Robison makes Pony Stocks debut

James Robison made his Pony Stocks debut September 11 at Barona Speedway.

“It was a short [debut],” Robison said. “Hopefully the next one’s a little longer.”

The Fallbrook driver competed in the heat race before motor problems forced an early exit.

“The car was running pretty good,” Robison said. “Just coming around that last corner in the heat race, the motor seized up and took me out.”

Robison expects his Pinto to be ready for Barona Speedway’s next race September 25. He notes that his father, who raced Street Stocks at Cajon Speedway in the mid-1980s, had one week between major damage and the next race and was able to get his car rebuilt in time for that competition.

Robison’s mother was eight months pregnant with him at the time and was in the stands when her husband spun in turn four. The driver behind Rod Robison drove onto the elder Robison’s hood.

“She thought that I was going to be born right there,” James Robison said. “I was practically born at Cajon Speedway.”

Robison is actually a third-generation racer; his grandfather raced sprint cars at Devil’s Bend Raceway in Texas. Robison watched numerous Cajon Speedway races but did not drive in a race until this year.

“I’ve always wanted to do that,” he said of racing. “I’ve had a few opportunities when I was younger.”

Rod Robison suggested that his son wait until he was older. “It’s a good thing he did,” James Robison said. “Now I’m more willing to listen to the other drivers.”

Robison is now 25 years old.

“I’m actually picking up things a lot faster,” he said.

Dave Londrow worked on Rod Robison’s crew in the 1980s. The Robison family moved from Santee to Fallbrook three years ago, and last year Londrow attended the Robisons’ 25th anniversary party. Londrow, who owns the Pinto, offered James Robison a chance to race.

Londrow purchased the Pinto from Richard Heisel, who drives in the Pure Stocks class at Barona. Heisel let Robison drive two races in the Pure Stocks while the Pinto was being readied.

“He let me get in his car and get some seat time,” Robison said. “I learned a lot as far as the overall politics and how to race the other guys and all that.”

Robison raced June 5 and July 3 in Heisel’s Camaro. He did not finish high enough in either heat race to avoid the “B” main and did not place high enough in either “B” main to advance to the “A” main.

Barona Speedway is a quarter-mile dirt oval. Although Devil’s Bend Raceway was a dirt track, Cajon Speedway was an asphalt oval and Robison’s father never raced on dirt.

“This whole thing is kind of a learning experience for everybody,” Robison said. “We’ve just been getting a lot of different help from a lot of different people.”

To comment on this story online, visit http://www.thevillagenews.com.