Travis Benjamin Interview: Seeking 4th Oxford 250 Win & Return to Canada

Photo Courtesy of: 3 Wide Media Productions

December 22nd, 2023,

Introduction

For anyone following Northeastern asphalt racing in the United States of America, or who has looked at the history, the #7 of Travis Benjamin should be a well recognized name. Benjamin, of Belfast, Maine, has done everything a NE US driver can hope to do, and more. In his mid-40s, he is still razor sharp. Benjamin’s full-bodied, asphalt, late model racing journey traces back into the 1990s, before the founding of the Pro All Star Series (PASS), the premiere exhibition of such talents in the region over recent years, which was founded in 2001. Not only did he run some full-time campaigns in NEPSA (North East Pro Stock Assocation) in the 1990s, he ran some lengthy ARCA Mendards Series East campaigns in the early 2000s. Bridging generational gaps, he raced with Scott Fraser in the IPS (International Pro Stock Challenge Series) in year 2000, along with now owner of the famous Oxford Plains Speedway, Tom Mayberry, and racers: Larry Gelinas, Andy Shaw, Ben Rowe, Sam Sessions, and many more from his own region, along with such talents from the Maritimes as: Mike MacKenzie & John Flemming.

Full-time PASS Years

Benjamin found his home as a full-time driver in PASS (“PASS North Super Late Model Series”) in 2005. While he showed significant speed in early years, against such talents as a young DJ Shaw, Johnny Clark, Cassius Clark prior to the King Racing #13 years, and Derek Ramstrom, one of his big wins in his career to date came in 2008 in PASS, at the now East Coast International Pro Stock Tour Sanctioned “Summer Clash 250” race at Scotia Speedworld, Nova Scotia. Then a PASS North sanctioned race, called the Atlantic CAT 250. Benjamin led just shy of half of that race, as he marched to one of the biggest wins in Atlantic Canada. Benjamin’s biggest accolades during his full-time PASS years have to be his 3x Oxford 250 wins, but before we go there, let’s consider his PASS points championships.

His most recent full-time PASS season was in 2020, where he finished 3rd to DJ Shaw, followed by Johnny Clark. In 2018, he ran full-time, and finished 8 points behind, and second place to, champion DJ Shaw. In a season where he went through multiple cars, including ones which were not his own, and going into the last race in a points deficiet, he pulled out all the stops and almost won it. The year prior, 2017, was his second series championship, which he won in his second year with Petit Motorsports, a team he still races for today, for car-owner Peter Petit. His next earliest full-time schedule he ran was 2013, when Cassius Clark won it all. The year prior, 2012, was his first championship.

Three Oxford 250 Wins

In the midst of his PASS successes, he managed to cement his legacy in the history books as a legend in the region over the course of 250 PASS North features. The Oxford 250 deserve it’s own article, or articles, it is the biggest race in the region, bigger to many locals than the Snowball Derby. Through multiple sanctioning bodies and eras, and with Benjamin making an attempt in the 1990s, as well as 3 shots at it in the mid-2000s, Benjamin would begin running the Oxford 250 every year, and counting, as of 2013. In that 11 year span, he has won the race 3 times. Dating back to 1974, the Oxford 250 has never seen a 4-time winner, and has had 4, 3 time winners. Mike Rowe, father of Ben Rowe, achieved this feat in 1984, 1997, and perhaps most impressively, in 2005, at age 56, Mike went through his heat race, his “Consi” race, and a lengthy last chance race, in which case 31 drivers failed to qualify for the 250. Included among these are Curtis Gerry, a budget team that specializes at Oxford and has taken home the 250 crown since, local Maritime racers like Scott Alexander, Dave O'Blenis, Shawn Tucker, John Flemming, and many strong American drivers, too. Also of note, this same year, Mike Rowe won 5 PASS North Races (then just called PASS Super Late Model Series, later specified as North, as PASS had some expansion), and repeated in 2007 with another 5 PASS North wins. This includes winning the CAT 250 At Scotia Speedworld in both of those years, when it was PASS sanctioned.

Whereas Mike Rowe has an incredible 40 Oxford 250 starts, Ralph Nason in the only driver to ever do it 3 times in a row - with all of his wins coming in: 1998, 1999, and 2000. Cole Butcher has a chance at tying that feat in 2024, should he both participate, and win in the storied event. Dave Dion & Travis Benjamin himself are the sole other 2 who are tied up among the 4 drivers to win the Oxford 250 3 times.

