Pre-Race Draw Sets the Stage at Oxford 250

It’s all about the draw. It’s one of the most level playing field moves in all of short track racing. Pulling a pill for where you will start in a heat race. No advantage to any one driver. The ability to have the same chance as a guy who pulled in on an open trailer with his buddies.

The Oxford 250 is different in this sense because the odds are even before 12 o'clock on Sunday. You could be the fastest car on the property at Oxford Plains Speedway, but a bad draw could make it a long day for you.

Picking the right pill from the bag can make you a hero or a zero in real quick time. The number one pill is what every driver wants. They all want to be on the pole for that first heat. It means that if you can hold the top spot, you can be in line to win heat one and sit on the pole for the Oxford 250.

Wait, there is more.

Winning the pole gives you the first crack at the lap money. Lead one lap and it’s $100. Lead 10 laps and it’s $1,000. You could end up with a really bad night, but lap money could save your bacon in the finance department.

Outside of the top spot, the draw is a crapshoot. You really won’t know until the names get added to the board. In recent years, the Pro All Stars Series have moved the traditional draw from the pit tower and base to the front stretch for fans to see it.

Just a year ago, Ryan Kuhn got the lucky pull and won the first heat race. He led five laps before the top spot was taken from him.

Back in 2004, a young Johnny Clark drew the pole and led 128 laps before going out early.

Some drivers are so superstitious that they don’t draw for themselves. They do this each week when they have a draw. A wife, a girlfriend, a tire guy gets the call to pull the pill. If they pull poorly, they might not get a chance to pull another pill. If you pull a good pill and you are the team’s lucky charm for life.

Something else that comes within the one pill is stress relief. You are on the track first with the Super Late Models, and if you make the race, then you are out of the car until feature time.

The draw is not everything, as nine times in the last 11 years the winner came from outside the top 10. In that time, the average starting position of the winner is 18.45.

-Story by: Elgin Traylor
-Photo credit: Will Bellamy, Racing America