Controversy swirls at Oxford 250 as defending champ Austin Teras sits out

Austin Teras to skip Oxford 250, raising questions about new crate‑engine rules

Gray, Maine – The much‑anticipated Oxford 250, set to run Sunday night at Oxford Plains Speedway, will be missing its two‑time defending champion. Austin Teras, who won the event in 2022 and 2023, has announced that he will not be in the field. The decision follows a dispute over the series’ crate‑engine program that was introduced last year, and adds a new layer of controversy to an already contentious race.

A champion’s absence

Teras, a resident of Gray and a longtime driver for the PASS North Super Late Model series, has not appeared in a PASS North race all season. “I’m not running the race because of that incentive program,” he said. “It’s something we’re not comfortable with, putting a Chevy in one of our race cars, because we’re in the Ford business. We’re Ford guys.”
The Oxford 250 offers a $25,000 purse for the winner, making it the region’s premier auto event. Teras’ withdrawal marks the third straight year the reigning champion has skipped the race, following the ban of two‑time winner Cole Butcher in 2024 and the immediate retirement of Jeff Taylor after his 2024 victory.

The crate‑engine controversy

In 2023, the PASS North Super Late Model series, run by Oxford Plains owner Tom Mayberry, introduced a “Chevy crate” engine incentive to reduce costs and level the playing field. The crate engine, supplied by General Motors, costs about $9,000, while the Ford options allowed in the series—S347 JR ($11,600–$14,120) and D347 SR ($13,000–$15,000)—are more expensive. Teams that use the Chevy package also receive a 25‑pound weight break in every PASS race.

Teras and his crew, led by his father Jay Cushman, have traditionally built their cars with custom‑assembled Ford engines, a strategy that earned Teras his 2023 Oxford 250 triumph. “Austin Teras had more horsepower than all of us and could still hook it up,” said fellow Oxford driver Jimmy Renfrew Jr. “That’s why he won all those races last year.”

The crate engine program is intended to cap horsepower at 6,500 rpm and keep car weight between 2,700 and 2,780 pounds, so that races are decided more by driver skill than machinery. Some drivers welcome the cost savings, while others, like Teras, feel it erodes the competitive advantage of a well‑built, custom engine.

“I don’t like how everyone has the same horsepower and every car is exactly the same,” said DJ Shaw, the current points leader in the PASS North standings. “There will be 40 cars out there and all will be within 10 horsepower. It makes it easier for some cars that don’t handle as well.”

Renfrew echoed a similar sentiment. “Big motors will allow for more strategy for teams on the track,” he said. “If you’re all running the same spec parts, what’s the point of trying to work harder than everybody else and learn harder than everybody else and make a better mouse trap?”

A rocky 2024 season

Teras’ season has been marred by controversy beyond the crate engine debate. After winning the PASS 400 in October, a post‑race technical inspection found that the heads on Teras’s 29‑car engine had been machined beyond what the rules allow. The PASS series stripped him of the victory and the $75,000 in prize money, awarding both to runner‑up DJ Shaw. “I still have the trophy and offered it to Shaw, but he said, ‘I didn’t win that race,’” Teras said. “What bothers me about the 400 is, I didn’t find out about what happened until I got home and scrolled through Facebook. No one called me, no one texted me. That doesn’t show much respect.”

The incident, combined with a March arrest for reckless conduct with a dangerous weapon—he and 26‑year‑old Jacob Murray of Scarborough were taken into custody after allegedly firing guns from a moving vehicle on West Gray Road—has left Teras isolated in the series. He insists that his absence from the PASS North series is unrelated to the arrest.

“We’ve sat down and talked with Mayberry, and we disagreed on how the 400 happened,” Teras said. “It’s more of a personal dispute. For lack of better words, we’re kind of holding that against each other.”

Attempts to get comments from Mike Mayberry, vice president and general manager of Oxford Plains Speedway, have so far been unsuccessful.

Looking ahead

The Oxford 250 will proceed without its defending champion, with a field that includes points leader DJ Shaw and other top regional competitors. The debate over the crate engine program continues to polarize the track’s community, with some drivers viewing it as a necessary step to keep costs in check and others seeing it as a blunt instrument that erodes the merit of custom engineering.

Teras remains active in other regional races. He currently leads the stock‑car division at Ricky Craven Speedway in Hermon with 241 points, followed closely by Shaw at 239. He has praised Craven for allowing teams to be more transparent about what parts are allowed, a contrast to the ambiguity he has experienced in PASS North.

Whether the crate‑engine rule will survive the season remains to be seen. For now, the Oxford 250 promises a high‑speed showdown that will test the resolve of its drivers, the ingenuity of its teams, and the willingness of the community to reconcile tradition with innovation.