The following article is taken from a post
at DTD. It is used by permission of the author, Matt Noles, a
part time member of Dave Lape's crew, and journalist. It is
complete and not modified in any way.
Bobby Varin
Clone, by definition, is one that copies or closely resembles
another, as in appearance or function. Normally this word would
not come up in everyday conversation when it comes to dirt
racing in the Northeast. In all actuality, outside of
publications such as
Popular Science
or 21st Century
Science and Technology, this word would never be
associated with anything or anyone that goes fast and turns left
on a weekly basis. However, every once in a while there are
exceptions. Every once in a while someone comes along and bends
all the rules of normalcy. Every once in a while someone breaks
the mold, breaks the stereotype of their respective generation,
and throws all who are watching back into a former time; a
former era where coming from nothing meant everything, where
working harder meant going faster and being smarter than your
competitor. Sometimes a driver comes along at a time when they
are needed most, more than you thought you’d ever realize.
Some individuals are destined to be different, destined to be
great, and destined to be considered as something that should be
a revered stereotype, not a negative. Some racers are simply
known as throwbacks, a sudden reminder of the past. A past that
makes you smile, a past that you yearn to go back to, a past
where you remember things being better, and being more
worthwhile. A place and time where the grit on your hands and
the sweat on your brow made you a better person, a better driver
for that matter, not the size of your checking account or the
amount of chrome on your hauler. On August 22, 1970, a person
who fits the very definition from the urban dictionary was born;
a man with a scarecrow physique and a heavy right foot who has
more knowledge of what it takes to make it to the top than most
of his generation. This person who seems more mythical than
real, this man who appears to be more fiction than fact, this
driver who the sport needs more of, would be none other than
Bobby Varin.
Back in the summer of 1989 dirt modified racing as we knew it
was undergoing rapid and radical changes. Chassis design was
becoming more experimental, bodies were changing from the
Gremlin-style to the full tin monsters that we now consider
normal, and Bobby Varin was going to college. He didn’t enroll
in any normal university, certainly not any academic institution
like most would consider. He could have gone to Albany, Troy,
Hudson Valley, and other establishments of the sort, and yet he
did not. Would it have been easier to go to an institution with
professors who held office hours? Would it have been better to
have been surrounded by your fellow freshman and peers for study
sessions? Absolutely. However, that is not the road to greatness
that Bobby chose. Instead he went to school at FMCC and a little
university in
Fonda, New York where class was in session weekly and
taught by some of the best. Professors by the name of Lazzaro,
Johnson, and Lape held an iron grip on the class room and Bobby
had quite literally no choice but to sink or swim.
To understand why someone is a certain way, you have to
understand where they came from. Born in upstate New York, it’s
no secret that the families who lived there didn’t have much
money. In fact, most of them spent their time working on dairy
farms and struggling to make ends meet. There weren’t luxuries
that we now take for granted. People who grew up working on
farms learned these lessons early. One of the most important
lessons any individual could learn would be this; making do with
what you have, which in all reality is a virtue that many people
have forgotten, yet one individual from Sharon Springs had not.
Racing equipment that most drivers of the time considered to be
worn out tired, and in need of replacement, Bobby was using or
repairing to make it his own.
There was a time at the start of his career that Bobby was
laughed at. A point in time where people saw this young, 18 year
old, lanky kid and figured after a year or two he would be out
of the cockpit and back on the farm. There was a time at the
start of his career that his racing attire and his car had the
same amount of duct tape applied to keep them together. Not
having any budget or any ability to buy the necessary safety
equipment, Bobby picked up a pair of badly worn down driving
shoes, taped them together, and hopped in the car on a Saturday
night. 200 mile per hour tape had just been re-invented and
became throttle and brake tape. As if that wasn’t enough, Bobby
had to work on his hauler truck twice as hard as his car on a
Saturday night just so he could make it back home at the end of
the evening. Where most people would have given up, where most
people would have held their head in shame, Bobby just lowered
his and kept on trying. Looking back on it now, we should be
thankful that his tenacity outweighed his ego or this story
would have ended tragically early.
