By Randy Whitehouse,Staff Writer

OXFORD – Two things have kept Johnny Clark a bit preoccupied in the last month – a videotape of last year’s Banknorth 250, and his phone.

He still can’t believe his eyes and ears.

The defending Pro All Stars Series (PASS) champion is one of the favorites in today’s Banknorth 250.

Part of the reason for that is he dominated more than half of last year’s short track extravaganza. Unfortunately for Clark, it was the wrong half.

The 25-year-old Farmingdale racer earned the pole last year and led the first 119 laps. Then, following a pit stop for fuel and tires, he got caught up with a lapped car, went high when he should have went low, and crashed. He finished 24th.

After going to the videotape, Clark and his brother Bobby, who is his crew chief and spotter, decided two things. First, they’ll have a spotter in the grandstands this year. Second, winning the first 119 laps of the race isn’t nearly as important and being in it for the last 50.

“That’s what we’re going to look to do, just keep the fenders on it, just keep the brakes good towards the end of the race and just make sure the equipment’s where it needs to be for the final 50 laps,” said Clark, who will be racing his sixth 250 today.

“We race 150 laps in the PASS, and if the 250 had been 150 laps the last two years in a row, we would have won it, but it’s a unique race,” he added. “You never know what’s going to happen. You’ve got to be patient. The guy that wins it this year is going to be the most patient.”

Clark’s patience has already been tested once this summer. For about a six-day period earlier this month, the sound of a phone ringing would send him into a cold sweat.

Earlier this summer, Clark applied for Roush Racing’s Gong Show, a competition where Roush selects a driver for one of its entries in the Craftsman Truck Series. He made the first cut from 1,700 applicants to the top 60. Then he had to wait almost another week for word on whether he’d made the final 25.

“I knew after I made the top 60 that I was going to hear back from them regardless whether or not I made it,” Clark said. “So it’s the honest to God truth, I was standing there staring at my phone for the next week, and every time it rang, I was hoping it would be someone from Roush.”

Eventually, it was. And they had good news.

“Right now, Roush is NASCAR,” Clark said. “It’s quite an honor to know that Jack Roush wants to come and see me test and says that I’m one of the best 25 short-track racers across the country.”

Clark, who had applied for the competition last year but didn’t make the final cut, was told to be in North Carolina by the 31st.

Uh, one small problem, Clark said. He has some unfinished business to take care of in Oxford, Maine.

“They were great about it,” he said. “They gave me an extra day.

He leaves at 6 a.m. Monday morning. Then he’ll join two dozen other drivers in tests at Martinsville, Va. and Darlington, S.C.

“I don’t have a clue as to what I’m getting into,” he said.

Adding to the intrigue is the fact that the Discovery Channel will be filming the Gong Show and air it as a reality series in 13 episodes this fall.

“You’ve got to block that right out. You have to. They’re looking to create a reality TV show out of it, but that’s not what us racers really do,” Clark said. “As long as I don’t look like a total goofball on the Discovery Channel, I guess I’ll be all right. I’m going to do my best to block that right out.”

He’s been preoccupied enough for one summer.