Mike
Rowe Wins a Thriller in the Budweiser Oxford 250
Veteran local racer wins first major NASCAR
race for a V6 powered car
Pictures Below Recap
Recounted by Mark Truman using Stock
Car Racing Magazine Recap, November 1984 by Herb Dodge
NOTE: Exact quotes from the magazine will be in
italics!!
July 1984 – When
auto racing fans dream of the ultimate race, they must consider the factors
that go into the making of a great event.
First and foremost, it must have spectacular competition – three, four,
and five-car battles for the lead.
Second, the race must have a gigantic purse. It must be viewed as an important event by
the competition and the fans. Third, it
has to have national import. It must pit
competitors from different regions of the country against one another. Fourth, there must be action – bumping,
spinning, plain hard racing. There must
be big winners and losers. Throw in a
bunch of controversy and a “local boy makes good” story and you have the makes
of a legendary event. The 11th
Annual Budweiser Oxford 250 had all of this and more. It was probably the greatest race that many
of the more than 18,000 fans who jammed the little
The purse that day was $127,740 and is easily the richest
short track race in
“Our advantage will come late in the race, when their tires starting going,” he said. “The V6 is going to make history today. We have a lotta confidence in this car. We ran good here the first time. If you don’t think you can win, you shouldn’t come.” Rowe didn’t turn a lot of heads in practice or in his heat race. He did manage a second place finish in the fifth heat race, but he was still not concerned.
“They’re just
running to good, too early,” he drawled.
“It’s hard to run with em now, but I ain’t worried!”
He should have been worried. With another field full of top NASCAR North
Stroh’s Tour stars and national invaders like Geoff Bodine and Butch Lindley
present it was going to be a tough field.
Luck-of-the-draw qualifying and heat races again took center stage and
kept 1983
The pole winner for the event by virtue of his win in the
first heat race was Beech Ridge motor speedway competitor Rick Zemla. He’d have some stout competition up front as
stalwart regional hot shoes Dick McCabe, Jeff Stevens and Robbie Crouch were also
heat race winners.
Interestingly
Hanley was driving a borrowed NASCAR legal Sportsman instead of his own
fiberglass Camaro. Virtually none of the
“plastic” cars showed up for this years’ 250 as the weight rules have made them
uncompetitive. Jeff Stevens had even put
steel bodies on his Howe-chassied cars.
He wasn’t sure if the 150-lb. Weight break he gained with worth it,
however.
“With the steel
body, all the weight is up high and it rolls over in the corners,” he
stated. “With plastic bodies, all the
weight is on the bottom, it makes a difference with tire wear late in the
race.” Race Director Dick Bahre felt
that other rules, such as roof height also played a part in the decision not to
bring the exotic cars from the
“After all, this is
a Sportsman race,” he commented.
With qualifying completed it was time to get underway and
for the first time in many years the northern teams felt like they were the
group to beat. The southern contingent
of Lindley, Bob Pressley, Morgan Shepherd and Ellis had shaken things over the
years but 1984 would seem to be the year that the north “caught up”. The
Northern teams have come a long way in the last few years. The Northern group were proud of the fact
that they were now as good as, or better than, the Southerners. No longer would they let the Bodine's,
Lindley’s and Shepherd’s come in and kick dirt in their collective faces. Little did anyone know at the time that the
Civil War was about to be fought in
McCabe, Crouch, and
Stevens quickly asserted themselves in the 250 as pole sitter Zemla could not
keep up. Six cautions in the first fifty
laps gave the guys who started back in the pack a chance to close up without
getting lapped. Lindley, driving the
unfamiliar Ed Wittaker Olds, came from his twelfth starting spot quickly while
Shepherd charged up from twenty-sixth.
Shepherd got into the battle for the lead by lap 35 and seemed to come
out of nowhere. McCabe and Crouch dueled
furiously for the lead, while Bodine and Rowe worked their way through the
pack. By lap 80, the field had settled
out. Up front were Crouch, McCabe,
Shepherd, Rowe, Bodine and Lindley.
McCabe would blink first as he was determined not to stay
on the track with used tires too long as he did in 1983. He came in at lap 93. Crouch, Shepherd, and Lindley all came in at
lap 100 while McCabe came back in at the time to take on left side tires. He now had four fresh ones. Now it
was Bodine and Rowe’s turn to battle for the fans and collect some lap money as
they chose to stay out and lead the race.
McCabe and Crouch continued their duel as they charged through the
pack. By lap 130, they were right back
in the thick of it, challenging Bodine and Rowe for the top spot. Shepherd and Lindley soon joined the fray and
the fans were treated to a tremendous six-car battle for the lead. More than once, the contenders went through
About this time,
people began to realize what was happening out there. This was more than just another race. It was developing into one of the all-time
classics. The racing was hard and there
was a lot of bumping and banging going on.