GSPSS Champion

In 2023, Benjamin found himself running full-time on the Granite State Pro Stock Series for Petit Motorsports, in a relatively similar region, but with a shorter schedule. As of this past season, he has been joined by team mate Joey Doiron, a driver who has also found victory lane in New Brunswick. Whereas his PASS championship affairs took him nearly 20 races, annual schedule wise, GSPSS offered him a 7 race schedule, appropriately enough for the #7 driver from Belfast. After winning the first two races of the season, and notching another podium in race 3, with a 3rd place marker, Benjamin would win one more feature, en route to a championship in a 3 win, 6 top-5 affair over the 7 race schedule.

Interview

So, for starters, you've won the Oxford 250 3 times now. I am under the impression that, while the Snowball Derby is the race of all races for many people, for a lot of Northeast Drivers, the Oxford 250 is number 1. [Benjamin said he agrees with this, and is that way himself] Having won it 3 times already, do you have a different bucket list race, or feat you'd like to accomplish? Or are you most driven by breaking the tie-breaker for all time most Oxford 250 wins, by getting a 4th? What would you ideally like to achieve next, as the number one goal?

That's a great question to be honest with you. And that's honestly kind of what I am going through right now. Not to sound cocky or anything, but - I've kind of done everything that I've wanted to do. I'm very fortunate, and it's all the people you have around you, and the equipment you're in. It's not Travis Benjamin, it's everybody that's ever supported me. I really wanted to win a fourth 250, that's been one of my goals for the past couple of years. It's so hard to do that, and not race very much.

I'm getting older [Benjamin is mid-40s - I partly-seriously mentioned hey, what about Mike, referring to fellow PASS racer Mike Rowe, and mention how in his 70s he won a feature this year at Oxford Plains Speedway for the track super late division, anything can happen] Yeah, exactly, and I love racing, but the last couple of years, my son's been getting older, and my racing just hasn't been my top priority anymore. And just what you said, you know, hopefully I can race 'till I'm 73, 75, but my kid's only going to be a kid once, you know? [I make a side note about how impressive it is that Mike is a generation, or generations ahead of us, he is. I noted how my opinion is Mike Rowe rewinding back was a force, then Ben Rowe became absolutely dominant for a long time, with Mike still strong, then at some point in recent years, it almost seemed like Mike sometimes exceeded Ben again] I think we all go through that, you know? I hadn't been as good for a couple of years there, and priorities changing, you know. This year we were pretty good, though.

My goal has been though to win a 4th 250, but you can't do that, and not race all the time. I haven't really been racing as much as I used to - used to run 15-20 times a year, now my schedule's about 10 races. I'd love to win a 4th, but it's getting harder. I'm very goal driven, I need to have a goal I want, 2021 & 2022, my only goals those years were to win the 250, and I wasn't racing as much. My performance wasn't as good with only that goal. So this last year I decided I wanted to run another championship, and I'd love to run PASS, but I don't really want to run 18 times a year. GSPSS had a perfect schedule for me now, and it was fun again, because I was chasing the championship again.

[We point out how you still have guys like Brandon Barker, Derek Griffith, Joey Doiron, Joey Pole, and other great drivers running GSPSS to varying degrees, too; they've gotten 28-30 car frields before, 5 figure to-win prizes]

GSPSS is a great series, it doesn't have quiet as much backing as PASS, but it's a great series. [I asked, and had confirmation they run about the same car and rules as they do in PASS, and about the same as the Pro Stock Tour, except different tires - faster but fall off quicker, better shocks, and better brakes]

[Before I asked this question, Benjamin continued his previous answer by saying: To be honest with you, I want to run more up in Canada. - This naturally transitioned into these two questions, though I hadn't asked them yet]

How was your experience racing in the Maritimes in the past?

You've won the Speedway 660 250, and the Scotia Speedworld 250, what would it take you to return to the Maritimes, realistically, and potentially?


So, my mother is from PEI, and I've never raced up in PEI [Oyster Bed]. Honestly, for next year, that's kind of what I think, that I'd like to run up that way. Not the whole schedule, but I would like to run maybe 5 or 6 races. I love going to 660, and it's honestly only 4 hours away from me, so it's not hard that. [And it's modelled after some North East US tracks]. I haven't been up there since 2014, when we won the 250 up there. So I'd like to get back to the 250, and I'd like to try that new Super Late Model Series (SLMS). We've won over in Halifax (Scotia Speedworld 250), so the only one I haven't gotten up there is the IWK. We went there twice, and were good both times, I think we were leading, and just had stuff happen. So I'd like to get back there.


