OXFORD – Boston Red Sox great Rico Petrocelli will serve as grand marshal of the 32nd annual TD Banknorth 250 at Oxford Plains Speedway.

The race is scheduled for Sunday, July 31.

Petrocelli will give the command to fire the engines prior to the nation’s richest single-day stock car race.

“We know that for many of our fans, as passionate as they are about stock car racing, the Boston Red Sox might even rank ahead of that,” OPS owner Bill Ryan said in a statement released by the track. “So it’s very exciting for all of us, especially in this first summer after the Sox reversed The Curse,’ to have a New England sports legend like Rico Petrocelli be part of our biggest event.”

Petrocelli spent his entire 13-year career with Boston. He hit 17 home runs and had 66 RBIs during the “Impossible Dream” season of 1967, when the underdog Red Sox won the American League pennant and took the St. Louis Cardinals to Game 7 in the World Series.

Petrocelli saved his best efforts for the postseason, belting two home runs in the ’67 World Series and banging out eight hits in the 1975 Series versus the Cincinnati Reds.

The shortstop/third baseman hit a career-high 40 homers in 1969 and retired in 1976 with a total of 210.

He’ll be part of a star-studded event at OPS. NASCAR Nextel Cup champion Matt Kenseth and rookie sensation Kyle Busch are entered in the TD Banknorth 250, which traditionally attracts the top Pro Stock drivers in New England and Eastern Canada.

All grandstand seating for the race must be reserved. You may purchase tickets by calling the speedway office at (207) 539-8865, Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.