The Best Moments from the Banknorth 250

There are moments that define sports and sporting events and live on in legend well beyond the place in time the event takes place. For the Banknorth 250 fan, the event may not be as famous on a national level, but some of the memories are just as vivid as any of the great sports moments across the nation. Here is a list of the 6 most memorable moments from the Banknorth 250.

1. Dynamite Again! – If it isn’t the most famous pass in Maine motorsports history, it has to be darn close to it. In 1985 the Oxford 250 (as it was known then) got a great deal of exposure due to its large purse, north vs. south rivalry, and a knack for having an unpredictable finish. Dave Dion won the big race in 1975 and was a threat on several other occasions. Joey Kourafas won the inaugaral Oxford 200 (it changed to 250 laps the following year) in 1974 and seemed to have everything going his way again in 1985. Coming from mid-pack, Kourafas had grabbed the lead in the late stages when Chuck Bown pitted and seemed to have everybody covered. Second place runner Dion didn’t have anything for “The Kid” as Kourafas pulled away. As the two cars took the white flag on lap 249, it seemed inevitable that Kourafas was on his way to his second victory. However, off turn 2 it became apparent that the lapped car of Bentley Warren was going dreadfully slow and that the leaders WOULD reach him before the lap was completed. Kourafas had a 5 car length lead as he and Dion approached the lapped car. The lapped car was obviously confused as he did not yield either groove (probably got caught in the middle of moving up the track) and tried to hold his line in the middle. Kourafas, was barreling up behind him and had no choice but to go around. The lapped car started to give room high, but Dion, who saw a slight opening down low, forced his car into that spot. As they came out of turn 4, Dion was low, the lapper was in the middle, and Kourafas was hung out to dry in the outside groove. Dion, who seemingly had no shot at a win, crossed the finish line first for his second victory in the race. I had never seen a grandstand absolutely stunned, and appreciative of an exciting ending, as they were that night.

2. Three cars under a blanket – It wasn’t supposed to be a great race. Local media had uttered that with no “big” name recognition and the lack of national prominence that the 30^th True Value 250 wouldn’t be very good. They were wrong. Anyone who witnessed this race saw some great regional Pro Stock drivers going after each other and three cars had a chance for the win. There were 7 different leaders and 11 lead changes and most of the passing was under green…except for one important one. On a lap 209 restart, Ben Rowe got the jump from second position and got the lead from Gary Drew. Track officials might have made the mistake here by giving the green, but we’ll never know! Drew roared back to battle with Rowe while Steve Knowlton continued to get himself into position. A big pileup in turn 3 on lap 247 brought the top 5 together for a 3-lap shootout. Knowlton was strong and made a run to the outside of Rowe for 2 ½ laps. Drew waited for his opening while the two cars were side-by-side on the white flag. Knowlton edged ahead on the final lap down the backstretch!! Rowe tried to avoid the speedy dry down low in turn 3 and drifted up…Knowlton had a tire going down in the outside groove as they raced to the checkers!! The two leaders were so high that Drew looked low out of turn 4!!! At the stripe, Ben Rowe won by a half car length over Knowlton, who was less than a car length ahead of Drew!!! The crowd gave a standing ovation in one of the greatest sprints to the finish in the history of the event.

3. A lapped car wins the 250! – In 1976, the True Value 250 earned its place on the national racing map, in my opinion. Sure, the first two races were good, but there was nothing about them that set them apart from other big races (except for the purse!) Southern stars had come north for the 1974 and 1975 events but had not taken home the big money. In 1976 it didn’t seem as though things would change as Maine driver Ralph Nason was cruising along out front with nobody near him in the late stages of the race. Ralph was being very smart and simply running consistent laps in order to save his car. He even let the lapped car of Southern star Butch Lindley by late in the race because he knew it wasn’t worth battling a car a lap down…however, Butch Lindley was NOT a lap down and Nason, for all intents and purposes, gave up a win that could have been his! It seems that Lindley DID go a lap down earlier in the event. However, the True Value 250 generally has quite a few cautions and Lindley was able to make up his lap during one of them. Lindley went on to take first place and Nason would have to wait 22 more years before winning his first one! What a difference modern scoring and radios make. The north vs. south war was getting hotter….