[Side note/question occurs about noticing Joey Doiron ran for the same team as Benjamin in 2023, and how that came about]


It's one of those deals where I don't want to race every weekend. I love racing, I want to be invovled it, but I don't want to do it every weekend. And like I said, if you don't do it every weekend, you fall behind very quickly. Peter (Peter Petit, Petit Motorsports/car owner), he's been awesome to me, he's given me anything I've ever wanted, he's never even questioned anything I've ever done. For me to say I don't want to race, so you can't, I didn't think that was right, you know. So we talked, and he took Joey on as his full-time guy.

It does help though having Joey, he's racing every weekend, so I can get info off of him, and it definitely helped us. Having a guy on our team racing every weekend, definitely helped our program. I feel like he shared the information pretty damn good with me.

[I make a comment about importance of a good crew/team for the Oxford 250 - based on format, entry list size, attrition potential, etc. Benjamin agreed.]



Oxford Plains Speedway: I’m sure it depends on the weather, fresh rubber or not, temperature, all that. But, Oxford is a pretty unique track. As far as I can tell it really doesn’t have a straight away, and you frequently have 3-wide battles all throughout the field, and sometimes it feels like the 3rd groove is the best way to make up a lot of track position quickly. What are your feelings about how it races, or what factors into what is a good line or not on any given day?


That’s another good question. You used to never run the 3rd groove there. So, when we won our second 250 (the first 250, you didn’t run the 3rd groove, very rarely did you see anyone do so - year 2013) in 2014, we all pitted late in the race. Austin Theriault and I were the best at that one, and him and I were racing. He was as good as we were. I think he beat me out, he was 11th, and I was 12th, and there was a lapped car right in front of me. That was the first time I went 3 wide, and I passed like 4 cars in a lap, and thought "huh! there's something out here!'. So we went along and won that race, and after that, I just loved that 3rd groove.

[I remark how he is one driver I noticed that seems to run it effectively a lot, and Nick Sweet, too]

Yup! Nick Sweet used to run that all the time. Something has changed with that track. Back then, you could run out there 10 laps, and you'd pass a lot of cars. Now something has changed. If I'm in the 250, I'm always there to win, you know? But I don't like the racing there anymore, because you have to be on the bottom, and you have to move the guy. It used to be that if there was two cars sitting side by side, you just go to the 3rd groove and just pass them all. Now it's just sit there and wait, and you gotta move the guy. Now you gotta go on a restart and pass 2 or 3 cars, and then you've gotta get to the bottom. The only way to pass in that 3rd groove now is to do it really quickly. And it's gotta be almost on a caution, very rarely: if there's two guys, and you catch them, can you go to the 3rd groove now.

[We returned to this question: You've won the Speedway 660 250, and the Scotia Speedworld 250, what would it take you to return to the Maritimes, realistically, and potentially?]

I really want to, we haven't been going just because of COVID and all that stuff. I can't go there with just a couple of guys, you need to go there and have 4 or 5 guys that are good crew members there. And now I think I can get all of our guys across. I went over there to (Speedway) 660 this last year and helped [Hudson Weston at Speedweekend (the 250), right?], yeah. That was a lot of fun, and I missed going there. I thought man, this race is fun to be at. That is one of my goals for next year, to get back to that race. I'd like to try that new series (SLMS) a bit, their rules seem to fit my rules better. Shock rules, and stuff like that. That's kinda what I'm looking for next year - to maybe find a ride up there, or to take my own stuff. I think taking my own stuff would be the best way to be competitive.

As long as the schedule lines up right, I'm not chasing points anymore, and as long as I can get my guys up there. My mother's side in PEI hasn't really seen me race. My Aunt saw me once when I won, at Scotia (Speedworld) there. That was the last time I was there, I'd like to get back there. I always had wicked good luck there. I'm just trying to find new goals, something I haven't done.

How did you crewing for Hudson Weston come to be?

So that came to be with Jeff Armstrong and J&D, his business, he called me up there, asking if I wanted to come up and help. I wanted to get back just to get back up there, and I wanted to see how the race was run, in case I did want to come back up. Those guys were awesome to work with, and I'll tell you what, I was some impressed with Weston. For not racing much in the Pro Stocks there, I'm telling ya. We didn't have a very good jack, we didn't have a quick fill to fill the car up. So I told him, we're going to have to pit early, just to beat everybody back, so that way everybody has to pass us. We pitted, and it all worked out pretty good. I wanted to pit around lap 100, the caution came out around 97, so it worked out good. We were about the only ones who pitted, and the guys did a wicked good job changing. We come out, and we lost about 2-3 spots, and just about everyone in front of us was going to have to pit, and it'd give us the lead. So I told him to just ride, just ride. For a 20 year old kid I didn't believe he was just sitting there riding, because he was running right there with them. Then it came to lap 190 or so, #2 car (Ashton Tucker) had pitted, and the #1 car (Ryan Messer) had pitted, so I told him you go get the lead, and Weston drove right to second. I thought oh my god, he was saving. And then we got caught up in that wreck, that sucked. The kid did a wicked good job, he ran a great race. When I told him to save, most kids don't know how to save, you know? I kept asking and I didn't believe him, but he was.

