"You Can Take the Boy Out of Racing ...

But you can't take racing out of the boy" ... Well, I apologize for not updating this blog for such a long time, however, beyond taking a year off of racing, there have been many changes in my life. It is fair to say that the flag is clearly back in my court to carry and I am going to be doing just that at SCCA Pro Racing World Challenge this year.

Following some early season testing, we are pleased to announce that Roberts Racing has teamed up with Daskalos Racing for the entire season and will campaign a two-car team in the GT class of WC. We are operating under the DR Racing name and we are running those race operations with Jason out of New Mexico.

There will be plenty more information forthcoming as Jason is gunning for the championship and I am working towards the Rookie of the Year award for SCCA Pro Racing. We have kicked off the season with three races (all street courses) at St. Petersburg and the Long Beach Grand Prix .... what a thrill and a privilege to run such unique courses and to do it against some icons of racing like Ron Fellows from my hometown.

We will also be adding new content and some great in-car video to the site shortly so check back when you have a chance .... we are looking forward to Mosport, Watkins Glen and the streets of Toronto in the next couple of months. We hope to see you there!!!!

A Rookie No More ...

And so ends season two. I suppose I can't really call myself a rookie anymore. I still had a lot of firsts this season .... they range from really getting to understand the "rush" of a good start (both rolling and standing), leading races, breaking parts, going pro and the highlight - running a street course with SPEED World Challenge on Belle Isle, Detroit Labour Day weekend.

There has been a delay since finals in adding this post to the blog because I really needed to decompress from racing for a bit. There is tremendous uncertainty about 2009 with Dodge on the brink, the Viper Racing League sold and the economy (especially the currency roller coaster) really adding to the mix. Having run several races with Lux Performance this summer in the World Challenge, we were hoping to explore a run at the Rookie of the Year at World Challenge for '09. Unfortunately, with the hopes of a Mopar sponsorship gone and the aforementioned uncertainty, we are in a holding pattern for next year. Moreover, one can't ignore the call to refocus on the businesses that allowed the racing in the first place.

Overall in 2008 we had a moderately successful year with top three finishes in all but one of our Viper Racing League races with an overall third for the National Championship. Our hiatus from the VRL during the summer to run pro had some impact on our points, however, I would not trade that experience for the world!! In our SCCA Pro Racing debut we had respectable results with our best at Mosport with a twelfth overall. I really do feel that I developed more this year as a racer than even my rookie year.

Racing at this level can become quite an effort. We ran twelve events in '08 which translates into a pretty hectic schedule. Our family had a chance to embrace the lifestyle and at times had to get home to get a rest!One of the most memorable moments of the year (besides narrowly missing a catastrophic crash at Mosport) was experiencing all that pro racing had to offer from the crowds, the competition and the chance to be on the other side of the fence with people and drivers that you admired when one was a spectator. It was really surreal to be next to Bobby Rahal in the pits as a competitor (he was managing his Aston Martin team) when I remember him winning the inaugural Molson Canadian Toronto Indy in the eighties as I watched my first live race.

I would like to thank everyone who has helped me in this journey .... to my friends at the VRL who brought me along nicely, to Skip Thomas and his family who introduced me to this sport in the most professional way, to John Archer and company for supporting our car and our team literally from "minute-one" and to Gary Johnson, Tom Francis, Mike Stevens and everyone through the Dodge/Mopar channel who helped me take the plunge into pro this year. I owe a special thanks to Cindi Lux who gave me the opportunity to paddock with Lux Performance and for showing us the best side of World Challenge.

On a parting note, I wish I could say that some really exciting things are in the works for 2009 but we really do not know at this point. The Viper program is for sale from Dodge, the auto industry is about to implode, sponsorships are non-existent and almost everyone you talk to in the racing business is kind of holding their breath. Who knows .... but with a 30% premium to race in U.S. dollars, I am not sure I want to hold my breath. Then again, like the very nature of racing, things can change in a heartbeat and we will see what we can do for 2009.

Wishing everyone a safe and happy holiday season and a fruitful "off-season" for my fellow racers!!

Please take a moment to enjoy some of the video below of our pro debut.

Three Pro Races, Two Near Crashes and One Big Decision Ahead ...

The past month has been a whirlwind. With the help of Mopar and the factory supported team of Cindi Lux, NayKid Racing and Lux Performance, we completed our three race campaign with the pros. Overall I would say that our efforts paid off well with a fourteenth, a twelfth and a sixteenth placing in those three SCCA Pro Racing events. The races gave us a chance to experience the technical challenges of Mid Ohio, the high speed demands of Mosport and the perilous walls of a street course at Belle Isle. While Belle Isle was our lowest finish, we would have placed better if not for a DNF due to a blown transmission just five laps from the finish. This in itself was another first for Roberts Racing as we had never not completed a race.

