| A Chat With Robbie Farr | ||||
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Robbie Farr has been enjoying his time in the motorsport game so far, with success throughout his go cart days to sprintcars then speedcars and back to sprintcars, in this interview Robbie speaks straight up. Robbie speaks openly about his racing with Ian Vale Q. Motorsport is your chosen hobby, mainly sprintcar racing, why? Robbie.- Probably a lot to do with my back ground and what I was brought up with. I started with go carts but there was always a speedway car or a sprintcar in the garage and that was why when I was old enough it would be the choice that I was going to make. That’s the way of life and what I grew up with and what I have always been around. I enjoy the competition and so that why I do it. Q. Would you like motorsport to be your profession,? Robbie- Any driver would like it as a profession of cause, if you can make a living doing what you love it is never a bad thing. I don’t think too many sprintcar drivers get rich but if you can get paid doing what you love doing its not a bad way of life. Q. Do you think there is time or an age frame for your sport ? Robbie- I hope there is not a time frame but I think you have your best years when you are hungry, it depends on how long you are hungry for, so for some guys when they get later in there career they dial off in there performance, physically they can do it but it is the hunger factor. Take Garry Rush I’m not sure at what age he was but he did it late in his career and was still very good and gave up probably at a good time. There were guys that fell by the way side years before he gave it up, I think it is really how hungry you are, its not on your age. Q. What else would you like to race? Robbie- Probably a lot of things, I’m pretty opened minded with the stuff that I would like to race. Different classes have all got there attraction, I spent a lot of time in go carts when I was a kid and really enjoyed it, I actually wouldn’t mind going back to go carts as a bit of a fun thing if money ever permits me to. I was actually very draw to road racing when I was younger but I come from a speedway back ground and that is the reason I went to speedway. I think pretty much anything with a motor in it I’d have fun with. Q. If you won $100,000 what would you do with it? Robbie- As a quick answer probably invest it, as far as racing goes $100,000 doesn’t do a hell of a lot these days, it isn’t go to get you your own team so yep probably invest it or pay a bit off my house. It depends on the frame of mind that you are in when you win $100,000 I guess. Q. What are three of the main priority’s in your life? Robbie- Okay lets see, happiness, money and racing. Q. Name three goals that you have in life. Robbie- One would be to win the Australian Sprintcar championship as I won the Australian speedcar championship which I never pictured to see myself in a speedcar, I won’t say that was a goal but I was definitely very proud to win it. Two would be to be financially comfortable. Three would be not to have too many regrets and enjoy life. Q. What is you most prized possession? Robbie- Let’s see most probably would be my Kostya Tszyu boxing gloves. Q. What is you most prized trophy so far? Robbie- That would be my Australian Speedcar trophy. Q. How long do you intend to race sprintcars for? Robbie- I would like to say fifty years but you never know there might come a day when you don’t have that drive any more so at this stage the sport dose drive me and I love competition. I have never been a soccer player or a cricket player, I have always been brought up with racing and that drives me and I still really get a lot of enjoyment out of it, you know win or lose at the end of the day that is what makes me get excited and at weekends I look forward to the next race. Q. Put in order the most important races on the Australian calender for you. Robbie- Okay the Australian Sprintcar title, I know it is only one race and maybe it shouldn’t be decided on just one race but you want to be the best at what you do. The Classic would definitely be number two that is such a prestigious race. Third I would put the Krikke Boys Race, it means a lot to me as I knew the boys and have already won it twice, it is important to me and all the Krikke families. Fourth the $50,000 at the moment comes down to a lot of money but not a lot of history yet. Follow these up with State titles and filter through from there. Q. What has been the most satisfying race that you have had so far? Robbie- Well I have had a lot of race where I have come from the back up to the front, but the Queensland title in 2000/2001 season was probably one of the most important races to me where we started fourth and came through to win on a very tight little track where I had a good car and I had to show a lot of patience to move forward and this showed me that with patience I have grown up to become a good driver. Q. Do you have a preferred track size? Robbie- I have done most of my racing at Parramatta but I have won on tracks bigger than that and also won on smaller tracks so no I wouldn’t say I have a preferred track size. Q. The Australian tracks of the past few years have tended to slicker, has that made you learn a different driving style to a few years ago? Robbie- Yes definitely because early in my career I learned to race on the heavy tracks a lot more and where we suffered probably was in the big races around in January and the tracks seem to be a lot slicker so there for we suffered a little bit to the guys that went to America and raced on slick tracks. Over last couple of years we have learned a lot on set up and I have slowed down in my aggressiveness and that has helped on slick tracks overall, as we are tending to race more on slick tracks. Q. Basically over your career so far what