Maine racing legend Mike Rowe is still going strong

At the age of 74, Mike Rowe is still active on the track.

Rowe, of Turner, is the only driver to have won the Oxford 250 in three decades. He took his first 250 win in 1984, and again in 1997 and 2005. Rowe was on the starting grid for the very first Oxford 250 (then a 200-lap race) in 1974.

Rowe’s legacy on the track commands respect from his fellow drivers.

“I think he’s like Tom Brady, if Tom Brady had never retired,” said Max Cookson of Palmyra. “Mike will surprise you sometimes. He’s (74) years old, jumps in the race car and gives everybody a run for their money. I still don’t know how he does it. It’s amazing to me.”

Mike Rowe qualified for Sunday’s main race, even via one of the consolation rounds. It is the 41st time he has qualified for the main event.

“I don’t know how he does it,” agreed Oxford driver Dennis Spencer Jr. “I’m 50 years old and I get tired (of racing). Mike is a legend and he’s a great guy.”

Successful driving runs in the Rowe family. Mike’s son, Ben, is a two-time winner of the 250 (in 2003 and 2004). Ben Rowe said he has scaled back his racing schedule lately, but Mike Rowe continues to keep his foot on the gas pedal.

“I’m at the point now where I’m taking a step back from about a half dozen races,” Ben said. “He was racing on Friday night; he would have won (Saturday) night, and he gets in the car and runs (Sunday). He loves it. It’s been there since I was born. His passion for this, there’s nobody around that I’ve ever seen with his passion.

“To stay as long as he has, you could get someone who lasts eight to 10 years… But him – and Timmy Brackett is close, he’s here every week – you’ve got to have a lot of respect for them.”

Mike Rowe, a 2014 Maine Motorsports Hall of Fame inductee, was forced to race part-time due to a prostate cancer diagnosis. He is now healthy and back racing full-time, and Ben Rowe said he believes his father has found a rejuvenation in his love of racing.

“I think so,” Ben Rowe said. “He was out of the car for a short while. But when (the doctors) cleared him, he was right back in. He did what they told him to do, he backed out. As soon as he was cleared, he was right back in.”

TRAVIS STEARS did everything he could to get on the track. Even when it looked like his day would be cut short one, two and even three times, he kept working.

The Auburn driver’s No. 15(3) car blew its engine during a morning practice session, prompting a panicked rush to replace the engine with a spare. He then crashed early in his qualifying heat and tried to re-enter the race but was unsuccessful.

However, Stearns qualified for the Oxford 250 by winning the final qualifying event. It was a remarkable turnaround after what had been a difficult 24 hours for Stearns on and off the track.



On the very first lap of Stearns’ practice run, he felt his engine lock up as he exited turn four. He was fortunate to have locked up in a spot where he could exit the track—and to have traveled to the racetrack with his old bike in his trailer.

“This is a new engine, so we’re putting an old one in,” Stearns said. “Changing an engine in 230 degrees when you’re coming off the track in two hours is not easy. (It usually takes) four or five hours at best, so they did a good job (of doing it in two hours). … I’m really proud of them.”

It was a frantic scene at the north end of pit road, with members of Stearns’ team working at a frenetic pace. Finally, just after 1 p.m., the crew completed the change and rolled the car to the track entrance.

It wasn’t just Stearns and his team working on the car after the incident. As news of his troubles spread, members of other teams came to Stearns’ tent to help with maintenance.

“A lot of guys from other teams came out to help, which was awesome,” Stearns said. “Everybody helps each other out; it’s like a family. I have a teammate (Mike Hopkins) too, so his team helped out.”

DRIVERS IN The Oxford 250 come mainly from New England, but a few cross the border.

Craig Slaunwhite traveled from Halifax, Nova Scotia for a chance to win the $25,000 top prize.

“We left on Wednesday and took our time coming back on Wednesday night for Thursday practice, so everything went smoothly,” Slaunwhite said.

For Canadian drivers, race preparation involves loading their cars and trailers with equipment through customs. Slaunwhite came through the Houlton-Woodstock border crossing for his first 250 in his own car.

“I’ve been here quite a few times, but to come with my own car — this is the first time I’ve tried my own car at the 250, so it’s a challenge, as everyone knows,” Slaunwhite said. “The track changes three times a day, and I’m trying to learn the track as well. So the odds are really against us right now, but we’re working on it.”

Slaunwhite retired from the race on lap 87 after his engine started smoking on the main straight.

Fellow Canadian Kyle Reid made an even further journey from Fort McMurray, Alberta – his fourth trip to Oxford this summer.

“It’s a bit of a hike. We usually fly to Nova Scotia and pick up the car and the truck and come back,” Reid said. “We have King Racing in Pictou, Nova Scotia; everything is done in-house there.”

Reid took a five-hour flight from Alberta to Nova Scotia, followed by an eight-hour drive that included crossing the border between Calais and St. Stephen.

“It’s not bad, we’ve got it down pat now,” Reid said of the border crossing. “We race all over North America, so we know how it works. The West Coast borders are a lot easier; we have to do mediation and stuff like that, but they’re all pretty good now.”

SPENCER IS currently ranks third in the Pro All Star Series (PASS) standings with 1,951 points, behind DJ Shaw (2,209 points) and Johnny Clark (2,056).

“We’ve really come a long way in the last couple of races, we’re starting to understand things,” Spencer said. “(The car) was pretty (in practice), we made some changes. It was kind of going both ways, it was getting a little loose, it was getting a little tight. It had speed, it was pretty good. I think it’s going to be good.”

Spencer had one of the best finishes of his season in his final race, finishing fifth at the Pierson Heating and Cooling 150 at OPS on August 6.

He said his position in the standings has no impact on his performance in the 250 meters.

“We’re not going to put ourselves in a position where we can break anything,” Spencer said. “We’re just going to try to get into the show. The 250 is a lot of laps. You just have to stay out of trouble and be there at the end. That’s what we’re going to try to do.”

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