Bob Walker was the voice of Oxford Plains Speedway for more than three decades and most race fans will tell you that nobody did it better.

Walker died Wednesday at 71, and while his legendary voice has fallen silent, the voices of those who loved him were ringing out.

“At the top of his game,” sports writer Kalle Oakes said, “there was nobody better on the planet at what they did. Nobody.”

Oakes, who covered local racing during his 27 years at the Lewiston Sun Journal, credits Walker with a lot more than simply electrifying generations of race fans.

“I was lucky enough to know him as a fan, a colleague and a friend when he was at the top of that game,” Oakes said, “and it has impacted every aspect of my career. He’s probably the reason I got into the sports and entertainment business and can’t seem to escape.

“I still remember the exact day that I first heard his voice over the loudspeaker as a kid,” Oakes said. “Spending five years in the broadcast booth at Oxford was a crazy amount of pressure, but it was one of the greatest privileges of my life and career.”

Walker, who lived in Norway, was track announcer for the Oxford raceway from the early 1970s until his retirement in 2006. By the time he retired, Walker had set the standard for calling races.

“He really laid the groundwork for a lot of us,” said Mike Twist, who called races after Walker retired. “No, we will never measure up to him, but it’s nice that he laid down a road for us to try and follow.”

Walker learned the ropes of the racetrack and the announcer’s booth from racing legends such as Bob Latford, who developed the first NASCAR championship points system, and racing announcer Ken Squier. He learned about the business side from then-OPS owner Bob Bahre. His first job at the track was to dig the holes for the light poles at the drag strip before he moved up to the announcer’s booth.

Read through Walker’s resume and you can practically hear the screaming of tires and sniff the blue scent of burning oil.

He was an assistant pit steward at Beech Ridge Speedway in the 1960s and a crew member for James Hylton on the NASCAR Grand National Series. He was a publicist for the Joie Chitwood Thrill Show in 1977, a NASCAR Cup and Busch Series inspector and for a time, director of media relations at Oxford Plains.

Bob also held positions at Star Speedway in Hickory, N.C., and Motor Speedway and Coos Bay, Oregon Speedway. All that on top of a life outside of racing — Walker was a Norway selectman, a volunteer firefighter for departments in Norway and Harrison and also did play-by-play for derbies and Oxford Hills football — play-by-play that was so good that kids would record it so they could give it a listen later.

“Bob did a good job calling the games, but it was the nicknames that he gave the players that had us rolling on the floor,” said Rick Denison, who attended Oxford Hills High School in the early 1970s. “He had a distinctive style that local folks really enjoyed. He was as much a part of our lives then, broadcasting our high school football and basketball games, as Ken Coleman and Ned Martin were on Red Sox games.”

Walker, the father of two daughters, is also a published author. Shortly after his retirement, he published the book “I Couldn’t Drive — but, I Could Talk …” The book is more than 400 pages of photos from the speedway’s past, along with stories of racing personalities as told by Walker.

By Thursday afternoon, news of Walker’s passing was getting around. On social media, people who knew him were sharing memories. Walker gave the races in Oxford the drama they deserved, they said.

“He made every one of the drivers out to be a hero and never set out to be one himself,” Oakes wrote on Facebook. “Little did he know, he was. I was that 7-year-old kid with all the Matchbox cars lined up on my living room floor. Each one of them was an Oxford Late Model driver, and I was Bob Walker.”

“I still hear his voice from those Saturday nights growing up in the stands at OPS,” said Jonathan LaBonte, a race fan and now mayor of Auburn.

Walker “was known by many and loved by all,” race fan Rich Hall wrote on one of many Facebook threads dedicated to Walker’s passing. “I think he probably had some sort of influence on everyone he encountered. I always had great respect for Bobby. Among the many things he taught me in regards to racing, one phrase on prioritizing your life stands out in particular: God, family, racing. Rest in peace Bobby Walker.”

Fans say Walker understood the sport and understood the nature of promotions more than most others.

“He had a Rolodex for a mind,” Oakes said. “He could rattle off the drivers’ hometowns, their win totals and their point standing in his sleep. He recognized the power of nicknames long before Chris Berman on ESPN. He understood the power of branding long before race cars became rolling billboards on cable television.”

“His passion for stock car racing was evident in his skills as an announcer, his ability to recall drivers’ names, car numbers and racing histories with such ease and accuracy,” said Mary Delamater, who got to know Walker as a track photographer’s assistant in the 1980s. “Of course, that was his job as track announcer, but along with that he did the color commentary and comedic talent to entertain the fans. There were nicknames he gave some of the racers, particularly the Figure-8 drivers. There were the July Fourth fireworks commentaries where he’d get the crowd — particularly the children — all revved with his feigned whine, ‘I want a red one.’

“He just loved being in the booth,” Delamater said, “informing and entertaining the thousands of fans in the stands and in the pits.

“A sight I shall never forget, though, happened several years ago when he decided to be baptized as a follower of Jesus. He was in a wheelchair then, so a boom truck backed up to the swimming pool at the Advent Christian Campground in Mechanic Falls, and the operator put a harness on Bob, winched him him up out of the chair and over the pool fence, and lowered him gently down into the water. It was a spectacle to behold,” Delamater said.

Friends say Walker’s health had been declining since the late 1990s. In 2005, he suffered his first stroke. A short time later, he moved to the Norway Rehabilitation and Living Center, a couple of miles from the track.

“It hurts,” Walker told a Sun Journal reporter at the time. “I love the place so much.”

Nobody who was talking about Walker’s career Thursday had trouble referring to the man as a legend or an icon.

“Racing is one of those sports in which the heroes of our youth seem most difficult to replace,” Oakes said. “NASCAR has spun its wheels since we lost Dale Earnhardt, and I don’t think it is an exaggeration to say Bobby was that kind of character in Maine and New England racing. It wasn’t the same after he had to give up the mic, and it certainly won’t be the same now.

“We use the word ‘promoter’ to describe people such as Bob Bahre, Bill Ryan, Michael Liberty and Tom Mayberry, but in reality, those are just the guys who owned the place,” Oakes said. “Bobby Walker was the real promoter of Oxford Plains Speedway for all the years he was affiliated with it. His words, his work ethic and his talent made the track larger than life.”

Walker was one of the longest-running and most respected auto racing announcers in the Northeast. He handled a variety of duties during his long career at Oxford, yet without argument, it was his voice and extensive knowledge behind it that shall define his legacy.

Racers and longtime fans throughout central and western Maine were reflecting Thursday on Walker’s long career and the contributions he made to local racing. Former Sun Journal staff writer Bob Morris was one of those with fond memories of sharing the passion for racing with Walker.

From the days when they both worked for Bahre to when Morris helped Walker assemble his book, the two lifelong race fans were good friends.

“Bob and I worked together for 16 years at the speedway,” Morris said. “During the racing season, we talked on the phone nearly every day. We spent many hours together away from the track, as well. Whether it was doing the mall shows, the road trips to Bangor, or the radio show we co-hosted for several years, racing stories were shared and we talked about family.

“Bob was a good friend and will be sadly missed by myself and everyone in the racing community.”

pwhipple@sunjournal.com

Bob Walker, second from right, accepts a plaque from former Oxford Plains Speedway owner Bill Ryan on June 26, 2010. Ryan dedicated the press box to Walker and was showing appreciation for his many years of service to Oxford. 

Longtime Oxford Plains Speedway public address announcer Bobby Walker released this book on his memories at the track in 2007. Walker passed away earlier this week after making a big impression on racers and fans throughout New England. 

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