Versatile Walker comfortable in many roles at Oxford Plains

Bobby Walker is into his fifth decade of service to Oxford Plains Speedway.

And the 57-year-old OPS track announcer and communications director isn’t going anywhere any time soon.

“I will never leave as long as Bill Ryan owns this track,” said Walker, who began working for the speedway in 1962 as the assistant pit steward.

Walker has worn virtually every hat imaginable at OPS. He wore three for one pro stock open race in 1991.

“I was the race director. Our chief scorer, who was supposed to fly up from Daytona Beach, got fogged in,” recalled Walker. “So [OPS owner] Mike Liberty asked me if I could handle both jobs and I said ‘yes.’ Then, early in the race, our track announcer got the flu [and had to leave]. So they wired up a mike to the scoring stand and I also did the announcing.

“At the end of the night, I was one tired puppy, mentally. But I pulled it off. It isn’t something I’d want to do every night,” said Walker.

Walker is a 1964 graduate of Oxford Hills High School and a 1968 graduate of Eastern New Mexico University. He left OPS and spent 1992-1996 as a NASCAR Winston Cup and Busch Grand National [race car] inspector.

He grew up in the Norway-Oxford area but also spent a lot of time in the winter in Florida where his grandfather, Arthur Walker, opened his eyes to the world of auto racing.

“He would take me to the track on the beach [at Daytona],” said Walker whose grandfather would also take him to the “big track” where the Daytona 500 is held.

“All I wanted to do from the time I was a kid was work in stock car racing. I fell in love with the sport,” said Walker.

He said his stint as a NASCAR inspector was a “dream come true” and said you don’t find much cheating in the sport.

“They may try little things but nothing big,” said Walker, who considered Dale Jarrett and the late Dale Earnhardt among his favorites.

“They were special. They were good family people. Even though both were divorced, they took care of their kids. They were humanitarians,” said Walker who admits he still hasn’t fully recovered from the death of Earnhardt 16 months ago.

“He was a friend,” said Walker, who thoroughly enjoyed his stint as an inspector.

When his father, Joe, a former businessman and the club pro at Norway Country Club, suffered a stroke in 1996, he returned to the Oxford area to take care of him.

“Mike Liberty had told me there was always a job for me if I returned,” said Walker, who returned to work as the track announcer and director of communications.

Working at Oxford Plains Speedway is a labor of love for Walker.

“I love the end of the season for about 10 days. Then I miss it,” said Walker.

Walker thinks highly of former OPS owners Bob Bahre and Liberty and current owner Ryan. Bahre built New Hampshire International Speedway in Loudon in 1988 and still owns it.

“Bob Bahre treated me like a son and Mike was like my older brother,” said Walker. “And Bill is fantastic. He has good business ethics, he’s a great person with a great sense of humor and he is dedicated to the track. He is in the office every day.”

And business is booming these days.

“The car counts have been unbelievable. We’ve been averaging 145 cars in the pits every Saturday night [for five classes of racing],” pointed out Walker.

He said the television exposure given to the Winston Cup and Busch Grand National series and the family-oriented atmosphere at stock car races have triggered the tremendous growth of the sport nationwide.

And Bahre’s decision to build NHIS in Loudon has generated more interest around New England, according to Walker.

“Bob was going to build it around Oxford Plains Speedway but the state would have had to improve Route 26 and they weren’t willing to change their schedule to do so. Route 26 wasn’t scheduled to be improved for at least 10 more years,” said Walker.