Bobby Santos III

Infobox NASCAR driver


Name = Robert Santos III
Birthdate = birth date and age|1985|10|3
Birthplace = flagicon|Massachusetts Franklin, Massachusetts
Busch_Car_Team = 91/92 - Riley D'Hondt Motorsports
First_Busch_Race = 2007 Circuit City 250 (Richmond)
Updated_On = November 2, 2007

Robert Santos III (born October 3, 1985) is an American racecar driver from Franklin, Massachusetts. He graduated in 2004 from Tri-County Regional Vocational Technical High School. Santos, nicknamed "Bobby New England," is the grandson of Bobby Santos, a former modified racer. His sister, Erica Santos, is also a racecar driver. He is the cousin of former University of New Hampshire quarterback Ricky Santos.

Early career

Before stock cars, Santos was a very successful midget racer. He raced in the Northeastern Midget Association, USAC, PRA Big Car, and ISMA. The Franklin-native was the winningest driver in the USAC National Midget Tour in 2006, collecting 5 wins, including a win at O'Reilly Raceway Park on the Night Before the 500. He was signed to Bill Davis Racing.

ARCA career

In 2006, Santos made his stock car debut at Iowa Speedway for Bill Davis Racing in the #02 Dodge. He started 10th and finished 6th. Bobby returned to ARCA in 2007 for Bill Davis, now in a Toyota Camry. He won Toyota's first stock car pole at USA International Speedway in Lakeland, Florida. While leading the race, he was involved in an incident with a lapped car and did not finish. He returned at Nashville Superspeedway, but had a mid-pack run. At Kansas Speedway, Bobby started second, but a blown engine relegated him to another DNF. Santos broke his dry spell at Kentucky Speedway when he started fourth and finished third, behind Erik Darnell and Erin Crocker. Santos placed third in the next race at Kentucky, as well. The third generation racer won a pole at Pocono Raceway in early August and qualified fifth at Talladega Superspeedway, but was unable to back up either with a strong finish.

NASCAR career

In 2007, Santos made his NASCAR Busch Series debut at Richmond International Raceway for the new Riley D'Hondt Motorsports team. He qualified seventh in his #91 Toyota, but faded back to a thirtieth-place finish after running in the top 10 for the beginning of the race. He also qualified fourth for the Camping World 200 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway and was running in the top 10 before being hit by a lapped car. He ran two additional races for RDHM, but did not finish better than 30th.

Santos has also participated in the Whelen Modified Tour, collecting his first win at Thompson International Speedway in October, 2007.

Current career

For 2008, Bobby has plans to race his Wirtgen America-sponsored NEMA midget at tracks across New England. He also will race a USAC midget, sprint car, ISMA Supermodified, and Whelen Modified part-time. Santos is currently working on obtaining sponsorship to return to the NASCAR Nationwide Series or ARCA RE/MAX Series.

Santos began the 2008 season at Thompson International Speedway with plans to run both the NEMA and Whelen Modified races. The NEMA race was canceled after a fatal incident involving driver Shane Hammond. Santos qualified 7th and finished 35th after an accident in the Modified race. The third generation racer placed 7th in the NEMA race at Waterford Speedbowl on April 13. Santos returned to the Speedbowl on May 10 to finished second to Randy Cabral.

Santos returned to USAC competition on May 21. Driving in the USAC National Sprint Car series at Anderson Speedway, the Massachusetts driver finished 3rd in a field of 22. He continued his USAC stint on May 24 at the Night Before the 500 Midget race, winning his heat race and finishing 5th in the feature.

Bobby found victory again on June 26 and July 8, taking down the checkers in the 25-lap NEMA races at Lee USA Speedway and Stafford Motor Speedway.

References

* [http://santosmotorsports.com Official Website]
* [http://www.racingone.com/ss_racebyrace.aspx?driverid=2975&seriesID=8&subID=14 Bobby Santos ARCA Career Stats at Racingone]
* [http://www.racingone.com/ss_racebyrace.aspx?driverid=2975&seriesID=1&subID=2 Bobby Santos NASCAR Career Stats at Racingone]
* [http://www.usacracing.com/component/option,com_bookmarks/Itemid,115/catid,-1/navstart,0/task,detail/mode,3/id,379/search,s/ Bobby Santos USAC Bio]
* [http://racing-reference.info/driver?id=santobo01 NASCAR Career statistics at racing-reference]