Taylor, competitors to chase $5,000 check Sunday at OPS

Farmington’s Jeff Taylor moved his Distance Racing Products stock car business from Unity to Albion recently.

Moving a business can be an expensive venture. Five thousand dollars would certainly come in handy.

That is how much money Taylor, Unity’s Ralph Nason, Turner’s father-and-son racing duo of Mike and Ben Rowe, Busch North points contender Tracy Gordon of Strong, New Hampshire’s Dale Shaw and a flock of other drivers will be eyeing in Oxford Plains Speedway’s 100-lap New England Dodge Dealers Open Sunday. Heats begin at 1.

It is the first in a three-race series that includes the True Value Oxford 250 and a 125-lapper later this summer. There will be trophies awarded to the points winner of the series but there won’t be a cash award.

Taylor will be racing his Camaro and at least 15 of the other cars in the race will be using chassis fabricated by Taylor at Distance Racing Products.

He will be looking for his first win of the season. He has been racing in the pro stock class at Oxford Plains and is second in points behind Windham’s Gary Drew. Taylor has one second-place finish.

“We’ve been running good but we don’t have anything to show for it as yet,” said Taylor. “We haven’t caught any breaks. But it’s like anything else, you can make excuses all day long. The fact is we haven’t won.”

He said in order to win Sunday, the three ingredients necessary are “patience, a good car and a lot of good luck. Look at Jeff Gordon last week, he got wrecked in the pits.”

Taylor looks for the Rowes, Drew, Al Wilson and Nason to be among the favorites.

Ben Rowe edged Taylor by one point in the series last year and Nason is the defending two-time True Value 250 winner.

He added that it’s easy to see why so many top drivers are entered.

“Any time you can run a 100-lap race with $5,000 to win [it’s attractive]. Very few races pay that kind of money,” said Taylor, who won two of the series races a year ago.