Staff Writer

Even when his life is a drag, Mark Jones finds a way to smile.

More often than not, Jones, 52, is winning drag races on sand tracks in York County and throughout the state.

Jones, an organizer of the North East Off Road Vehicle Competition Association, is ready to put his skills to the test Sunday, May 3, at Sanford Regional Airport during a day of racing to benefit Sanford-based Waban.

The races begin with registration and inspections at 7:30 a.m. Time trials begin at 9:30 and elimination races begin at 1 p.m. Last year, the races raised $3,500 for Waban, which provides education and services to children and adults with developmental disabilities.

“No one is here to make a buck,” Jones said about the racers competing in five classes of two-wheel and four-wheel drive custom-made drag racers and all terrain vehicles.

The benefit for Waban is the second annual event, but Jones said he has been drag racing on sand for 25 years. He and co-organizers John Lampros and York County Sheriff Maurice Ouellette started NEORVCA after deciding drag racing on sand was more enjoyable than drag racing on mud tracks.

“I didn’t like the hoopla of mud races,” Jones said.

Jones and Lampros said mud tracks provide exciting racing and plenty of good drivers, but both find sand racing more exciting.

“There’s a lot more adrenaline in soil racing,” Lampros said.

Jones, an Alfred resident, said he had economic reasons for drag racing instead of racing other cars on a track.

“It’s more affordable – we don’t crash,” Jones said.

Lampros said about 140 postcards were sent to racers invited to join in the races Sunday, and Jones estimated a core of 60 to 80 races turn out every other weekend to race side by side down a 300-foot track.

Jones said he races in Ohio and Virginia when not on local drag strips.

Jones explained drag racing as a contest where steady nerves and watching the sequence of lights signaling the start of the race are critical to winning, which is different than racing on a track in a field of other vehicles.

“You are nervous, the butterflies are there – it’s for the thrill,” Jones said.

Racing side by side, two drivers approach the starting line and watch lights moving in sequence down a tower.

The tower adheres to standards set by the National Hot Rod Association, which governs professional drag racing. 

Drivers have 10 seconds to approach the line after the first signal and wait through three yellow lights that flash anywhere from two to seven seconds in sequence. The green starting light flashes .4 seconds after the last yellow light, Jones said.

After reaching speeds of 80 to 90 mph to race 300 feet in four or five seconds, racers must stop in 500 feet. They often need all of it, Jones said.

Because timing is so critical, Jones said a racer spending “$50 on a vehicle can beat someone spending $50,000.”

Jones preferred not to comment on what he spends to prepare the modified Chevy S-10 Blazer he races, but his loyalty to using parts made by Mopar for Dodges, Jeeps and Chryslers, is pronounced.

Bragging rights are more lucrative than purses for the racers. As Lampros, Jones and Ouellette joined Waban Executive Director Neal Meltzer to iron out details for the races, Ouellette noted he had not been able to race Jones in any final races at last year’s meets.

“It’s a shame you didn’t get that far,” Jones said.

“Careful, there’s a new sheriff in town,” Ouellette answered.

   Staff writer David Harry can be reached at 282-4337, ext. 241.