Despite new aspirations, racing remains part of Austin Theriault’s agenda

A decade ago, Austin Theriault was New England’s latest aspiring prospect to test the national motorsports arena. These days, Theriault is engaged in a different sort of race altogether.

But last weekend at Oxford Plains Speedway, the racer turned politician tended to a greater cause.

With every lap around the historic Maine speedway in Sunday’s season-ending PASS 400, Theriault’s aim was to raise money for the nearby city of Lewiston, still reeling from the impact of a mass shooting last fall.

True to the path Theriault has walked since his final NASCAR starts in 2019, he is pursuing a cause greater than himself.

“I’ve always been interested in Maine, in the future of Maine and the success of my home state,” Theriault said of his recent ventures. “Rural Maine in particular, because that’s where I grew up, in a small town.”

Theriault hails from Fort Kent, a border town that marks the northern terminus of U.S. Route 1, a town where many locals speak both English and French because of the proximity of the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec. 

Fort Kent is an hour’s drive from Spud Speedway, named for the crop that drives the economic engine of Aroostook County. Spud Speedway is where Theriault received his introduction to stock car racing as a youngster.

In the 2010s, Theriault was the latest, greatest hope for New England to see one of its blue-collar rising stars make it to the sport’s biggest stages. Wins with the American-Canadian Tour and Pro All Stars Series opened the door to NASCAR Xfinity Series starts for JR Motorsports and a part-time NASCAR Truck Series schedule with Brad Keselowski Racing in 2015. Theriault’s results were promising, but a violent late-season crash and a back injury stifled his career momentum.

In 2017, a preseason meeting with racing icon Ken Schrader landed Theriault in Schrader’s ARCA Racing Series ride for the season. Theriault seized the opportunity, winning the season opener at Daytona International Speedway and adding six more victories on short tracks, intermediates, the dirt mile in DuQuoin, Ill. and even a road course en route to the series championship.

But without major funding, Theriault struggled to find a follow-up ride.

Theriault’s career came full-circle in 2019. In August, he finished sixth in a PASS Super Late Model race at Spud. He also made his NASCAR Cup Series debut at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in July with Rick Ware Racing, making four more starts by season’s end. In the last, at Talladega, Theriault’s day ended early with another grinding crash.

“So after the ARCA championship in 2017, and Kenny Schrader shut down the team actually I think the year later…then I had some Cup opportunities,” said Theriault. “And after I got hurt the second time…COVID occurred right around there, too. I said, you know what? I accomplished more than a lot of people could have ever dreamed, coming from Spud Speedway, not having a family background in racing, and being able to run for some top teams in many different series at the high levels of NASCAR.

“I was happy.”

Theriault, then only 26 years old, had to sort out what came next.

“So I’ve always been very much involved from every standpoint of my racing career,” he said. “Driving, business, marketing, management. So it was pretty natural for me to go into that part and expand the business, and start mentoring and managing drivers.”

Theriault now lends his expertise to the clients of one of the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series’ most decorated veterans.

“I do a lot with [Team] Hornaday Development, which is Ron Hornaday’s development company. And we work together on that. I like seeing the next generation of drivers coming up, and making sure that they learn from their mistakes, and they minimize their mistakes, but when they do make mistakes they learn from them and get better, and try to position them better for a career.

“Everybody knows how hard it is to break in and stay there. It’s one thing to break in, but you’ve got to stay there. I want that for the folks that I work with.”

One of those folks is Sylas Ripley, a fellow Maine native. The fifteen-year-old phenom finished fourth in August’s PASS-sanctioned Oxford 250, only his fifth PASS Super Late Model start. By virtue of a Saturday heat race win, Ripley would lead Sunday’s PASS 400 to the green flag.

Ripley ties Theriault’s Maine roots to his newest role in motorsports, though in fairness to Theriault, those roots have never been far behind. Unlike many of his peers, who chose to reestablish their lives in the heart of racing country, Maine has always been home.

“Being in Maine…I never really left,” Theriault said. “I always traveled. I always kept a home base in Maine, but I traveled around the country when I was racing. The only difference is, I’m here more. I’m currently a state representative, serving the people of the district that I grew up in.”

Theriault threw his hat into the political ring in 2022, taking office as a state representative that December on behalf of the district that encompasses Fort Kent and northern Aroostook County. This year, Theriault has set his sights higher, challenging incumbent Jared Golden for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives that speaks for the second most rural congressional district in the nation.

