Jeremie Whorff used to have lukewarm feelings about auto racing.

“I always liked racing but I never got too excited about it. I didn’t see the big deal in having 35 monkeys driving around in a circle,” said Whorff.

His father, Bill Whorff Jr., invited him to jump in his spare race car and take a few laps at Oxford Plains Speedway one day.

That was all it took.

“I had the fever,” said Whorff.

“He realized he liked it and he did real well. His lap times were only three or four-tenths off from me,” said his dad.

That was just three years ago.

Jeremie started out in pro stocks, racing with his father at Oxford Plains Speedway.

Jeremie and his dad finished one-two in a weekly race at OPS two weeks ago and duplicated that in the state’s most prestigious race Sunday night, the 33rd annual TD Banknorth Oxford 250.

“It has definitely sunk in. I’ve been thinking about it all day long,” said Jeremie, who works for his father at Bill Whorff Inc., an excavation company.

He said his phone has been “ringing off the hook” all day and he is indebted to the entire Whorff Motorsports team.

“Everybody works extremely hard for the race team. We couldn’t have done it without them,” said Jeremie Whorff who added that new crew chief Mark Green has been a “lot of help, especially with the car. He knows how to fix it.”

Jeremie Whorff pocketed $36,600 but he said the money was “spoken for before we ran the 250.”

A healthy chunk of it is earmarked to the Whorff Motorsports team.

“I’m a firm believer that you don’t make any money racing,” said Jeremie Whorff, who lives in West Bath. “We’ve had some bad luck this year. We’ve gone through some motors. We need to replenish our funds.”

His father pocketed $12,300.

Both Whorffs lost engines three weeks ago and had to install Crate engines, a low-cost engine being implemented to cut costs.

Bill Whorff has been impressed by his 22-year-old son’s development in just three years.

“He’s a great race-car driver,” said Bill. “He’s very patient and aggressive at the same time. He has really matured from his first year.”

His father, who lives in Harpswell, thinks even more of him as a son.

“He’s a super kid. I’ve never had a problem with him,” said Bill Whorff Jr.

They keep their race cars at Bill’s parents’ (Bill Sr. and Sandra) six-bay garage in West Bath and work on them together after work.

The Whorffs are a longtime racing family.

Bill Sr. and his brother, Donald, used to race at Scarborough’s Beech Ridge Motor Speedway.

“I’ve always had a passion for it,” said Bill Jr. who used to watch his dad race and would bring Jeremie to the track when he followed in his dad’s footsteps.

Bill Whorff Jr. raced for several years before taking 12 years off to raise his family and help run the family business.

He went to a race at Wiscasset Raceway four years ago, bought a pro stock car that night, and returned to racing.

His son, a 2001 graduate of Topsham’s Mount Ararat High School, would like to eventually race down south but said “realistically, I’ve got to keep working. Racing is a hobby until a good opportunity comes around.”

He is looking forward to defending his 250 title.

“It’ll be exciting to go up there and see if I can do it again and try to keep up with [Turner’s] Ben Rowe,” said Whorff.

Craven had a good time

Newburgh’s Ricky Craven was disappointed with his 32nd-place finish but said “I still had a very good time.

“I hate to lose. I still have the fire to win any time I strap a helmet on,” said Craven, who bumped into the back of John Phippen’s car during the heat race.

He started 39th with a provisional.

Craven, the 1991 Oxford 250 winner who was running in the event for the first time since ’92, said the car wasn’t the same after he “beat the front end up” bumping Phippen.

A clutch problem ended his race early.

“We didn’t meet expectations. Everything was going well up until we drew ninth [starting spot for the 20-lap heat race],” said Craven.