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Horsepower - #63 Trevor Rocke

By Harrison Buzzatto, 08/24/16, 3:00PM EDT

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The Vermont Lumberjacks have added some horsepower to their repertoire this off-season with the sponsorship of Trevor Rocke, 28, of Canaan New Hampshire who has taken naturally to the race track..

“When I was nine or ten, I raced dirt bikes and since then I’ve gotten into snowmobile racing, asphalt race cars, dirt Modified’s just all kinds of racing. I’ve been racing for about 17 years and love it. I get it honestly as my dad raced. He passed away when I was five years old,” said Trevor.

Trevor’s father, Spencer William Rocke, died on December 22, 1991 at the age of 30.  He was killed in a snowmobile crash.  Spencer was very well known in Canaan and an avid racer.  Steve Lary, Lumberjack’s owner, would consider ‘well-known’ to be an understatement. 

“His father Spencer was an incredible person. The night of his viewing, I pulled up to the funeral home and there was a line out of the building and down the road, three to four people wide. Police were directing traffic. It looked like the entrance to a concert.  And this is in a small “blinking light” town.  I have yet to ever see anything like it since and this was more than 20 years ago, long before social media could spread the word in seconds,” Lary said. 

Trevor is a wonderful young man who has his priorities in the right order.  He's a very good driver in the state of Vermont.  The Lumberjacks want to associate themselves with people and entities having a positive impact in life.  Trevor does that,” Lary continued. 

Trevor now carries on his father’s legacy every time he races. 

“We have the same number, my grandfather had that number too.  63 ran then and I still run it today.  He raced at the same places I do as well.  People talk to me all the time about how they used to race with him.  His car was always orange, orange and black or orange and white so for the most part those colors are always in my car design,” Rocke said. 

Rocke humbly commented on his father’s legacy and what it means to him to fly the same colors.  “To have people coming up to you who you have never met telling you how great your father was makes me feel proud, it makes me want to keep going.  I wish he was around though, he’d probably be retired but working on my car with me,” remarked Trevor.

Trevor has raced in four-cylinder, street stock, and North Eastern Dirt Modified’s but his favorite class to race by far, is the Dirt Modified’s.

“Open Wheel Dirt Modified, is what they call them,” Rocke said.  “It’s pretty intense, there are probably 28-30 of them who show up every week, and it’s a quarter of a mile-long track.  This will be my seventh season racing the Modified’s.”

Trevor has been all over New England appearing in several different venues.

“They used to have a track here in Canaan but they closed it down.  In Vermont, there is Bear Ridge Raceway and Devil’s Bowl Speedway in Fairhaven that have races Saturday and Sunday nights all summer long.” Rocke said.  “Each track races Modified’s, but you can pretty much go to any venue in New England, New York and even to Pennsylvania with a Dirt Modified and be able to race.”

Trevor says he has “high hopes” for this racing season especially with the support that the Vermont Lumberjacks has provided.

“With the competition the way it is, I want to work on consistency.  I would love to win more races but I want to be more consistent overall.  I don’t know about the championship run this season but for sure this is our best season ever.  The Lumberjacks commitment has given me a lot of opportunity to better my chances to make the podium and I couldn’t ask for anything more” commented Rocke.

Trevor believes that his experience as a racer starting young sets him apart from the crowd and that it will serve him well this upcoming season. 

“I’ve been doing this for my whole life, the Modified’s are the premier and we don’t mess around.  People come to watch the Modified’s, we are what draws the crowd.  It adds to the excitement and the hype.  I’m excited,” stated Trevor. 

In the off-season Trevor enjoys hunting, fishing, and working on race cars!

Trevor primarily races at two tracks in Vermont, Bear Ridge Speedway www.bearridgespeedway and Devils Bowl Speedway www.devilsbowlspeedwayvt.com.

Trevor will be racing September 10th at Bear Ridge Speedway, in honor of his father, in the Shaker Valley Auto - Spencer Rocke Memorial Night.  Come out and enjoy a great night of dirt track racing and cheer on #63.