Peyton Manning rarely gets mentioned without Tom Brady entering the conversation. Larry Bird and Magic Johnson are forever linked.
And nobody needs to tell Ben Rowe that when local race fans hear his name, they also think of Johnny Clark.
The two have dominated Pro All Stars Series competition for a decade, combining for nine PASS North titles. Rowe won a PASS South crown in 2009 for good measure.
What sticks with Rowe these days, however, is finishing second to Clark in the northern standings each of the last three years.
This season’s scoreboard watch started early.
“I think all of us know we’re trying to catch Johnny. He’s won three out of five races,” Rowe said. “He’s definitely still the guy to beat. That’s what we talked about when we set out this season is when he has his bad days, we need to be in the top five.”
Sure enough, through five events, Rowe is the only driver who can claim he was running in that lead quintet at the end of every race. Clark’s three wins are his only three finishes in that category.
Rowe, now 36, still loves to win, though. He’s carried the checkers more frequently than any driver in PASS history.
Last Saturday’s victory at Canaan Fair Speedway in New Hampshire was Rowe’s first of the season and the 42nd of his combined PASS North and South career.
That triumph, coupled with his clockwork consistency, gives Turner’s Rowe a 12-point lead over Farmingdale’s Clark entering the tour stop Saturday at Beech Ridge Motor Speedway in Scarborough.
“Canaan is real fast,” said Rowe, who successfully defended his title in the Firecracker 150 there. “It seems to suit me. I like to go fast and get everything I can out of the car.”
Rowe raced door-to-door and in the tire tracks of Richie Dearborn most of the evening. He took the lead for good on lap 112.
Clark followed him into second shortly thereafter, but a tangle with Dearborn sent the five-time champ for a spin. He rallied to sixth at race’s end.
“It feels good to finally get back to winning one,” Rowe said. “We’ve been in the top five basically all year. The last two or three races the car has gotten better and better.”
The timing couldn’t be more perfect for Rowe and the Richard Moody Racing outfit.
July’s PASS schedule gets ambitious, irregular and relatively local this month. Rowe has two rare midweek events and two chances to compete in his backyard on the calendar.
First up: This season’s second visit to Beech Ridge, where Clark won and Rowe finished third in April. Racing starts at 6 p.m.
For a place that’s so familiar, Beech Ridge and its 25-year-old asphalt surface don’t rank among Rowe’s favorite haunts.
“It’s the track I seem to have trouble with. I won there once, but it was one of the 300s years ago,” Rowe said. “I think it’s me. I like to go fast and hard through the corners, and it’s one of those places where you’ve got to finesse it. I just can’t seem to get it.”
PASS will take only two days off before the Bastille 200 at Lee USA Speedway in New Hampshire on Tuesday, July 12.
Thompson (Conn.) Speedway hosts a PASS national championship event Thursday, July 20. And two nights later is the circuit’s anticipated return to Oxford Plains Speedway.
OPS jettisoned Pro Stock-style cars after the 2006 season, leading to a lengthy estrangement with the tour. Many fans and drivers consider the reunion long overdue.
“For me it is,” Rowe said. “I like the Pro Stock car and I like to race a Pro Stock at Oxford. I love the power and the way it drives. I think if we put on a great show and the car count is up, a lot of people are going to want to see PASS keep coming back.”
PASS also will close its season at Oxford in October.
The summer event serves as the warm-up act for the 38th annual TD Bank 250, now a Late Model showcase. Rowe won the race back-to-back at the wheel of a Pro Stock in 2003 and ’04.
Despite his leanings toward the machines with the throaty roar and the higher horsepower, Rowe has dabbled with late models in American-Canadian Tour competition.
Rowe and Moody even have a 250-legal car in their Auburn shop. Because of their focus on the PASS title, however, it isn’t ready.
“So right now I have nothing. If some ride rolls in between now, and it’s a good ride, then we’ll take a look at it,” Rowe said. “The 250 is the 250. It’s going to be a great race even if it’s all street stocks. If I have a car to drive that’s half-decent, you know I’ll want to run it.”
LEFT TURNS
— Saturday’s Late Model finish at OPS has been deemed official, and the top three of Tommy Ricker, Tim Brackett and Dennis Spencer Jr. was upheld. Those results remained in question over the holiday weekend due to an ongoing technical inspection process.
— Corey Morgan of Lewiston leads the Oxford Late Model standings by two points over Jeff White and three over Brackett. That’s significant because only two races remain until the TD Bank 250, and the weekly point leader at that checkpoint is generally guaranteed a provisional starting spot. Morgan finished third in last year’s 250.
— Thirty-seven Late Models at OPS on Saturday night was a record for the top division at the track dating back to at least the late 1970s. The field included drivers from as far away as Fort Kent (Austin Theriault), Hyde Park, Vt. (Eric Williams), and Carleton Place, Ontario (Spencer McPherson).
— D.J. Shaw, son of past NASCAR regional touring series champion Dale Shaw, won the 50-lap Pro Series main event at Beech Ridge on Saturday.
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