10 to Go with Roger Oxee

This week we spoke with Roger Oxee, driver of the No. 39 IGA Late Model at Riverhead Raceway.

When did you start racing?

Roger Oxee: My first laps were in 1979. Riverhead that year only ran two races. And they ran the two races with all divisions all in one race just to keep their license alive. That was quite an eye-opener for me. I thought I was going to be God’s gift to auto racing and I was terrible and I said, “This is not for me.”

Well, what kept you racing then if you decided that this wasn’t for you?

Oxee: Just stubborn.

How many types of cars have you raced? What are they? Which is your favorite?

Oxee: Street Stocks and Late Models. And I have driven a Modified, but the Late Models are definitely my favorite.

Why is that?

Oxee: Just is. My own experience in a Modified wasn’t too good. I qualified the car, made the feature. We were running well. There was an accident in front of me and I spun the car out. Somebody just hit the left front and gave it a flat so I had to come in and change the tire. We went back out so I had to start in the back. I tangled with a lapped car. I went up and over him and I hit the wall in the air. And needless to say, that was my experience in a Modified.

What track do you want to race at most that you haven’t yet?

Oxee: Well, I’ve already driven at the tracks that I’ve wanted to race at. I’ve driven at Thompson (Speedway, Conn.). I’ve driven at Wall (Stadium, N.J.). I’ve driven at Mountain (Speedway, Pa.). I’ve driven up at Hudson (Speedway) in New Hampshire. Really there’s not any more that I’d really like to get to that I haven’t done already. Maybe Stafford (Speedway, Conn.) if they had the division but they don’t and Waterford (Speedbowl, Conn.), if they had the division, but really I’m happy with the tracks I’ve been on.

Do you have any superstitions or routines that you do each week? Lucky charms?

Oxee: Yeah I do. I have pictures of my kids, my wife, my mom and dad and my grandparents in the car. And basically I will touch each picture, and that’s what I do. So my family rides with me, especially my mom.

What is your favorite racing moment?

Oxee: Okay, this is a good one. It goes back to 2001, I think. Back in 2001, one night we finished third. I was DQ’d for supposedly having soft right-side tires. So I was fined $500 and I was-this is not my favorite part of the moment-so I was fined $500 and I had to start in the back for three weeks. So we were off the next week, and then we came back with a time-trial show. So they went over my tires, you know they were checking everything with my tires making sure they were legal. And I went out and I set fast time. Well since I was still penalized I had to start in the rear, which was then 24 cars. I was in the lead by lap 30 and I won the race. And that’s cool. I walked off the track, and I was sick that day. I also had strep throat. My crew walked me to the ambulance; I never made it back to the pits. I was taken out of here in an ambulance with an irregular heartbeat. While my crew is celebrating I’m in the emergency room with two IV’s and everything else. But, that was my favorite experience because not only did we win, but we stuck it back to the people who stuck it to us by accusing us of cheating and we went back and won anyway.

What was your most embarrassing racing moment?

Oxee: You know I knew you were going to ask me that, and I was trying to think of one and I really couldn’t. But as an overall embarrassment, there was one race we had it was probably four or five years ago, and I was embarrassed not for myself but for the whole division. Because with the 45-minute time limit I think they called our race after lap four. We just couldn’t get our shit together. It was embarrassing just to be part of a race like that for the division because we were so terrible. Every restart was another accident or spin or something, and they just got tired of us and took us off the track, which we deserved.

Do you have a nickname? If so, how did you earn it? If not, why do you think that is?

Oxee: The only nickname I have is probably just using my initials “RJ.” Other than that, I’ve been called a lot of things but I wouldn’t call them nicknames.

What are your thoughts on the low car-counts for the Late Models and what do you think can be done to bring more to the track?

Oxee: It’s all a matter of dollars and cents like every other division here. I mean, you look at the Blunderbusts and there used to be 30-someodd cars. We’ve got 16-17 cars. The Modifieds, I guess three weeks ago when we were here they had nine. Our division is actually making a comeback. Not too many years ago we had eight. But you see a few more cars out here and I think by the 50-lapper we have here next month you will probably see a decent car-count for the first time in quite a few years. So, money helps, but the cost of everything is what really kills it. I mean our cars are Modifieds with bodies. Motors cost a fortune and tires are ridiculous. When I started racing Late Models, which was when they changed the division in ’87, tires were $72. Now you pay $160 a piece. But we still win the same amount of money. Gas is four times what it used to be, but we still win the same amount of money. So, it used to be you could win a race and you made money for the night, but it’s not that way anymore. There are plenty of good cars still out here-Late Models and all divisions- on jack-stands, but it’s a matter of guys don’t have the money. If I didn’t have the sponsors I have I wouldn’t be here either. I’d be retired.

Well that leads me into my last question. How much longer do you see yourself racing?

Oxee: (Laughs) Well if you talk to some of my competitors they would have liked to have seen me retire a long time ago. As long as I’m still decent at this and I can get in the car and I can come up with the money every year, I’ll be there. If I start to fall off and I’m a middle-of-the-pack car and getting in the way then I don’t want to do this anymore. If I don’t have a chance to win a race I don’t want to be there. And I’ll know when it’s time. Luckily so far it’s not that time. I thought it was getting close, but it seems like we found a couple of things in the car, and the car is making me look really good right now.

 

Source: Rob Blount/LongIslandJam