4. Got a little gas? Part 1 – As most race fans are completely aware, winning a big race requires a little luck, a good setup, and a sound strategy. In 1996 the True Value 250 went back to its roots and was an Open Competition race with no sanctioning body. The car count was very large and as a fan, I just had a feeling that somebody new was going to break through to win it. Many of the early race leaders found themselves falling out of contention and sometime after halfway Ben Rowe took the race over. Let’s just say that NOONE had anything for him late in the race. It looked like my premonition was right on the mark as Rowe got the “5 to go” signal from the flagman. The most interesting battle on the track was pole sitter Larry Gelinas trying to reel in Dennis Demers for second place. Gelinas had stayed in the top 10 all night and as cars fell out of the race, he kept moving toward the front. Race strategy came into play shortly thereafter. Out of turn 4, Ben Rowe was slowing as the flagman held up the white flag and checkered flag indicating two laps to go. Rowe had gone with a smaller fuel cell and did not have enough gas to finish the race! As he slowed down, Gelinas was making the pass on Demers a full straightaway behind him and was now passing for the lead! Gelinas came around two laps later and took the win!! Of course, this was all news to him. The scoreboard had an incorrect driver listed as the winner and Gelinas knew he was behind Rowe. He was incredulous in victory lane and I often wonder, even to this day, does he really believe he won that race? He did.

5. Got a litte gas? Part 2 – Butch Lindley was known for coming north and taking away some of the big money. As you know, he took the 1976 race and was competitive in virtually every race he entered at Oxford. In 1980, he was a part of one of the best two cars battles the big race had witnessed (even to this day). Geoff Bodine and Lindley went at it for well over a hundred laps and, in the process, put every other car on the track a lap down. As the race neared its completion, neither driver pitted for gas and it seemed that neither cared. When the white flag came out, Lindley was still trying to make an outside pass on Bodine when his car sputtered. It came back to speed, but then ran out of gas coming out of turn 2 while Bodine went on to win! Bodine ran out of gas in the same spot on the cool-down lap. Because third place finisher Morgan Shepard was a lap down, Lindley still gets credit for second place. However, he could have been the first two-time winner. Bodine would get that distinction one year later by dominating the 1981 race.

6. The Legend Grows – You’ve already read how Ralph Nason lost the 1976 Oxford 250. You probably also know that he won the 1998 and 1999 races, yet he neither of those wins was very exciting to the average race fan as Ralph had the field covered. The year 2000 edition of the race solidified Nason as a Maine racing legend as he won his third straight True Value 250 and did it in memorable fashion. Nason didn’t get out to a huge lead in the 2000 race. In fact, he didn’t look like much of a threat at all. Sure, he worked his way up to the front on lap 122, but only held the lead for that lap as cars with fresher tires zipped past him. After he did pit for tires, he made a historic charge to the front. When he grabbed the lead on lap 183 most people thought it was all over. There was no way anyone was going to thwart history in the making. After all, Nason had been untouchable the last couple of years in this race. However, most knowledgeable race fans saw Ben Rowe sneaking around in 3^rd place and passing his way into second place with 40 laps to go and, by the stopwatch, was closing the gap every lap. A late race caution put the two drivers side by side and Nason pulled ahead by 7 car lengths as Rowe had to deal with Andy Shaw. As the tires heated up, so did Rowe. He got to Nason’s back bumper with 5 laps to go and looked to pass low…no way. He tried looking high and saw Nason’s car look that way at the same time. When the white flag flew, they were inches apart. Rowe made a huge charge down the backstretch and pulled even as the crowd simultaneously came to its feet. Nason used his experience to widen his car just enough to hold Rowe off by less then a car length at the finish.