In retrospect, "knock on wood", we had no offs, no contact and no car damage throughout our journey. Of course, this is in keeping with our reputation and may have cost us a few spots for not taking just a little more chance in a sport where drivers can go from hero to zero in the blink of an eye. Ultimately, our goal was to take our somewhat "tame" World Challenge spec car and see if we could manage the stress and pace of the "big boys" and to assess where we might want to go next year. I would say that we achieved our goal in that we did reasonably well for our first attempts at pro, and those drivers in the SPEED World Challenge series have come to know that our driving is solid and courteous to those teams that are faster and in the hunt for points towards the championship.

In a short three races I would like to think that some of the off-track activities have yielded some positive momentum for our team, including an opportunity to get to better know the folks at Mopar and others that will be instrumental to advancing our cause next year should we decide to move to a more demanding pro schedule. As part of our last race weekend at Belle Isle, Detroit, I was asked by Mopar to speak to a group of several hundred Viper owners to share our story. Specifically, our story of how we have gone from sitting in a race car just a short eighteen months ago and now find ourselves competing at a pro level. I guess at the end of the day, the story has merit considering I was in such an audience just two years ago at a previous Viper Owners Invitational wondering what it would be like to race. And now I know.

So what is next for us? Good question ... we will finish up the year with a few last events with the Viper Racing League as any more pro events will forfeit my Rookie status with the SCCA and I want to retain this for next year should we take a run at the World Challenge. I know for sure that I want to develop some business opportunities from our pro efforts. We have been invited to participate with a team for the Rolex 24 hrs of Daytona in January and beyond this, we will most likely engage a few teams about support for next season. As a sensible privateer (another word for "funds everything"), we are going to keep our options open and leverage off of our relationships to optimize whatever next year may look like.

I owe a thanks to Cindi from Lux Performance/Naykid Racing for making me feel a part of the Mopar family, to Gary from Dodge for connecting the dots for us to go to the pros and to Mike from Mopar for such a warm reception and kind words along the way. Hopefully, some will hear of our story and reach for their own racing aspirations by way of this awesome machine called the Dodge Viper.

So now, it is time to start shopping for a new transmission and pay some attention to the points race at the VRL since I took my "eye off the ball" during my pro debut. We are scheduled for Spring Mountain at the end of the month, however, it would be nice to surprise a few of our friends and show up at Willow Springs ahead of that. We will see.

A Race of Lesser Mistakes ....

Well, we finally got it done. After many years of the "dream" (see one of my first blogs for details on the origins of the "dream") we went to Mid-Ohio for our first SCCA Pro Racing event with the SPEED World Challenge GT series. Our goal was to stay safe, be conservative, consistent, courteous to other drivers and above all else, dignified in our first outing. Now dignified can mean many things, but for us, it meant do not be intimidated by the aggressive driving of those veterans, do not be too far off of race pace and do not cause any incidents that would make the highlight reel. Phew, we did it.

Without going into great detail, the biggest difference at the pro level is that everything is condensed and at the same time, spread wayyyy out. The two official twenty-minute practice sessions were plagued with red flags and in one session, we only managed to log one full lap on the MoTec for analysis. Clearly, this type of short session is designed to test a set-up and by no means affords a driver to learn the track. The learning is meant to be another time and not during the official schedule. Our best practice actually took place during qualifying when all the veterans took a few flyer laps and vacated the track leaving me almost alone to run and finally get into a groove. We did not qualify terribly well due to coping with several big changes to the car like the Toyo DOT tires that we run with World Challenge. The tire change was the most significant factor in "re-learning" the car along with the "bullish tendencies" of my fellow drivers. After my first day of practice my arm was sore from so many point-by's (yes, John Archer, I am kidding ... sort of).

Adding to the experience was the fact that Mid-Ohio was also host to the IRL, the ALMS and IMSA this particular weekend that attracted probably fifty-thousand fans each day. With my coveted "Pro Racer Hard Card ID" we spent quite a bit of time driving our rented golf cart around areas that we had admired from afar in past years. Now we were one of "them". Wow. I should also mention that there were two moments of gravity for us. The first was the prayer session and helicopter medi-vac instructions during the driver meeting and on a lighter note, when we looked over to the next pit stall during a stop and Bobby Rahal was timing his car. I remember attending my first race ever at the inaugural Toronto Indy back in the late eighties where Rahal was the first winner. This is just a neat milestone and a million miles from good old Stonegate. This is an inside reference in case you don't get it.

Results wise, we were pleased to move up ten positions from our qualifying position of 24th to finish 14th. As the title of this blog alludes, my finish is really testament to two factors - one, I drove a solid and consistent race with no mistakes (translation - with no big risks either) and two, a lot of faster and more experienced racers made some mistakes that either took them out of the race or far enough back that they never recovered. The bottom line in my view is that you can't win races by being as conservative as I was, however, refer back to my prime mandate and we should all agree that we finished in a very dignified way.

