Already heralded as one of the most talented young drivers to steer his way through the Northeast’s open-wheel ranks, Chris Raabe made his mark early in the 2011 campaign by capturing his first career DIRTcar Racing 358-Modified feature win at Can-Am Motorsports Park on May 6.
The Napanee, Ont. speedster now turns his attention to the weekend ahead on both sides of the border, with stops scheduled at Mohawk Int’l Raceway in Akwesasne and Cornwall (Ont.) Motor Speedway, where he garnered coveted track point crowns the season before in Sportsman competition.
The biggest difference in his first full-time assault on the Small-Block circuit will be the level of experience that many of his counterparts have in navigating around some of the most demanding short-tracks on the DIRTcar circuit today.
“We’ll definitely have our work cut out but we’re confident we’ll learn fast, especially after picking up a win right off the bat at Can-Am,” remarked Raabe, who officially traded in his popular ‘Teenage Tornado’ moniker after turning 20 in March. He remains an honor student at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario where he has just concluded his sophomore year pursuing a Mechanical Engineering degree.
“We started 10th in our first race at Can-Am (April 30) and got up to fifth before it was over. It was a fast tacky track and we took advantage of an 8th-place starting spot to a win the second time out,” noted Raabe, who strapped himself into the potent C&B Enterprises no. 01 Erin & Buggo-Sunrise Racing/TEO ride on both nights and will bring it back out for a special practice session this Saturday at Mohawk and enter it in Cornwall’s exciting season-opening Twin 25s on Sunday.
In 2009 Raabe steered the no. 01 Scott’s Industrial Services-TyRoute Communication/TEO machine to his second career Mr. DIRTcar Sportsman title --- becoming only the third repeat champion in 20 years of DIRTcar Sportsman racing and just the second to wear back-to-back crowns--- closing out the campaign leading the DIRTcar Sportsman ranks with 19 feature wins while claiming track high-point crowns at Can-Am Motorsports Park and Thunder Alley Speedpark in the north country.
The year prior, Raabe became the first driver from north of the border to claim the coveted Mr. DIRTcar Sportsman Championship since the touring format was established in 1990, adding track titles at Brockville Ontario Speedway, Thunder Alley and Rolling Wheels Raceway Park while once again collecting a DIRTcar NE-best 19 feature wins on the Sportsman circuit.
Although dropping to third in the final Mr. DIRTcar point standings last autumn, Raabe added a pair of series wins to improve his single-season division record to 31, while whetting his appetite with a trio of year-ending small-block appearances at Mohawk and the Syracuse Mile in October when he copped his first 358-Mod checkered flag in the fairgrounds ‘Futures’ race.
“I’m so happy with the new Teo Chassis sway-bar car, it responded to our adjustments just like it should,” Raabe added. “Our Lafrance engine is also performing very well and I feel we have lots of power there for sure. Right now we’re preparing a second car for the series and expect to be as competitive at this level as we were in the Sportsman class.”
Despite topping the current Can-Am points chart after two weeks of activity, Raabe plans to focus his weekly efforts on Mohawk (Fri.) and Cornwall (Sun.) while following the entire Mr. DIRTcar 358-Modified Championship Series. Merrittville (Ont.) Speedway kicks off the 9-race Mr. DIRTcar champ trail on May 23 and Raabe is anxious to return after scoring a pair of Top-5 finishes the past two years in Sportsman tour events.
Raabe Resume
-First 14 year-old to win a DIRTcar Modified (Sportsman) feature,
-Youngest DIRTcar Track Champion (Sportsman) at age 15,
-Youngest Mr. DIRTcar Champion (Sportsman) at age 17,
-Youngest back-to-back Mr. DIRTcar Champion (Sportsman) at age 18,
-DIRTcar Sportsman single-season record of 31 feature wins in 2010,
-All-time career leader with 8 DIRTcar Sportsman point titles at 6 tracks,
-2nd all-time with 81 career DIRTcar Sportsman wins at 9 tracks.
Learn all about Chris and find out the latest breaking news from Raabe Racing by visiting http://www.chrisraabe.com during the season ahead. For sponsorship inquiries, please contact team manager Garry McColman during the week via e-mail Garry.McColman@rci.rogers.com or phone 613/536-8093.
Raabe Racing is proud to receive sponsorship support from several partners, including C&B Enterprises, Sunrise Racing, AC Raabe Plumbing & Heating, Erin & Buggo, Genesis Racing Shocks www.genesisshocks.com, Aaron’s www.shopaarons.ca, Scott Environmental Group www.scottindustrialservices.com, Telus TyRoute Communications Inc. www.ringwireless.ca, Hyperco www.hypercoils.com, Canadian Tire Catarqui-Kingston www.canadiantire.ca, Kingston Hyundai-Subaru www.kingstonhyundai.com, Big G’s Recycled Sports www.biggrecycledsports.com, Red Beard’s Sports www.redbeardssports.com, Len Corcoran Excavating Lt., Finish Line Web Design www.finishlinewebdesign.ca and King Donnie Graphics.
Contact: Tom Skibinski Public Relations // (585) 350-8997 // tskibinski@rochester.rr.com
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