Mustang in the fast lane to success
Eight laps into a June race at the Texas Motor Speedway, rookieNASCAR driver and senior art major Robert Richardson took the lead.Seven laps later, Richardson blew an engine. He was out of therace.
“I was disappointed, but that race proved I could drive arace car, even if I had only been doing it for one year,”Richardson said.
The McKinney, Texas, native finished the 2003 season asrunner-up for the rookie of the year title, proving he can keep upwith the competition. But, Richardson said, just keeping upisn’t enough. He has bigger plans.
When Richardson, a former SMU football player, told his fathertwo years ago, “I’d like to see what it’s like todrive one of those race cars,” Robert Richardson Sr. thoughthis son was looking for a new hobby. Instead, his son found acareer.
“After Dale Earnhart died, I wanted to try to fill hisshoes … at least try to get into NASCAR and see how far Icould go,” Richardson said.
He began driving school at Texas Motor Speedway in 2002,completing the Richard Petty Driving Experience and the Team TexasDriving Experience. His performance on the track and the”luck and the grace of God” landed him a seat in NASCARas rookie in the Legends and ROMCO Super Late Model Seriesdivisions, Richardson said. Each year, only about 10 to 15 racersnationwide are selected.
Richardson’s success, however, has come at a price.
“We’ve spent in excess of one million dollars onRobert’s career, to date,” Richardson’s fathersaid.
Richardson Racing has three different cars, each one costingabout $100,000, plus there are additional expenses such as a$300,000 rig to haul the cars and the cost of repairs.
“I love to watch him develop, and I know I’m notgoing to recover the investment, but the return is the experience.It’s worth it,” he said.
Despite being Richardson’s biggest supporter, his fathersaid, “I won’t let him drive me anywhere, he scares theheck out of me. After he gets off the track, he forgets that thespeed limit is not 160 mph.”
Richardson has wrecked several times while racing but has neverbeen seriously injured, thanks to safety precautions like helmets,fire restraint suits, gloves and special shoes.
“I’ve seen guys wreck, and their cars get split inhalf, but they walk away without a scratch,” Richardsonsaid.
“We don’t cut corners on safety,” his fathersaid. “In this sport, you have to be cautious. If your notafraid, you’re insane … you will end up dead and youcan hurt others.”
But Richardson just tries to concentrate on winning races.
“I try to get the car around the track and across thefinish line as soon as possible. My goal is to win the race,”he said.
Overall this season, Richardson finished ninth in his division.His performance won him respect and got the attention of the racingworld.
“We’ve been approached by Fortune 100 companiesinterested in sponsoring him, and a couple different groups want toput him in major Winston Cup Team driver developmentprograms,” his father said. “There’s a goodpossibility he’ll go with a major team within a year orso.”
Richardson also shot a commercial recently for Anheuser-BuschBeer, set to air this January.
“My friends all think what I’m doing is cool, butthey also think it’s kind of funny. … I was alwaysthis mellow, laid back guy, I played football, but that was theonly time I ever got aggressive. When they heard I was racing carsthey kind of flipped out. No one really expected me to race,”he said.
