BARRE, VT – Multi-time stock car champion Ben Rowe of Turner, ME will return to one of the few New England race tracks that he has yet to win at, Barre, VT’s Thunder Road, for the 45th Annual Chittenden Bank Milk Bowl on Sat./Sun., Sept. 27/28. The four-time Pro All Stars Series (PASS) champion and two-time TD Banknorth Oxford 250 winner will attempt to score his first victory at Thunder Road in the biggest event on the American-Canadian Tour (ACT) Late Model schedule, a race he finished as the runner-up in one year ago.
“I really was just getting to know how to race Thunder Road toward the end of last year by learning the line from guys like Brent Dragon and some of the locals,” explained Rowe. “I feel like I’m doing a better job (than I used to), but my philosophy has always been that if I want to be a better driver, I’ve got to race against drivers that are better than I am. At Thunder Road, there’s a lot of ‘em.”
The Chittenden Bank Milk Bowl is a three-segment, cumulatively scored event billed as the “toughest short track stock car race in North America.” Each 50-lap segment awards one point the winner, two points to the runner-up, etc., with the finish of each segment inverted to begin the next, meaning the winner of Segment 1 starts last in Segment 2. The driver with the lowest overall score at the end of three segments is declared the Milk Bowl winner, taking a $10,000 top prize and planting a kiss on a genuine Vermont beauty – an Ayrshire dairy cow. Booth Bros./H.P. Hood Time Trials and “Triple 50” qualifying races on Saturday, along with a last-chance “B” Feature on Sunday, determine the Segment 1 starting grid.
Rowe will drive the Avery’s Sweeping/Shuttle Connection Chevrolet fielded by Donald and David Avery of Lincoln, NH, the same car Rowe brought to a solid fourth-place finish in last month’s Bond Auto Labor Day Classic 200 at Thunder Road. His father, the legendary Mike Rowe, has one ACT victory at the track, in 1994, and has earned a pair of Segment wins in the Chittenden Bank Milk Bowl.
“Dad’s got a leg up on me, because he’s won at Thunder Road,” said Rowe, “but he’s never won the Milk Bowl. It’s such a huge race, and it’s so hard just to qualify for. Truthfully, I just want to win any race at Thunder Road, I don’t care which one… but the Milk Bowl would be quite special.”
Rowe will be one of as many as 50 entries expected for the 45th Annual Chittenden Bank Milk Bowl, the final round in the ACT Late Model Tour Championship. Two-time and defending Milk Bowl winner Patrick Laperle of Montréal trails Milton, VT point leader Scott Payea by just 19 markers entering the race. They will be joined by seven-time ACT champion Jean-Paul Cyr, 2008 Thunder Road track champion Eric Williams, and former Milk Bowl winners Phil Scott, Dave Pembroke, Cris Michaud, and Brent Dragon.
Booth Bros./H.P. Hood Qualifying Day begins with Time Trials at 1:30pm on Saturday, Sept. 27. The last-chance “B” Feature begins at 1:00pm on Sunday, Sept. 28 with 45th Annual Chittenden Bank Milk Bowl pre-race ceremonies scheduled for 1:30pm. Two-day general admission is $25 for adults and $5 for children 6-12, or $10 for Saturday only (kids free). For more information, call (802) 244-6963 or visit www.acttour.com or www.thunderroadspeedbowl.com.