MINOT – Alan Wilson’s rearview mirror was full. With eight laps to go in the richest short-track race in the United States, Wilson was in command.
And then it happened.
“About five or 10 laps before that, I had radioed in and said something in the rear end was acting up,” said Wilson. “When I went into the corner, I was moving up to let another driver through. He was a lap down and he was just hounding me, so I wanted to be rid of him.
“Just as soon as I started to move up, it got so loose, and it just took off. We took everything apart and there wasn’t anything wrong with it, so I don’t know.”
Between Turns 1 and 2 in the 2004 TD Banknorth 250, Wilson found the gravel at Oxford Plains Speedway’s 3/8-mile oval.
His back end was loose and he lost his lead. On the ensuing back stretch, Wilson again slid high, striking the wall on his way into the third turn. What seemed like a sure thing turned into a fifth-place finish.
“It was one of two things,” said Wilson. “But we’re really not too sure.”
One year and another car later, Wilson is optimistic that his one chance for victory in the TD Banknorth 250 hasn’t passed him by.
“It’s made me more determined,” said Wilson. “In our minds, we know we could have won it. It didn’t happen for whatever reason. I’m not going to say I never lost any sleep over it, because I did, but I don’t feel any pressure from it. If we never win it, it just wasn’t meant to be. We know we’re doing everything we can do to prepare for it.”
In his garage in Minot, Wilson and crew chief Earl Stottler were piecing together a car that looked identical to his ride last year. In fact, with the side by side in the garage, only the dings and dents from recent racing distinguished the two.
“It’s a different car and it’s a total different setup,” said Wilson. “It’s nowhere near the setup package we had in there last year, but as far as how we look at the race, nothing’s changed. We try to do everything the same and stay consistent.”
But the car is still a blue Monte Carlo with a bright yellow number 53 across the doors.
“We bought this one over the winter that Chris Kennison (of Oxford) drove last year,” said Wilson. “It’s actually an old Benji Rowe car, and I’ve been running it all year, and I love it. The car does not change at all from start to finish. We took both cars up to the Triple 50s, and we were 3/10 of a second faster with the newer one, so that’s why we went with it.
“We’ve always raced real good up at Oxford,” he added. “We had a real good car last year and we have another good car this year. We’ve raced twice there this year, so far, and done well both times we’ve been there, so we’re kind of hoping.”
In the two PASS races at Oxford, Wilson placed second and, after leading for most of the day, 11th after a “small skirmish.”
Wilson, by his own admission, didn’t have the fastest car in last year’s race. But he also knows that speed isn’t necessarily the key to winning – or revenge.
“It’s so key at the 250 to have a good, steady run. I’ve been to every 250 since they started, to watch at least, and I can only think of two times when the fastest car actually won the race. It’s so many things. You can’t have flat tires, you can’t get caught in a mess. You have to have everyone else have their problems, and last year everything seemed to fall into place for us. But that shows how tough it is to win there.
“This year, we hope we can get there and hang on.”
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