Veteran Rowe inherits first PASS North win in a decade at Oxford

What the tech shed takes away from one racer, it ultimately gives to another.

Last weekend at Oxford Plains Speedway, Mike Rowe got the gift.

The ageless racing legend celebrated his first Pro All Stars Series win in almost a decade, after being awarded the victory in Sunday afternoon’s Mike Rowe & Sons Trucking 150.

Rowe finished second on the track, but a disqualification handed to Austin Teras made Rowe a PASS winner for the first time since his 2015 championship season.

Sunday afternoon became a doubleheader program on Friday, when a wet Saturday forecast prompted the track to combine the day’s two shows. The Saturday program featured a long-distance 100-lap Super Late Model feature, while Sunday’s card was anchored by the PASS North feature. With a provisional for July’s Celebration of America 300 up for grabs in the 100-lap preliminary, many PASS teams participated in the early feature as well.

Mike Hopkins won the 100-lapper and clinched the provisional, finishing ahead of reigning PASS North champion D.J. Shaw and Teras. Rowe sat out the qualifier.

All of them factored into the lead battle in the afternoon’s 150-lap PASS showdown, with Teras ultimately taking the lead and capturing what appeared to be his fifth PASS-sanctioned win at the legendary Maine oval.

Post-race inspection, however, said otherwise.

Rowe, the 2015 PASS North champion, was instead declared the victor. The winner of Oxford’s weekly Super Late Model opener last month, Rowe celebrated his 155th career win at the speedway.

Garrett Hall was scored second, with rookie Sylas Ripley, Shaw and Gabe Brown rounding out the top five.

Qualifier winner Hopkins, Thompson winner Trevor Sanborn, Brandon Varney, Brandon Barker and Bobby Therrien closed out a competitive top ten.

PASS generally does not elaborate on disqualifications. Social media discussion following the race pointed to the engine setback on Teras’ car. A technical bulletin published on Tuesday advised that “as a reminder, all engine combinations have a setback rule from the upper ball joints of 2 inches,” lending credence to the speculation.

Of note, PASS instituted engine eligibility changes over the last two years that impacted Teras and car owner Jay Cushman. Unlike most Super Late Model sanctioning bodies, PASS favors crate engines, particularly at bigger tracks where built motors would provide a decided advantage. For 2024, PASS teamed with LCM Racing Engines to offer a sealed GM 604 “Bottle Cap Crate” engine as an alternative to other crate engine options. Teams running the Bottle Cap Crate, touted as a cost savings, would also receive a weight break.

Cushman, Teras’ father and a longtime PASS competitor, lamented late last year that the changing rules effectively outmoded his stock of built Ford engines, powerplants that powered Teras to multiple feature wins. A Ford loyalist, Cushman has been consistently vocal about his disdain for crate engines, particularly the General Motors crate engines that are at the core of PASS’ overall strategy.

As a result, Cushman and Teras have been flirting with road trips to Super Late Model events outside New England, where the engine rules are more to Cushman’s satisfaction.

This is awkwardly familiar territory for Teras, who inherited one of his 2023 wins after Joey Doiron ran afoul of PASS’ ride height rule. PASS eliminated the controversial rule at the end of that season.

Doiron, who dominated the Memorial Day Clash at Oxford in late May, finished a quiet 12th on Sunday.

Sunday was a big win for Rowe, whose last PASS North victory came on June 14, 2015 at Speedway 95 in Hermon, Me., almost ten years ago. Racing for car owner Peter Petit, Rowe won three times in the season’s first seven races to lock up his first and only PASS championship. Doiron, who has driven for Petit since 2023, was second in the standings.

The pairing was short-lived, as Rowe and Petit parted ways after the title. Petit welcomed Travis Benjamin, who continued Petit’s reign of success. Rowe teamed up with son Ben at Richard Moody Motorsports, running the 2016 season in a second Moody entry. Since then, the veteran has run part-time in PASS while picking up weekly feature wins at tracks like Oxford and the defunct Beech Ridge Motor Speedway.

Rowe, who will turn 75 in August, told Racing America that he is considering retirement after the 2025 season, wrapping up a hall-of-fame career. But Rowe also acknowledged he had toyed with retirement in previous seasons, only to come back anyway.

Twice a winner this year already, Rowe may have a hard time stepping back if he keeps this pace.

Unofficial Results
PASS North | Mike Rowe & Sons Trucking 150
Oxford Plains Speedway, Oxford, Me.
1. (24) Mike Rowe
2. (94) Garrett Hall
3. (09) Sylas Ripley
4. (60) D.J. Shaw
5. (47) Gabe Brown
6. (15) Mike Hopkins
7. (44) Trevor Sanborn
8. (12V) Brandon Varney
9. (32B) Brandon Barker
10. (5X) Bobby Therrien
11. (29R) Cole Robie
12. (73D) Joey Doiron
13. (54) Johnny Clark
14. (21QC) Alexendre Tardif
15. (5R) Max Rowe
16. (63) Kyle Salemi
17. (72) Ryan Kuhn
18. (32CT) Tom Abele, Jr.
19. (72R) Scott Robbins
20. (01) Steven Chicoine
21. (18) Michael Scorzelli
22. (4) Brody Whorff
23. (84) Matt Dow
24. (44P) Rusty Poland
25. (00) Jeremie Whorff
26. (12S) Dennis Spencer, Jr.
27. (60B) Tim Brackett
DQ (29T) Austin Teras

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