Sunday may be Mike Rowe’s final race. Is he the best auto racer in Maine history?
Three-time Oxford 250 champion Mike Rowe of Turner talks to a reporter on Aug. 26 in advance of this year's 250. Rowe is contemplating retirement and the PASS 400 on Sunday could be his final race. (Anna Chadwick/Staff Photographer)
It’s a question Mike Rowe has been pondering for nearly a decade. And now, on the heels of his eighth Super Late Model championship at Oxford Plains Speedway, the 76-year-old driver from Turner might be ready to answer it.
When will the Maine racing legend retire?
The PASS 400 at Oxford Plains Speedway on Sunday could be the final race of his career. After winning the track title last month, Rowe seemed to be leaning closer to retirement than in years past.
“My crew keeps saying, ‘One more year,’ but I’m definitely slowing down,” Rowe said. “I love racing the (Pro All Star Series) races, but the longer races, I don’t think I should do. I don’t really know right now. I should retire, this would be a good time to do it. When you get long in age (it’s something to think about).”
Rowe confirmed Tuesday he is still on the fence about retirement. His focus is on the PASS 400, then he’ll take time to make a decision about his career, he said.
“My son and grandson are racing now, my great-grandson is racing now,” Rowe said. “It’s time for me to sit back and watch them. I don’t really have anything to accomplish, I guess, anymore. I’ve done everything I can do. Especially this year. We didn’t have expectations about running all the (PASS) races this year, but we went out on a good note and kept going.”
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Rowe’s career is filled with accolades. He won the Oxford 250 time times (1984, 1997 and 2005), has eight Oxford Plains titles (1976, 1978-81, 1989, 1990, 2026), three Beech Ridge Motor Speedway Pro Series championships (2009, 2010, 2013), a Pro Stock title at Wiscasset Speedway (1991) as well as championships for PASS (South champion in 2006, North champion in 2016), the American-Canadian Tour (1994) and the Northeast Pro Stock Association (1999).
Where does Rowe’s career stack against Maine’s best drivers? He stands alone, according to his peers.
Mike Rowe of Turner celebrates after winning the Oxford 250 on July 6, 1997. (Staff file photo)
“He’s had a hell of a run and he’s been very good,” said Unity’s Ralph Nason. “Ever since I first raced him … He’s right at the top (of the list).”
Nason, 86, would know. Like Rowe, Nason is a three-time Oxford 250 champion, and the only driver to win Maine’s biggest race in three consecutive years (1998-2000). He and Rowe shared an intense rivalry for years.
“You don’t train to get in the car to be second,” Nason said. “He had the same talent and the same amount of drive (as me), that’s why we were as competitive as we were.”
There are Maine stock car drivers with careers that compete with Rowe.
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Ralph Cusack has the most series titles at one Maine track. He won 12 championships at Beech Ridge — the Scarborough track that closed in 2021 after 72 years — including seven Class A championships (1953, 1958-59, 1962-65).
Dick Wolstenhulme was another Beech Ridge legend, winning 10 track championships, including three consecutive crowns from 1960-63.
Both Cusack and Wolstenhulme had excellent success at one track, but not across multiple tracks or multiple series like Rowe.
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Rowe is the all-time wins leader at Oxford Plains Speedway, with 157 victories, ahead of Jon Lizotte (113) and David Smith (112).
“It’s pretty cool to have that amount of longevity and success,” said Farmingdale driver Johnny Clark, 46, a seven-time PASS North champion and the 2020 Oxford 250 champion, who has been racing against Rowe for nearly 30 years. “What a way to go out (if this is the end). He’s one of the best, that’s for sure. … I don’t think there is anybody that could get as much out of a car.”
Chelsea native Dave Darveau was a dominant racer at Unity Raceway and Wiscasset Speedway, winning 692 races in a 44-year career (1952-1996). He won the Sportsman series championship at Wiscasset three times (1976, 1978, 1984).
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Rodney Maynard was an Aroostook County racing legend, collecting over 100 career wins and five track championships at Spud Speedway in Caribou. Maynard’s most famous victory came in an exhibition race in 1983, when he defeated NASCAR champion Bobby Allison.
Ricky Craven shakes hands with Mike Rowe on July 28, 2006, before a practice round for the Oxford 250. (John Patriquin/Staff Photographer)
The most notable name from Maine at the national level remains Newburgh’s Ricky Craven, now owner of the former Speedway 95 in Hermon. Craven, 60, ran 278 races in the NASCAR Cup Series from 1991-2004, with two victories, and a third-place finish at the 1997 Daytona 500, behind Jeff Gordon and Terry Labonte.
Locally, Craven won track championships at Unity and Wiscasset, and captured the Busch North Series title in 1991, a year that included an Oxford 250 win.
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A strong run in the Maine racing scene, but not as strong or as long as Rowe.
If Sunday is Rowe’s final race, there’s no argument that a major piece of Maine racing history goes with him.
“He’s got to go down as one of the best, he’s raced the longest,” Clark said. “I’ve raced with so many great racers in Maine over the years, but you don’t know what they could have or would have done, because you only raced them for 15 years and they just didn’t put in the time that Mike did.”
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Tagged: auto racing, oxford 250, oxford plains speedway
Dave Dyer is in his second stint with the Kennebec Journal/Morning Sentinel. Dave was previously with the company from 2012-2015 and returned in late 2016. He spent most of 2016 doing freelance sports. More by Dave Dyer
