All about Bob (or at least "some" about Bob)
I'm a 53 year old native Californian. My first racing memory is from the 1963 USRRC at Laguna Seca. My dad took me and my two brother and mom to the races and that started it all. At age 13 I would attend non spectator regionals at the newly opened Sears Point by having my mom drop me off at the track in the morning and coming back at the end of the day to pick me up. Some of the major names I saw early included Jim Hall, Hap Sharp, Bob Holbert, Ken Miles, Pedro Rogriguez, also Jim Clark and Jackie Stewart in matching Lotus Cortinas. Later when Sears opened, Mark Donohue, Parnelli Jones, Mario, Dan Gurney and George Follmer.
I started racing in 1978 in E Production in an MGB and then in 1980 bought and ran a Camaro in some West Coast Trans Am and IMSA events. 1984 I ran in the then new Sports Renault (or Sports Realslow) until divorce in 1986 brought my racing to a halt.
Highlights of my racing include winning my first 2 races as a novice. Winning my first National event. Winning 9 of 10 races in 1979 including the Pacific Coast Runoffs. Winning the Sears Point Lucas Challenge Pro race. in 1985. Running in the SF region 4 hour enduro with my dad and brother Norm as co-drivers.
My brother's Norm and Marty started racing in G Prod and and D Prod over the 1979-1980 season and my dad started racing at age 63 in 1982, the year son Chris was born. Chris actually went to the track to see my dad at drivers school on our way home from the hospital. Chris has been racing and otherwise involved since high school years.
My racing interests have mostly revolved around sportscar racing; Can Am, Trans Am, IMSA, FIA GT, ALMS, but I have also closely followed most every type of automobile racing.
After a several year hiatus from racing, Chris invited me and his cousin Michael to join him at the 1997 FIA-GT race at Laguna. That completely re-hooked me and starting in 1998, the year my dad died (he who started the whole thing) my brothers and our sons have camped (and in Chris' case raced) above turn 6. Brother Marty died in 2004 so there is now one less in our group.
I have met many nice people over the years through racing and will continue to follow it until the day I die.
I started racing in 1978 in E Production in an MGB and then in 1980 bought and ran a Camaro in some West Coast Trans Am and IMSA events. 1984 I ran in the then new Sports Renault (or Sports Realslow) until divorce in 1986 brought my racing to a halt.
Highlights of my racing include winning my first 2 races as a novice. Winning my first National event. Winning 9 of 10 races in 1979 including the Pacific Coast Runoffs. Winning the Sears Point Lucas Challenge Pro race. in 1985. Running in the SF region 4 hour enduro with my dad and brother Norm as co-drivers.
My brother's Norm and Marty started racing in G Prod and and D Prod over the 1979-1980 season and my dad started racing at age 63 in 1982, the year son Chris was born. Chris actually went to the track to see my dad at drivers school on our way home from the hospital. Chris has been racing and otherwise involved since high school years.
My racing interests have mostly revolved around sportscar racing; Can Am, Trans Am, IMSA, FIA GT, ALMS, but I have also closely followed most every type of automobile racing.
After a several year hiatus from racing, Chris invited me and his cousin Michael to join him at the 1997 FIA-GT race at Laguna. That completely re-hooked me and starting in 1998, the year my dad died (he who started the whole thing) my brothers and our sons have camped (and in Chris' case raced) above turn 6. Brother Marty died in 2004 so there is now one less in our group.
I have met many nice people over the years through racing and will continue to follow it until the day I die.
Total Comments 5
Comments
 |  Great history, Bob... nice to read.. thanks for filling us in. JT |
Posted 11-03-2007 at 07:50 PM by John Thawley  |
| |  Sportsrealslow! Man, that's what we called them back 20 plus years ago when SCCA debuted them. I remember driving Brian Clinton's at Gateway the first year and thinking to myself how much room there was inside the cockpit and it didn't make me feel too secure in the event of an impact. They used to group the SRF with our group, the Prod racers....GP, FP, HP. They had the Pro series too for a while. That and the Bilstein Cup for VW were the support races at Trans-Am events. Dorsey drove a baby blue SRF for a guy out of Kentucky was it. They had like three of them. Then they went to Ford power. Gained a few hp I guess. I had the privilege of meeting and working with Bob Sharp a few years ago. Man that guy has the stories to tell. And a memory like a steel trap. We still catch up every once in a while. Bob, remember the SCCA Shelby Can-Am cars? A SRF on roids, 3.0 liter V6 Dodge motor. SCCA claimed they would lap fatser than a FA car. They couldn't lap faster than FF. That class lasted like one season maybe. T |
| Posted 11-03-2007 at 11:11 PM by Todd Benne |
| |  Todd, I remember the baby blue cars. I ran against them at Firebird. Ben Burrell, Dorsey and Garth Ullom. The cars (SRs, not the blue ones) were a joke, but did make you peddle fast.  |
| Posted 11-04-2007 at 01:22 AM by BobN |
| |  Bob, Great read and hopefuly your son will follow in his dads success on the track. Do you both still own the STAR Mazda? What a thrill for me...when I was able to sit in the car back in 2004.... |
| Posted 11-04-2007 at 09:46 AM by mayk |
| | Ken No. Chris sold his Mazda after the new car came out. |
| Posted 11-04-2007 at 11:12 AM by BobN |
Recent Blog Entries by BobN
- All about Bob (or at least "some" about Bob) (11-03-2007)
