Oxford 250 with small crowd “definitely going to be odd”

Ryan Farrar takes the first checkered flag of the season June 27 at Oxford Plains Speedway. Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal Buy this Photo

Jeff White’s father told him that the best way to get into Oxford Plains Speedway to watch the races when he was a boy was to get a job at the track.

“So (my brother) Tim and (my sister) Cathy both worked in the popcorn stand, and that might have been sixth, seventh grade. I would get in and I’d work selling sodas,” said White, whose late father, Ron, was a racer at OPS. “I’d carry a case of soda around, selling them, and the grandstands were so packed that you got to stand out on the stairway and pass it down because there was no room to really get in there. And that would be on a regular Saturday night.”

White, now a racer himself and a former track champion, said that was much, much different than the scene at the track is this year, due to restrictions caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

There were no fans allowed in the track’s expansive grandstand when the season finally started after a nearly two-month delay. Fans weren’t allowed in until more than a month later, and only 200 tickets were available, broken down into four sections of no more than 50 people.

“It’s actually crazy to think about. I think at 200 people allowed is 2% capacity,” driver Calvin Rose Jr. said. “I don’t remember a 250 race day without a massive amount of fans. It’s not only different for us, but a huge hit on the Mayberry family (which owns the track). I’m very thankful the track has worked so hard to stay open and we are still having this race, and still have some fans able to be watching.”

The Oxford 250, with its 47th edition scheduled for Sunday, is known for attracting a large swath of fans on race day. Those packed stands that White and Rose Jr. remember will look nearly empty Sunday when they try to qualify for the race, as the track is only allowed to make a small number of grandstand tickets available.

The stands on the pit are side of the track, behind the backstretch of the 3/8ths-mile oval, are reserved for members of each driver’s race team.

Curtis Gerry, the 2017 Oxford 250 champion, said it’s going to be weird looking up into the grandstands and not seeing them filled with fans.

“It’s just disappointing for the people who like to come (to the 250),” Gerry added.

Fans wave to the field as the car pass the grandstand during pace laps at the 2018 Oxford 250. Brewster Burns photo

Thinking back three years to when he won the crown jewel of Maine short-track racing, Gerry said it was awesome to have all the fans fervently cheering after his triumph. Whoever wins this year’s race certainly won’t have that same experience.

“It’s definitely going to be odd,” veteran driver Shawn Martin said. “It’s probably going to be kind of eerie feeling, not having all the spectators that we’ve had in the past. But we’ll make do. It’s still the 250, it’ll still be a good event, I’m sure.”

White said the spectators — or lack thereof — aren’t much of a thought for drivers when they are in their cars because they are locked in to what the car is doing.

It’s after the checkered flag flies that the fans are most missed.

“I mean, we all like getting out and having our fans cheering for us and giving high-fives. And it does take away from a lot of that, you know?” White said. “I mean, all the years we raced, when I did good, I’d have (my niece) Brittney and Cathy and Mom, they’d all be standing on the fence hollering and hooting. And there’d be all kinds of people. So it’s going to change.”

“The level of excitement just isn’t quite there without the fan base,” Martin said, “but it’s still racing, it’s still fun, it’s what we love to do.”

Both White and Martin said they are thankful that the Mayberrys decided to go ahead and put the race on, even knowing that the likelihood of convincing the state to allow more fans was low. But the owners knew what the race meant to the drivers, particularly Tom Mayberry, who is a former driver.

“That gives you a lot of pride that you’re racing for somebody that cares that much, that wants to get you racing. That feels good,” said White, who has been pushing everyone he talks to about racing toward the pay-per-view live video stream of the race, because, he said, the Mayberrys get a portion of the money.