Having just finished watching the Vukovich show on ESPN and thinking about soem of the drivers who died, it jogged my memory that it was 10 years ago this weekend that Robby Stanley died at Winchester. I remember pulling into the parking lot at the old quarter midget track in Huntsville Alabama for a regional race, and being told what had happened. I had met Robby a few times in Brownsburg, as his dad Ron had built a quarter midget for my son, and I was always impressed by him. As impressive as his personality was, he was equally exciting on the track, and was the sort of hard charging driver who was a throwback to the hard men of the 50's and 60's.
Upon hearing the news I immediately thought of my conversation with Ron the previous October in his shop, when I had seen Robbie for the last time. They so much wanted to go Nascar, and it looked as if they were going to have a Busch ride for the following year. Ron pointed to their sprint car, sitting there in pieces, and remarked about how they were "lethal", and how he could wait for Robbie to be out of them. As I remember the car was already sold and he was rebuilding it for the new owner. Over the winter however, the deal fell apart (I think the Busch car owner developed cancer) and I seem to remember Robbie ending up in the Hoffman sprinter.
Ron's words have haunted me forever.
A couple of weeks later I decided to call the Stanley's. I got Rita, Robbie's mom, who without any prompting told me the horrifying story about how they were on top of their motorhome watching in T4, and about how lap after lap he was obviously fighting the car more and more with a developing problem. Then the spin, the T-bone, and the fire... all within a few dozen yards of where they stood watching. Then came her comment which I'll never forget.
"Mark, we don't hold racing responsible for Robbie's death."
Perhaps what she really meant was that they hold no bitterness toward racing, I'm not sure. On the face of it, it's of course an absurd comment. I never asked her more, and I've lost touch with them since they moved to Charlotte. I know I held racing responsible, and as some of the other kids I knew from quarter midgets moved on in racing (Kite, East, Renna, Carpenter and others), I welcomed a growing interest in basketball from my own son.
Robbie certainly caught many people's attention though, and is remembered in Indiana to this day. In the late 90's I was in Indy and had a tire go flat, and headed into a Goodyear store near the fairgrounds. The owner seemed covered up with work and didn't have much time for me. I was about to leave when my older son got out of the car wearing a Robbie Stanley T-shirt. The owner stopped, invited us into his office which was almost a Robbie Stanley shrine, got our tire patched and back on the car in no time, and sent us on our way at no charge. He said anyone who was a Robbie Stanley fan deserved no less.
10 years seems like yesterday. There's no way of knowing how good he could have been, but he sure as hell was exciting while he was here. He was a great kid.
Robbie Stanley 10 years ago
Started by
MPea3
, May 29 2004 02:05
2 replies to this topic