type of tracks do you prefer Robbie- Personally I would prefer a rough track but I don’t think you should pin point yourself as a one type of track driver, to be successful you have to learn to drive all track and be good on all of them. Q. In general describe this past racing season of 2001/2002 Robbie- Less feature wins, probably overall more satisfaction, I think we had a better year which doesn’t show in overall feature wins but I think we were a better competitor and a more complete package. I’m happier with the season but on paper it probably is not as good as the season before. Q. Class you’re 2000/2001 season. Robbie- As per the prior question it was the best to date personally on paper, but the past season was more satisfying. Q. What do you consider to be you best season and why? Robbie- Well going back to this past season we didn’t win many races as in club shows but in the big shows we really showed to be prominent and for personal satisfaction and that is what it is all about. Q. With the opportunity to race in America again, what are your expectations? Robbie- I don’t really have any, personal expectations I’m going to have a couple of months off work and go race against the best guys in the world at tracks that they know and I don’t in cars they know and I don’t. So I’m not going to put a whole lot of pressure on myself, I’m going to go and do the best that I can and enjoy the situation. Q. Your thoughts on Australian drivers trying to make it on the US Sprintcar scene. Robbie- That’s a tough goal obviously there are ten times the Americans trying to do the same things as four or five of the Australians are trying to do, so you know it is a tough league its a lot of guys fighting over a few jobs and most of them are performance based. Kerry, Brooke and Skip are all doing a great job and they have their ups and downs. Its tough in any motor racing where you are relying on your talent, money helps and alot of guys are relying on there parents money or on alot of backing where Australians trying to crack the American market are relying on talent. There are lots of talented drivers out there. Q. A lot of Australians go with the misunderstanding that they can do it but it really is a three or four year program to cut the mustard, would you think that to be correct? Robbie- Totally, you have the guys that we have just spoken about Brooke, Skip and Kerry these blokes have been going there for six or seven years and are starting to win or go good because they are starting to get cars that are competitive. Q. What does season 2002/2003 hold for Robert Farr, and what do you want? Robbie- I’m pretty happy as long as I make the next year better than the last year as long as I keep improving I will be excited. Q. Can we look forward to what Robbie Farr Motorsport has in store for the 2002/2003 season in a press release in the near future? Robbie- Definitely I think a few people will be surprised with what is happening in the future and some won’t be surprised, there are some new and exciting things planned, you have to keep moving on and keep the wheels turning. Q. When you started out in sprintcars you drove for the family team but over the seasons you have been driving for team owners in speedcars and sprintcars, how has this effected you racing? Robbie- To be honest it has effected my racing career as a good thing because when you drive for you family you have a better chance to get away with things and not loosing the ride, but driving for another team is quite different. I have learnt to respect these people as I have driven with different owners in New Zealand, America and Australia people like Bob Woods, Steve Smith, Ron O’Brien and Peter Johnson and these people understood that I treated there equipment with respected and was trying to do the best I could with it. I was always there to race. Q. In the past you have had a few one off drives with different car owners, how do you find working with new teams? Robbie- I don’t think I have driven for a bad car owner here and overseas, I have found them to be easy going guys that don’t put too much pressure on you, if anything I put pressure on myself so having car owners that don’t put pressure on you make it enjoyable because if you put pressure on each other then no one wins and that isn’t needed for either party. Q. Over the past two seasons your have had a few car owners that have requested your services when possible but due to other commitments you haven’t been able to take these offers, two of the offers have come from Jeff Kendrick and Luch Monte, people you have driven with how do you find them? Robbie- Jeff and I have been friends for a lot of years and will be whether I drive for him or not if the opportunity and the time was right I may be able to drive one of his cars at sometime in the future but either way we are friends. Luch Monte I have driven for and had success, I have never felt more welcome with him and his team, they look after you like you wouldn’t believe. They are Italians and I don’t think I have ever eaten more in a weekend. There is only so many weekends that we can race and if I could I would love to race with more people that have asked me to but time just doesn’t allow. Q. One team that you drove for last season was the Disbury family in Adelaide and you enjoyed that greatly, would like to drive with them again if the opportunity becomes available again? Robbie- That deal came out of the blue and last season and I enjoyed racing with them, they do things the way I like to do things, it was a shame that we only had a short time together but depending on what Darren and my commitments are the situation may be there for us to join up again. What does the new racing season holds for Robbie Farr Motorsport? Well we shall endeavour to keep you informed at www.robbiefarr.com as the plans unfold. |