Rich Tobias will be returning to USAC Silver Crown competition on 8/18 at the Springfield, Ill mile. He will be wheeling a former Jimmy Sills car for a Pennsylvania car owner. Tobias was scheduled to test the car at Susquehanna Speedway (PA) today (8/8).
If all goes as planned, Tobias will also campaign the car at Eldora and DuQuoin.
Originally Posted by SpfldMile:
Awesome! That is great news, I wish him well. I will miss his "Frankenstein" car, though.
That was a great car. It was built in 2003 as a sprint car, with the intentions of running it in Eldora's "Mopar Million" race. Rich designed the car with a rear-rack that could be moved, changing the car's wheel-base. He did this so the car could be converted for Silver Crown racing and used as a back-up to his primary dirt car.
The car was tested at Linda's Speedway in PA and was only raced once as a sprint car, a USAC show at Eldora, which Rich did not transfer to the feature.
Tobias destroyed his primary Silver Crown dirt car at Springfield when he tangled with Brian Tyler during a late race restart. Rich says that it was the worst wreck of his career. With only a few short weeks before the next dirt event, the team made the conversion on the sprint car and readied it for Silver Crown racing.
2003 marked the 25th anniversary of Dick Tobias' passing and in honor of his father, Rich carried the famous Tobias #17 on his USAC car. The car was also painted and lettered to resemble those of his father's.
Rich won at DuQuoin, which was the first time the car was raced in the Silver Crown configuration. He later led most of the Syracuse race before crashing with only a few laps remaining. The car was also raced to runner-up finishes in 2004 at Syracuse, Springfield, and Tulsa.
A side note, Rich brushed the turn 3 wall at Syracuse during hot-laps in 2003. The fuel blatter was ruptured and required changing. While the tank was off of the car, noted dirt modified chassis builder, Bobby Hearn (Teo Pro-Cars) engaged Rich in a conversation about the car's unique rear-rack. Rich explained its adjustability. The following year, Teo Pro-Cars were offered with a rear-rack that could be lowered and raised.
Spoke to Rich yesterday afternoon and he was real excited about the test session he had at Susquehanna Speedway. Unfortunately, I was unable to attend because of a business obligation. He said they worked on set-up and by the end, it was very good. Rich ended the session by running the cushion for several laps. He thinks the motor is real strong and just needs some final tuning. The chassis is a Beast. Hopefully we will see some of you @ Springfield!
Originally Posted by wing410fan:
With what usac has done to the series, it is good to see a new team coming into the series rather then getting out or parking there team.
I am hoping that the relationship between Tobias and the car owner will grow to the point where they might consider running at least the dirt shows in 2013, as Rich is certainly a threat to win on the dirt tracks. I'd love to see Rich design & build his own dirt car again...
