OXFORD – Imagine walking through the stands at the Oxford Plains Speedway with NASCAR driver Kyle Busch at your heels – and your friends noticing only you.
It was hard for Karol Hill to picture such a thing before it actually happened during the TD Banknorth 250 at the end of July. People didn’t realize Busch was following her through the crowds because he was dressed in shorts and a baseball cap instead of his racing uniform.
“It was just awesome to see that side of a Nextel driver. I mean, he’s famous. He’s on TV every night,” she said.
Even more awesome is the fact that Hill turned over her Thompson Lake home to Busch for the weekend while she stayed at the racetrack. She held a barbecue for Busch, his girlfriend and some of his team members on Saturday, and even offered a cruise around the lake on her party boat.
“He was just like a normal kid,” Hill said of the 20-year-old Busch. He was thrilled by the boat ride, she said, and “he had chocolate milk for breakfast.”
The unusual weekend came to be because Hill is team manager for Mike Rowe, the driver who won the Banknorth 250. Speedway owner Bill Ryan has been inviting NASCAR drivers for the big race weekend for two years, Hill said Friday.
Last year Kyle Busch’s brother, Kurt Busch, was in town for the event with driver Matt Kenseth, who returned this year.
When Kyle Busch agreed to drive in the race this year, the owners of Rowe’s car #24, of SP2 Motorsports of Saco, offered to supply him with a vehicle.
Hill said Busch came to Oxford to test the track, and Rowe asked where he’d be staying over the race weekend. After finding out that Busch planned to stay in a hotel, Rowe offered up Hill’s home.
Hill did not protest. Instead, she arranged for the Saturday cookout and volunteered to do breakfast Sunday. “I believe he had such a good time up here he’ll do it again next year,” she said Friday, still thrilled by the experience.
And she may be right. Busch wasn’t available for comment Monday, but a spokeswoman for Hendrick Motorsports and Kellogg’s Racing said he is expected to return.
“He talked about it all week,” she said, adding that he had “an awesome time.”
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