OXFORD – It had all the makings of a memorial service, except with a lot of noise as the Kenny Williams Memorial Strictly 100 took over the Oxford Plains Speedway oval Thursday night.

The race, sponsored by the Friends of Kenny Williams, offered a $5,000 first place prize, an amount unheard of in Strictly Stock racing.

According to Kenny’s widow Brenda, to see who the Friends of Kenny Williams are, all you have to do is look around.

“It’s his family, his friends, his companies, his friends here and in Loudon,” said Brenda Williams as she waved her arms at the crowd for emphasis. “They all put up the money for the race and the bonus laps. It’s the biggest outpouring of love for one person I have ever seen.”

Williams passed away this past winter and left a hole in the lives of a lot of people. According to Brenda, the outpouring of help has been overwhelming.

“The Speedway picked the date and we figured we could get our emotions back by then,” said Williams. “About four weeks after the funeral, our phones were ringing off the hook. People were asking how they could help and what could they do. It was just so much, so many.”

“I’m glad Bill Ryan opened the place because this was the only way we could have done it,” Williams continued. “The funeral parlor was so full we had to take people to the high school and park them and bring them back. This is a celebration.”

Sentiments were no different on the other side of the track in the garage area.

“Kenny was just a good guy,” said Sumner Sessions of Norway. “He liked this type of racing. We are running with a rear end given to us by his son so there is part of him in this car tonight. I think this night is a reflection of the person that he worked for for most of his life, Bob Bahre.”

“I’ve been driving for 26 years and he was always here,” said Limited Sportsman driver Shane Green of South Paris. “He’d run down to his house if you needed something.”

Green put himself back into a Strictly Stock car for the first time since 2000 to honor Williams but he wasn’t alone in the venture.

“Cole-Mans Concrete is my main sponsor,” said Greene. “Colin Grove, the owner and Kenny were friends growing up so we decided to build this car just for tonight’s race. It’s a handful, not at all like my Limited Sportsman.”

Although Green says the money is something he could usually only dream of, that is not what the night is about.

“The $5,000 purse is unheard of for a strictly race,” said Green. “But we aren’t here for the money. We are here for Kenny’s memory.”

Williams left a lasting impression on a lot of people both at Oxford Plains and at New Hampshire International Speedway.

“There are a lot of Kenny Williams fingerprints in both locations,” said the voice of Oxford Plains Speedway, Bob Walker. “Kenny was a great friend and a great fan of stock car racing. There isn’t a better way to honor him than this.”

Sitting next to Brenda Williams in the grandstand was Oxford Plains legend Mike Rowe of Turner. He said it was not possible to come up with just one special memory of Kenny.

“He always helped me out,” said Rowe. “The guy was one of a kind. He was always just so nice to everybody. The ones he really liked he had nicknames for.”

If you had a nickname, you had it made,” added Brenda.

“Kenny gave me an old picture of my daughter once,” said Rowe. “That was really special. He gave me an old picture of myself once and I always wanted to give it back to him but I lost it.”

Life continues without Kenny Williams but in racing circles it means having to do a little bit more on your own.

“Once in a while he’d drop a car off to race at Oxford,” said Sessions. “And once in a while he’d come by and haul the remains to the junkyard.”

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