Cars moved up or down four or five positions in a single lap. It was the best drivers in the best cars on
the perfect oval.
At lap 146 Rowe and Bodine finally hit the pits for gas
and tires. Shepherd inherited the lead,
but it didn’t last long as he got caught up by the lapped car of
When the race
restarted the epic battle for the lead resumed.
Lindley quickly shot past Crouch to challenge McCabe as Crouch, Bodine,
and Rowe ran three-wide for third. A few
laps later, Lindley – whose car just wouldn’t handle in the high groove – got
hung out to dry. Crouch, Bodine and Rowe
all slipped under him. The reeling
Lindley would tangle with Jeff Stevens just a few laps later and ended the
night for Stevens and brought out another caution. When
racing resumed it was Crouch’s turn to take to the outside and challenge
McCabe. They ran side by side for half a
dozen laps as the crowd went wild.
Crouch actually nosed ahead and led lap 206, but he found the outside
groove difficult to hold, and slid back to fourth as Bodine and Rowe slipped
by.
Rowe decided it was
time to make his move. His game plan was
working to perfection. His tires were
fresh and the little V6 was handling to perfection. Rowe went to the outside and where Lindley
and Crouch had failed, Rowe succeeded.
First, he passed Bodine, and then he pulled beside McCabe. Not one person was sitting down as Rowe made
his bid for history. Most were screaming
their lungs out for the local boy to win the big one. For two laps, they ran side by side, and the
most controversial incident of the long, grueling race occurred. Going into turn one on lap 220, Bodine drove
his
Dick McCabe is not
a man to rile on the race track. While
Rowe extended his lead over Bodine, McCabe threw his racer sideways through the
corners in a frantic attempt to catch the leaders. On lap 229, he moved by Crouch for third and
set out after Bodine. With two laps to
go, McCabe caught Bodine. As Terry
Clattenburng lost a wheel on the homestretch, McCabe kept the accelerator
buried and flew under Bodine for second.
Clattenburg and the wheel rolled off the track and the green flag stayed
out.
McCabe and Bodine
hit going into turn one, leaned on each other through turn two, and slammed
into on another going down the backstretch.
This was not racing: it was a
barroom brawl! Bodine’s Pontiac spun,
hit the wall backwards, looped again, and hit the wall nose first. McCabe’s Buick slid sideways. As he fought to gain control, the crowd
howled.
Rowe pulled away to
an easy win as Crouch and Lindley got by the spinning racers for second and
third.
After the
incredible race, emotions flowed more freely than champagne. Rowe and his crew exulted in Victory
Lane. Jeff Stevens stood over a prone
Butch Lindley and yelled at him. Dick
McCabe was pressed for an explanation of what happened on the backstretch, and
minced no words:
“I nailed that boy!” he exclaimed. “I got weasalized. Some people showed their true colors out there tonight. I fixed it so he ended up bad. It had to be done.” McCabe wasn’t alone with his feelings on Bodine’s actions on the track.
“He kinda got me a
few times,” said race winner Rowe. “I think he came in contact with every car
out there. When I saw Geoff in second, I
didn’t want no part of him, so I just kept my foot on it and pulled away. I felt bad for Dick.”
Rowe took home $26,475 for car owner Phil Gerbode (whose team won it in 1982 with Mike Barry at the wheel).
“I feel real
great,” exclaimed Rowe. “I couldn’t feel
any better. I just wanted to go out
there and stay out of trouble and be there at the end.”
CLOSING: What can you
say about that detail and that enthusiasm for the race? I was getting fired up typing all of that
out! I remember this race quite clearly
and as a Crouch fan…well, I thought McCabe ran him up the track a few times,
but I guess that the nature of this race.
The real reason Bodine had a look low on McCabe? Well, the Irish Angel was making the track
pretty wide for Rowe as well. Who knows
if Rowe would have actually completed the pass if Bodine hadn’t been putting
that pressure down low. When Rowe pulled
away near the end it was awesome to watch McCabe slice his way past Crouch and
chase down Bodine. Everyone knew what
was coming and it didn’t disappoint.
There was a mixture of cheers and “ooooohs” when McCabe slammed it down
under him. Cheers for Bodine getting
sent into the wall and some sadness to see McCabe’s great run back to the front
go by the wayside. It sure was
memorable. While not the great “finish
for the win” that some of the races before it and after it, this race truly had
the fastest five or six cars battling on the track for probably a hundred laps
or more. And for the big finale, a
11th Annual
Mike Rowe…first winner from
Geoff
Bodine (15) with Mike Rowe alongside!
Four
cars up front, less than 50 to go!
Robbie
Crouch finished in second place Geoff
Bodine became “just another southerner”
for the
third time!! In
1984 and was put into his place at the 250.