Fast forward a few years to the summer of 1995, a year which
would become an important mark for many fans and competitors
alike. The Skoal Super Dirt Series race at Fonda Speedway would
mark the arrival of a future superstar. From duct tape to
victory lane, in six years mind you, against the best in the
business, Bobby Varin had finally reached vindication. The tough
times, the struggles, the break downs, and everything else that
comes with racing on a negative budget became more valuable than
shameful. Like the
Motown express, the hits didn’t just stop there, they
kept on coming. Bobby would go on to win the pole at
Syracuse in
1998, win his first Fonda Speedway title in 2000, and pick up
the coveted
Eastern States 200 victory in 2003. With 46 wins and 6
Fonda titles, Bobby has also won at Utica-Rome, Syracuse,
Fulton, Weedsport, New Egypt, Rolling Wheels, and
Malta.
Statistics
are merely numbers; collected lists of mathematical data which
do nothing more than prove what a person, what a driver has
accomplished. As wonderful as the numbers may be when looking at
an individual, it isn’t what defines them. When it comes to
Bobby, you have to look at the person to understand why the
sport needs more drivers like him. There is a simple explanation
to why he should be cloned, why for the sake of our sport there
is an unyielding and resolute need for another man similar to
him. He’s real, period. End of discussion and argument. Like the
legends of our sport, he has come from nothing. He has gone
about racing the right way, the hard way, the way it ought to be
done, not the way most “drivers” arrive in our sport in modern
times.
There are two types of racers in this world. There are
individuals who know how to operate a racecar, and then there
are people who know how to drive it. Bobby Varin is the latter
of the two. He isn’t a cookie cutter, he hasn’t just been popped
out of a mold, and he certainly isn’t a product of parents with
the dreaded “go-kart syndrome” which has afflicted the sport
with many boring, clean cut, dry individuals who claim to be
racers. With Bobby, what you see is always what you are going to
get. He is not going to spare feelings; he’s going to be up
front, truthful, and honest to the point of being callous. Some
people in our politically correct society find this to be rude,
mean, and wrong on so many levels it’s actually quite ludicrous.
It’s refreshing to know that there is a driver, a man in the
sport who will leave it all on the track, who won’t pretend to
be something he’s not, who will drive the wheels off of any
equipment he straps into and won’t make any excuses for any
lackluster performances. The current generation of future
modified stars need to take notice, they need to learn how to
succeed the way Bobby has because if they do not, the very
foundation in which our sport was founded, the way our sport was
conceived will crumble and be lost forever. Bobby Varin truly is
the last of the “gray beards” though he is only 40 years of age,
he could very well be one of the men on steel horses that saves
dirt modified racing from itself, and from extinction. He truly
is Lazzaro, Lape, Johnson, and Coville all wrapped into one.
Could you honestly think of a better combination?
Is Bobby Varin embarrassed about his past? Is he ashamed about
how his career started? Those questions are not mine, nor will
they ever be, to answer. From duct tape to track champion, Bobby
has done what many never expected him to do. His story, his
meager beginnings are the things legends are made of. Am I
saying that Bobby Varin is a legend? No I’m not; however, as the
inevitable march of time continues, as his accomplishments and
exploits continue to grow and are told to younger fans, he may
at a later time be counted among the greats. The sport needs
him, the sport needs more like him, and there is no way to
dispute that fact. Whether you love him or hate him, whether you
cheer for him or cheer against him, you appreciate him. You
appreciate where Bobby came from. You appreciate his raw
unadulterated talent, his honesty, and his ability to draw your
attention. Whether you rise from your seats to yell at him or to
yell for him, he has you captivated, glued, and wondering what
he is going to do next.
I’ve noticed a trend in racing, dirt racing in particular
actually, which many fans and competitors will find terrifying.
Racers don’t seem to hit their stride; they don’t seem to come
into their prime years in the sport until they are in their
early forties. If this is the case, if I’m correct in this
statement, God only knows what Bobby Varin is yet to accomplish;
however I think all fans of the sport can agree on this, it’s
going to be one hell of a ride finding out.
Matt Noles