indicated that much of the pre-race talk about tire woes is mythical.

“It’s gotten a lot better,” said Shaw. “I think especially since the Wednesday night racing started up again that the outside of the track is coming in. Those cars have a tendency to race all over the track, and that helps.”

Tires will be impounded at the point of purchase again at this year’s 250, with one significant caveat from Ryan and technical director Randy Varney.

Drivers will be allowed to “scuff” race tires by running practice laps on them Friday and Saturday before turning them in.

“The reason we’re keeping them is mostly because racing is so psychological. Obviously right now you don’t want to run sticker (unused) tires in a racing situation,” Ryan said. “You don’t want to make your tires any softer when you’re worried about blistering them.”

With the track in relatively rough shape in recent summers, OPS regulars claimed the last two midsummer classics. Gary Drew broke touring drivers’ historic hold on the event with his win in 2001, and Robbins held off Mike Rowe to prevail last July.

Ryan said that Robbins was one of the drivers who maybe half-jokingly asked him to consider one more season on the old surface.

“After Scott won last year, he said that he thought he had it figured out and not to change a thing,” said Ryan. “About a month into this season, I think he was running about 17th in points and probably wasn’t happy with me.”

Even with the life expectancy of tires on the increase lately, this year’s race promises to be a tumultuous affair. Passing on the outside remains a difficult task, meaning that bump-and-run tactics may be used more than once.

“You look at guys like Andy Shaw, Billy Whorff and Ricky Rolfe. They’ve been consistently fast most Saturday nights, but they still haven’t been able to separate themselves from the pack,” Robbins said. “There could be a lot of guys whose names you wouldn’t normally think of running up front. This has the potential to be one of the most unusual 250s, I think.”

koakes@sunjournal.com

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