Special thanks to NayKid Racing, Lux Performance along with Cindi Lux and her crew for doing everything they could to help me manage the rookie jitters and for taking such good care of the #89 car. Both Cindi and Matt also did an amazing job of enlightening me during our debriefs and I really look forward to developing further so that we might be able to seriously compete with the "big boys" in the future. Last but not least, a big thanks to the Dodge guys for coming down from Detroit and making me feel a part of the family.

Mosport next ... let's hope we didn't leave all our dignity in Ohio.

Hot = VIR in July!!

Finally ..... the new engine is in! In sparing you the details, John Archer and his guys were able to install the engine one day before transport to VIR ... home of America's longest straight (so I have been told). Apparently, also home of the climate most like the rain forest, or center of the sun if you ask me. As beautiful as the track is, I preferred the comfort of the new villas that have been recently built on the esses. And I mean ON the esses ... you can just about reach out and touch the cars as they go by!

In keeping with the good old "that's racing", we had some challenges with the new motor right from the get-go but managed to work through them with some outstanding track-side support and collaboration between Dodge and Archer Racing.

The Saturday race was my most bizarre experience with several interruptions to the race, one of which saved me from going a lap down as the motor overheated and I had to pull over for mechanical instructions. Regrettably, Saturday gave us a third but by the time Sunday rolled around we had a car, and more importantly a motor, that was ready to go. And go it did with a start to finish lead for a very important solid win on Sunday. The car ran well, we didn't have one off-track or miss a shift and it reflected. This set the stage for our SCCA Pro Racing debut in Ohio the foll0wing week.

As pleased as we were with the results, we need to thank a few people for working hard to get us running on the weekend as well as scrambling to get the car prepared for the World Challenge debut including: John Archer and his crew, Tom Francis, Gary Johnson and Jim Stout (Jeff - many thanks) for the mechanical hospitality and logistics support to get my car staged for Mid Ohio.

All in all, it was nice to have one more thing knocked off the "handicap" list. Off to the big pond next.

Roberts Racing signs on with Lux Performance / NayKid Racing for Speed World Challenge

Roberts Racing is pleased to announce that the #89 Dodge Viper Competition Coupe, driven by Fred Roberts, will make the teams pro racing debut in the SCCA Pro Racing Speed World Challenge series this July at Mid-Ohio Raceway. Roberts Racing has signed on with Lux Performance / NayKid Racing for a number of races and will be teammate to Cindi Lux (http://www.cindilux.com/), a veteran driver and seasoned instructor currently competing in the Speed World Challenge in the number #2 Dodge Viper with factory support through Mopar.

With over thirty starts between the Michelin Challenge Series and the Viper Racing League, all resulting in top three finishes in-class, Roberts Racing is excited about this opportunity to work with a pro team and take our experience to the next level. After careful consideration, we felt that NayKid Racing was a great fit to work with our team and they genuinely want to help us through the normal rookie "jitters" in moving to a pro series. NayKid Racing has had an outstanding season, and most recently, Cindi qualified third at Miller Motorsports Park with an impressive finish in fifth in that same race.

Roberts Racing will continue with our full schedule in the Viper Racing League concurrent to running the Speed World Challenge GT with our second of three SCCA Pro SPEED World Challenge events at Mosport International Raceway in August.

The Great White North

My apologies for the delay in reporting back our results .... we are headed to Virginia tomorrow so I thought I better get this posted fast. Calabogie was a beautiful track and the facility has some excellent potential as they continue to build out the property. As all tracks do, there were elements that reminded me of other tracks. Overall, the track was nice and smooth with lots of elevations and a good flow to the turns.


Our results were mixed for the weekend with our team coming in second overall for the weekend by 1 point with a first place on Saturday, GT-MC pole and third by two-one-hundredths of a second on the Sunday. If I had any doubt that I am still a rookie, my simple mistake of hitting my brake and accelerator pedal simultaneously during the Sunday race for blips took away any of that doubt. By the time I realized what I was doing and fixed the problem, I had but four laps to catch the car ahead and made a valiant attempt to do so with my nose at the door at the checker. I wonder if the new engine would have helped as it was not ready for Calabogie and we managed to get eighty hours on the original motor without any failures .... hats off to Dodge for that!

We look forward to supporting Calabogie in the future and want to thank both Nick and Bruce for helping me out. Bruce - you have an awsome track and I think that you and your partners have put togehter an incredible facility with the best yet to come!

Virginia next .. then Mid-Ohio for my first pro event. That's right, I said it ... we are excited and I will post a stand-alone announcement next about our three race deal at SPEED World Challenge GT!!