The campaign trail took Theriault through the Oxford paddock in the hours before the Oxford 250, with stickers bearing Theriault’s name finding their way onto a number of cars leading into Maine’s most historic and prestigious stock car race.

But even as Theriault’s responsibilities to his protégés and his constituents call, so does the desire to drive.

Theriault entered last year’s Oxford 250, his first major race since 2019, with the goal of raising funds for the Travis Mills Foundation, a Maine retreat for recalibrated combat veterans and their families. Theriault locked himself into the field, starting 22nd of the 41 qualifiers, but finished 31st after a crash ended his evening early.

For the PASS 400, Theriault again bound charity to his racing efforts, supporting the One Lewiston Resilience Fund. The fund was established following a tragic mass shooting in Lewiston, Me. on October 25, 2023. Eighteen people were killed and another 13 wounded in the deadliest such incident in the state’s history. Maine’s second-largest city, Lewiston is only thirty minutes from Oxford; PASS’ year-end banquet is usually hosted across the river in Auburn.

Theriault’s ride for the weekend was emblazoned with the slogan “Lewiston Strong,” the hood bearing the shape of Maine with a red heart in Lewiston’s place on the map. And while plenty of cars still featured Theriault’s campaign decals, on his own car, only the roof rails over the door bore his name.

“What we’re doing this weekend is not supposed to be a political thing, you don’t see any political stuff on the car,” he said. “For the Lewiston non-profit foundation, I have to tally it up, but our goal was to raise $50,000 for them. And when we came here last year, it was for the Travis Mills Foundation, and we exceeded our goal.”

Once again, it was an opportunity for Theriault to support his home state. “With the one-year anniversary coming up of the Lewiston shooting, I wanted to get my mind off the campaign. And so many other people want to do the same thing, because everybody’s tired of politics and this is a good way for us to give back to the community, because a lot of people are still struggling with that.”

Theriault’s car wore his trademark No. 57, the number he drove to ACT and PASS wins in 2012 and 2013. The red and black body panels and Chevrolet Corvette decals, meanwhile, hinted at its history as a one-off entry for a NASCAR star.

“Mark Henderson owns the car,” Theriault said, “and he bought it from Peter Petit. This was the car that Kyle Busch ran.” Former NASCAR team owner and fellow Mainer Archie St. Hilaire fielded the car in cooperation with Petit for Busch in June’s Keen Parts 150 at Lee USA Speedway. Busch struggled through the night, but finished fifth on the back of perseverance, attrition, and a disqualification.

Henderson’s construction business, a longtime backer of Petit’s entries for drivers Travis Benjamin and Joey Doiron, was one of the sponsors on the car when Busch drove it.

Unfortunately for Theriault, attrition would not play into his hands in Sunday’s race. In the first of three 100-lap segments, a first-lap crash was followed by a long green-flag run, under which Theriault lost a lap and finished 25th. The full field was inverted, putting Theriault at the head of the pack for the second segment.

Things quickly went south for Theriault, as suspension issues forced him to the pit area early. Theriault made a few more laps before gridding for the third and final segment. Theriault held on for most of the stint before pulling to the pits a few laps short of the checkered flag.

Theriault was scored 30th at the finish. Theriault’s protégé, Sylas Ripley, won the first and third segments but struggled in the second, winding up third overall. Doiron, driving for Petit and sporting Henderson’s logo on his rear quarter panels, took the overall win in the PASS 400.

“We’re still working the bugs out of it,” Theriault conceded after the race. “We had quite a few mechanical issues, shocks, and the sway bar actually broke.”

Nevertheless, long after the checkered flag had flown, a throng of supporters gathered in the pits with Theriault and his team, posing for photos and wishing the racer well. “It wasn’t the result we wanted, but we had fun,” he said. “And I think the result of what we’re going to accomplish here is well worth it.”

Theriault’s path is reminiscent of that of Phil Scott, the Thunder Road International Speedbowl and ACT Tour winner and champion who was elected as Vermont’s lieutenant governor in 2011 and now serves as the state’s governor. Scott still races regularly at Thunder Road when it does not conflict with his duties to the state.

And while Theriault’s plans behind the wheel may not match the ambition of Scott’s, he remains open to running a race or two a year, if the opportunity arises.

“We’ll see what happens,” he said. “I really enjoy this. I enjoy coming out here. It reminds me of what it used to be like back in the day, you know, community, and even if you’re competitors on the race track, you’re friends off the race track.

“And I enjoy that.”

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