[I acknowledge how some of this was already covered, but] How was your experience racing in the Maritimes in the past?

I loved it. The guys are great to race with. The fans are awesome, they welcome you, you know what I mean? When I went to 660, I was just there watching and helping, and the tech guys were great, the tire guys were great, Brent (Roy) was awesome. He was messaging me, asking 'how can we get ya?' [I comment Brent is really proactive] It's nice to feel wanted. Granite State is the same way, they thank you for coming, they welcome you. I miss racing up there, I loved it. The racing was always great, they always welcome ya, they always put on a great party, the fans are always great to hang out with. I do miss it, that's kinda what I want to do next year, get back to racing up there.

[We talked some about SLMS and the good things they are doing]

Wayne (Smith) is the same deal, how can I get you to come to Petty (International Raceway)? It's good to feel wanted.

Over the years, have you found racing has changed in any significant way? For better or worse?

Oh, it's changed unbelievably, and I don't think it's for the good. It's nobodies fault, it's just the way the world is. Just everything is so expensive now. When I was first racing Pro Stocks, you raced Ralph Nason and Jeff Stevens and those guys, and if you touched them, guess what, they were moving ya. Now adays, you don't dare to do that stuff, because it just costs so much. There's a few guys that will wreck ya. Some stuff you see now, if someone would have done that stuff to Ralph Nason or Jeff Stevens, you wouldn't be going home with a race car.

Now adays it's just so expensive, and the racing's not as good, I don't think. The way I was brought up, you learned to respect your elders. And back then, if you won, you moved up. Now you could have no talent, and just pay your way to where ever you want to go, which sucks. It's definitely not the same, and I don't see it getting any better, either.

[I mention some previous guys like Mike/Ben Rowe & Eddie MacDonald who used to be in big NASCAR series, predicated more about skill generating the opportunity]

Like you said, Benji (Ben Rowe) won everything there was (in the Northeast), and then he got a chance to go the NASCAR level, the Busch North level. Eddie was the same way, he ended up winning a lot, and he got an opportunity.

[Benjamin mentions how you still needed money, you couldn't take a piece of crap car, but it was different - I remark how if you are winning, you get attention, and you might a chance/a break. I also mention how someone like Josh Berry got there, but it took 10+ years of dominating Late Model Stocks, and having Dale Earnhardt Jr pulling for him to get his break - he agreed, it takes everything aligning right, and it’s rare.]

Exactly. It's like Ricky Craven. He had people backing him, so he was always in really good stuff. But he won at the Pro Stock level, then he won in Busch North, then Busch North, then the NASCAR level. You don't see that these days. If I wanted to go (NASCAR) Cup racing tomorrow, I could, if I could get together $10-$15 million, I'd be there.

[I mention how he'd have to qualify because it wouldn't be a chartered team, but he would be there - and that would go for anyone who could bring that money together, regardless of talent or experience]

I had a chance to do a cup start, but the guy wanted 30 grand, and it was with a team that was going to finish 35th or worse. Kind of like the Snowball Derby, it would be fun to do, but I don't want to spend that much. NASCAR's not about the best drivers, it's about who was the most money. There's a few of them who are probably the best in the Country, but there's 25 others who just have money. That's what makes Super Late Model pretty good, but it's the same deal wherever you go. There's some guys who run 4-cylinders who are probably wicked good race car drivers, but they don't have the money to run Pro Stocks. It's that way at every level, but NASCAR is really bad.

[With Super's I like the racing more, and I like shorter tracks]

Yeah, me too. Not to toot my own horn, but when we won the 250's in '13 and '14, we didn't have any full-time people, we had one car, we were a little team. You go to the Snowball Derby, that's not going to be a little team that wins that race. Curtis Gerry is the same way, a little team. That's what I like about Oxford, a little team can still win that race.

With 2023 winding down, and the wait for the 2024 racing season in session, Travis Benjamin’s plans are much anticipated, and he would be a very welcome addition to any race slate in the Maritimes.