Rob Trollinger’s car at the track.
The 2015 racing season is winding down, and I’ve had a lot of excitement this year. Some of the drivers I was fortunate enough to work with in 2015 had exciting seasons as well. I talked about how much progress Ashton Harrison has made this season, but she’s not the only driver I coached this year who made a lot of strides.
Rob Trollinger ended 2014 at a Chin Motorsports event during Thanksgiving weekend, and he had aspirations of going racing in 2015. He’s an experienced track day enthusiast who had just gotten his Skip Barber three-day racing school completed, which granted him a provisional race license. As methodical as Rob is, he understood that the best way to gain race craft experience would be a low-horsepower momentum car where there is a lot of competition. (Typically, the faster classes have fewer entries, which means there are fewer learning opportunities.)
We started the season in February at Sebring for Rob’s first SCCA race weekend in a Spec Miata. Not only did he have a lot of fun learning a new track, but he also enjoyed learning the nuances of Spec Miata’s close-quarter racing. Rob had so much fun that a month later he was at VIR for another SCCA Spec Miata weekend. He then raced his own race car in an HSR event at Road Atlanta. It was a success thanks to all of the momentum he’d built up while driving in the Spec Miata races.
Throughout the rest of the season, Rob has been able to drive new race tracks, like Road America and Daytona, so he has really been enjoying racing to the fullest. Rob plans to continue racing and refining his craft next year while getting to learn even more new circuits along the way.
Devin Jones with a young fan.
I met Devin Jones and his father mid-season, and this was Devin’s second year of competition in the Mazda MX-5 Cup Series. Devin’s background was in go-karts and then stock cars, so sports car racing represented a lot of new driving techniques for him. I really liked Devin’s demeanor and attitude, as well as his willingness to learn, so I considered myself fortunate to work with him for the latter half of the MX-5 Cup season, where he made some really exciting improvements in both his driving performance and his results. He was also able to collect some top-ten finishes in the Continental Tire Series, including the ST pole at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park.
Next season is looking bright for Devin. He’ll find out if the third time is going to be the charm in the MX-5 Cup series with the new Global Mazda MX-5 Cup car or if he’ll be jumping with both feet into the Continental Tire Series.
Britt Casey, Jr., being interviewed at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca.
Britt Casey, Jr., was a rookie standout in the Continental Tire Series this season with Freedom Autosport. In 2014, he took his club racing experience at Autobahn Country Club and branched out into pro racing for a few races with Freedom Autosport. This season, Britt had the opportunity to run more races with the team, resulting in a second-place finish at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca after he qualified third for the race. That was a standout race for me, as well, since we were co-drivers!
Not only did Britt get that podium finish, but he went on to get another three top-ten finishes. Thanks to the pro racing, he has really built his skills. He recently returned to Autobahn for a Spec Miata race, and even though he started last in 22nd, he went on to win. It really shows how much progress he’s made this season. Britt really hopes to keep up that momentum to turn it into a full-season ride in the Continental Tire Series next year. He certainly deserves it!