Former dirt modified and USAC Silver Crown star Richie Tobias has more irons in the fire than a blacksmith. But he is never too busy to look back at his racing career or ahead to the highly anticipated debut of the electric Slingshot racer he is developing.
The second half of the only father-son duo to win the prestigious finale of Super DIRT Week on the Syracuse mile, Tobias builds 100 gas-powered “mini-modified” Slingshots a year. His company also fabricates two dozen of the midget-like SpeedSTRs that top the bill at the Kutztown (Pa.) Action Track, where he handles track prep while sharing promotional duties with Doug Rose.
“I like any kind of racing, but my true love was USAC’s Silver Crown series,” Tobias said. “They have an unmatched history and the people you competed against were super. They were all professionals and respectful of each other. With my aggressive style, I was probably more cut out for 410 sprints, but I went with the big cars because they were cheaper. If nothing else, I learned patience there. I loved the driving strategy, adjusting as the big load of fuel burned off and the tires wore.
“One of my favorite races was at Syracuse (in 2002) with J.J. Yeley, at least until I lost the brakes. They were down but I was still able to keep the lead despite everything he tried,” Tobias explained. “Then, we had a caution and the throttle spring broke while we rode around under yellow. On the restart, we went into three and I found out the brakes were totally gone when I drilled him. That was a hard one to lose, then I crashed before it was over besides.
“The next year we timed well, ran with Yeley and Dave Darland the whole race and ended up second to J.J. His motor was four car lengths better on every straight and it was hard to make that up in the corners. It was a challenge and I love challenges.”
One challenge Richie Tobias did pull off was winning the 1992 big-block modified finale at Syracuse to match his father, Dick’s, 1975 score.
“My first notable memory of racing at Syracuse was going there with my own car and breaking a rocker arm stud in practice. Not knowing the stud went through to the water jacket, I took it out right away and a geyser of boiling water shot across the pits and landed on Kenny Tremont’s father,” Tobias recalled. “I turned around and there was old man Tremont, standing there with steam coming off him. I gave him a Tobias sweatshirt to wear, but I’m not sure if he ever forgave me.”
In 1990, Tobias thrilled the crowd with a run around the outside from last to first on a muddy surface to claim the last chance race. He remembers it well.
“I had my car with Council Harrell’s engine. We won the consi, started in the rear and dropped out while leading with 20 to go. We were fast!
“For 1991, I was in the Harrell Trucking No. 35 and we won the Labor Day State Fair race. The next year, we won twice. Bridgeport in the spring and Syracuse in the fall,” recalled Tobias. “It rained and we ended up starting late and running in the dark. The Syracuse lights were terrible then. We had a caution just after halfway and everyone went in, leaving me as the leader with Randy Glenski second. He kept running into me under the yellow, trying to flatten my tire, so I moved around the pace car figuring he could run into that if he wanted.
“Poor fuel mileage won me that race,” Tobias continued. “It was the era of the big Pontiac heads and we could only go 78 laps on a tankful. That caution came with 90 to go so we stayed out, figuring we couldn’t stop until we could get to the end. While we were circling, one of the ladies with the team came on the radio and said it looked like it was going to rain again. It did and we won with Glenski second.”
We interviewed Richie’s mother, Mary, the next night for a magazine article on Super DIRT Week and found her to be both overjoyed and extremely emotional.
“My dad was killed in a sprint car crash at Flemington and my brother Ronnie suffered a heart attack and died at Susquehanna while subbing for me while I ran Syracuse for a different team,” said Tobias. “My brother Scott crashed hard at Port Royal and was in a coma for three months. After that, he didn’t want anything to do with racing. And my brother-in-law, Paul Lotier, flipped at Sharon and landed on a fence post that broke his back and paralyzed him right after being named rookie of the year at Knoxville.
“For me, the best part of winning Syracuse was making people recall my dad,” offered Richie wistfully. “We’re the only father and son to win the Syracuse modified race and it really played on my mom’s emotions. Her only complaint was she said she wished I’d won in a Tobias No 17.”