ROBERT PATRICK - A CAREER VALIDATED
Winning sixteen national events
didn’t do it. Reaching 21 final rounds didn’t either. Neither did finishing in
the top ten amongst points earners seven times or being third in all-time wins
in the IHRA Torco Race Fuels Pro Stock division.
“It” was validation. Validation was
something Robert Patrick felt his storied driving career was missing until the
final event of the 2007 IHRA season.
As odd as the connotation may seem
what validated Patrick’s career was a second round win last Sunday in
Winning sixteen national events
didn’t do it. Reaching 21 final rounds didn’t either. Neither did finishing in
the top ten amongst points earners seven times or being third in all-time wins
in the IHRA Torco Race Fuels Pro Stock division.
“It” was validation. Validation was
something Robert Patrick felt his storied driving career was missing until the
final event of the 2007 IHRA season.
As odd as the connotation may seem
what validated Patrick’s career was a second round win last Sunday in
A world championship, Patrick felt,
was the missing accomplishment needed to make his career legit, at least in his
estimation.
“Many years ago, I finished second
to my good friend Billy Huff and while I wanted to win that title, it didn’t
hurt my feelings so much because I felt there would always be next year,”
Patrick said. “But there were so many times we came close and at the last moment
something happened. That was disheartening. I said to myself before this season
started that I was going to make this year the one we finished the
deal.”
Patrick has led the point
championship chase several other times, only to lose in the last few races. This
year provided a bit of déjà vu as the Fredericksburg, Va.-based Patrick lost the
lead in the next to last event, the IHRA President’s Cup Nationals in
Patrick pointed out it was losing
the point lead which inspired him to fight back.
“I couldn’t believe it was happening
again,” Patrick said. “There comes a time in a fight that you get knocked down
and although you may have remained on the ground before – there comes a time
when you say I’m not going to take this ^&%$ anymore.”
Patrick used the time off between
races to test his combination. He tested different combinations on his Jerry
Haas Race Cars Mustang Shelby. Through the test Patrick said that he flogged
away during the test, wringing every ounce of horsepower out of his Bob
Ingles-prepared engine that he could during the week prior to Rockingham down in
Darlington, SC.
Meanwhile a world of pre-race
promotions touted his imminent point championship showdown with incumbent
champion Pete Berner. Patrick vowed not to get into the
hype.
“I stayed about as far away from the
Internet as I could get,” Patrick said. “I told my PR agency that I didn’t want
to be bothered with all the talk about points. I’m not counting points. I’m not
talking points. Whatever is going to happen is going to happen. I’m was so
ticked off that I told them I was coming in there and I had every intention of
trying to be the quickest and fastest car every time we went out there.
Whatever was going to happen – was
going to happen. I told them I was over it.”
That’s what Patrick said. Often what
a man says and does are two different things.
“It was eating me alive inside,”
Patrick said. “I knew I couldn’t let my team down and for that matter my family
who has put up with my moodiness throughout these years of falling short. There
was no way I was going to let anyone down. I must have read my Rockingham log
books a million times. I even got up in the middle of the night to check that
stuff again.
“That’s when I looked a lot to
Scotty Cannon. He’s the man. He’s won six of these things, so I figured that he
would know better than anyone else what it took to win. He kept me in the ball
park a lot of times. We go way back and I won’t hesitate to say that I’ve
learned a lot from him.”
Patrick said looking at his Rich
Purdy-led crew put extra pressure on him.
“You know, I can be a tough person
to work with at times, but I looked at these guys every day,” Patrick said. “I
looked into their eyes and I saw the fire. So many times I wanted to look at
them and say guys, ‘I will go down in flames before I will let you down this
year.”
“I wanted to grab them and say,
‘We’re winning this thing.”
“That’s not cockiness,” he
continued. “That’s just a man that wanted to win. I wanted to deliver for them.
If anyone deserved a championship – they did.”
Patrick came into Rockingham and
fired an impressive first salvo that put him atop the 16-car field. He entered
the event only nine points behind Berner and gained one back temporarily by
landing one spot ahead of him. However, the IHRA’s Last Man Standing Award,
reward the driver with the quickest winning qualifying time with five bonus
points.
Berner won that bonus and gained
four points on Patrick.
Patrick was adamant that he wasn’t
counting points but Saturday’s forecast gave grounds for wanting a second set of
eyes looking over what he and the crew were doing. He was confident but another
experienced veteran in the camp wouldn’t hurt.
That’s when Patrick called in the
1995 World Champion Mike Bell to help them with a Saturday hot weather tune-up.
Their first run netted a whole lot of tire spin and even more
shaking.
“The first thing Mike suggested to
me when we got back to the pits is to leave it alone, and if we do anything to
throw more at it,” Patrick said. “Sometimes you can’t explain it, but I knew he
was right.”
Patrick drove his way to a 6.29 to
land in the second spot behind Berner, who had tied the current world record
down to the thousandth. He also scored the quickest winning qualifying lap to
reclaim the five points he lost on Friday.
Sunday’s first round threw a curve
when Patrick was forced to abort the run early and get back in the throttle to
make some semblance of a full run. He already had a secured victory because
opponent Dean Goforth had launched before the tree was
activated.
Three pairs later, Patrick got the
break he was secretly looking for when Berner fouled. That miscue combined with
Patrick’s victory was enough to enable him to pass Berner in the points.
Patrick was not out of the woods
yet. Third place Frank Gugliotta was still in the show and had a slim, but
mathematical chance to grab the point lead from Patrick. It just so happened,
they were to meet in the second round of eliminations.
“A lot of people look past Frank,
but he’s a very good driver,” Patrick said. “He could very well be the champion
this year. I knew he was going to be coming at me with everything he had.
Missing it like we did in the first round wasn’t a comforting feeling when you
have to meet someone like him. Racing him was a real championship
test.”
Patrick stood the test as he beat
Gugliotta on both ends of the track.
“I said to myself, ‘So that is what
having the weight of the world lifted off of your shoulders feels like,” Patrick
said. “You want to stay focused but you are drained at that point. I guess I
just saw how hard we’d fought for this.”
Patrick eventually lost to Jeff
Dobbins on a holeshot in the finals, but for him – he didn’t have one iota of
frustration in the loss.
“We really wanted to win but to see
someone like Jeff Dobbins win at his home track is good,” Patrick said. “This
has been a heart-wrenching, but exciting experience that I will never forget. I
know 2008 starts now.”
Then as Patrick’s voice choked with
tears as he acknowledged how difficult winning a championship is and how he was
honored to follow a noble champion like Berner. He could no longer hold
back.
“You know we worked as hard to lose
those championships as we did to win them,” Patrick said. “We worked hard. When
I go into that shop and look my guys in the eye, I can do it knowing that we
gave it every bit we had. We are the champions and that says it
all.”