DDR Motorsports, like other teams, are readying their cars for the 2023 season. For our team, the new year brings a new to us car. The team purchased a chassis over the winter and has been revamping pieces and updating a lot of equipment to go with it. Nearly the entire car will have new pieces to start the season, giving the team its best shot at running up front.

Along with freshening the car, the team also has Norm from Ashaway Performance Engines give their primary power plant a little love.  In addition to the awesome power from their primary engine, a second engine is being assembled, giving the team a piece of mind going into 2023.

Regarding where you’ll find us racing, We have posted the schedule to the website –  Schedule – DDR Motorsports Development (ddr-motorsports.com) . We plan to run the following shows this year with our tour-type modified.

There are also opportunities to run for other car owners that have been presented, but until those are all finalized, we will be focusing on the above schedule.  And, as with any year, the schedule depends on many factors, including funding. If funding can be secured, we may try to hit one of the early-season open shows like the Spring Sizzler. Let us know if you can help out.

Thanks for supporting DDR Motorsports and Derek Robbie, and we’ll see you at the track.

May 26, 2022, Bellingham, MA  

The DDR Motorsports team has spent the last few weeks readying for their next outing at the Claremont Motorsports Park in Claremont, NH. The May 27 race event is intended to honor the many racers who have toured the central New Hampshire oval in past years. The event is $15,000 to win, with a great payout and bonuses paid throughout the field.

It will be the team’s second time visiting Claremont Motorsports Park with a Tour Type modified in its five-year history. On the first outing, the team struggled and eventually ended their night with a slightly banged-up race car. This time, the team shows up with great enthusiasm after having a stout run at the Monadnock Speedway, running 4^th before being involved in an accident on lap 49 of 100 lap race after starting 17^th on the grid.

DDR Motorsport Derek Robbie driver states, “Claremont has been good to us over the years. I’ve had some awesome top-five runs with my Pro4 in the past, and we ran a mini stock tour race here in ’16 where I drove from the back several times to a top ten finish. I’m looking forward to running well with the big mod.”

It all begins with practice sessions at 4 p.m. on Friday, followed by a round of Time Trials and qualifying heats at 7 p.m. The feature race is anticipated to go off at around 9 p.m. For those unable to make the show, it can be streamed live on RacingAmerica.TV.

For more information on Claremont Motorsports Park, visit ClaremontMotorsportsPark.com. For more information on DDR Motorsports, visit DDR-Motorsports.com and follow the team and driver on Facebook at DDRMotorsportsTeam and DerekRobbieMotorsports.

People get very excited when making a new purchase or getting a new appliance gadget. You will see them jumping for joy, having tears running down their cheeks, or just outright screaming with excitement. Well, that is precisely the feeling we have here at DDR Motorsports with the completion of a new 750 sq ft shop.

For those who have known me for some time, you have seen us begin in the storage shed under the house. A little ten by ten area barely 6 ft tall where we worked on the quarter midgets and micro sprint to the portable garage/shelter dubbed the “taj ma tent,” which we worked out of for nearly ten years. Don’t get me wrong, the shelter served its purpose, and we won one and almost a second Pro4 championship out of it, but having a more extensive permanent structure was always the goal.

This project has been a long time coming, and to say I am only a little bit excited would be an understatement. When we first bought this house in 2003, the plan was to put up a garage and have a place to build cars and work on projects. But just as anyone with a family can tell you, life gets in the way. As the kids grew, priorities changed, we had an illness in the family, and the college years came. All of which forced us to constantly re-evaluate the next steps. In the past year, things settled down, my career has stabilized, and the kids are grown. All of this allowed me to get down to building a garage finally.

But of course, not all feel-good stories go along easily, and this one is no different. As I started the investigation, I learned about zoning laws, the need for a land survey, and having to deal will a builder. I won’t bore anyone with the details, but in the end, after a year of work, the garage got built, and we have moved in.

There is still plenty of work to do to finish the building. To begin with, we have moved both cars in, the tools are slowly making their way from storage, and interior work is planned for across the summer. For now, we are happy to step out into a larger, better-lit, more comfortable space to work.

In closing, will the garage make us faster? We hope so, not solely because we have a permanent structure but because we can work smarter, have a single space for everything, and just plain outwork everyone else.

Thanks to everyone who has supported DDR Motorsports and driver Derek Robbie all these years. We feel we are now poised to step up our game and show the world what we have as a team.

See ya at the track

Doug Robbie
Owner, #27 Tour Type Modified

Out with 2021 and into 2022

It is the time of year we all get the opportunity to sit back and reflect on the past and dream of the future. It is no different for us at DDR Motorsports. Being the true racers, there is always the next race, the next season, or the next chase for a victory.

For us, 2021 started with great hope. We had secured a garage to use for the winter, which allowed us to do some upgrades to the chassis, and we also got a new motor with a decent pedigree. It was looking to be a strong start come April. It was even more exciting that one of our home tracks planned a six-race series, and it fell into our budget and timing to race there. Well, to tell you, the beginning of the season was not what we expected. Ten laps into practice, we had issues, it was something we could fix reasonably straightforward, and the crew went to work doing so. So we went out to the next practice, and to our demise, the same issue popped up. At that time, we loaded up to get everything fixed for our next race.

During the prep for the next race, we diagnosed the issue from the Icebreaker and made the necessary corrections. But, during final preparations, a strange noise was heard from the motor, and upon removing the valve cover, we discovered a broken rocker arm. Unfortunately, it was not as simple a fix as we hoped, and we had to send the motor out to our engine builder for work. Of course, this being 2021, the year of the supply chain disruption, meant we were like everyone else who had to wait for parts, wait a long time.

Thankfully a fellow competitor stepped up and lent us a motor. I was a kind jester and allowed us to run a handful of races while waiting for the primary powerplant to be fixed. We met with mixed results during that time, but it was still good to turn laps and get meaningful data for the notebook.

Late August, we finally got our engine back from being fixed, and we got to run a few races before the end of the season. Of course, we had hoped to run more, but in the end, we did finish the MRS season with a pair of top-ten finishes at Lee’s Octoberfest. We also finally found our footing in the Tri-Track series with a car that kept getting faster and faster during the day. Though the season started poorly, we made the best of it and kept plugging away. I cannot give enough credit to the crew for sticking with us all year.

As the season was winding down, things back at the garage were heating up. The second chassis purchased is being updated with some in-house designs that we hope will help us go faster, and a new race shop was in the works.  

With the ringing in 2022, the race shop construction is underway, and the new chassis is getting its body. The final details of the season are being ironed out, and the hunt for marketing partners continues. Like every other season that has come before us, the next one is filled with excitement, promise, and the desire to do good. I can only hope the gremlins of 2021 have been left behind and the angels of 2022 will shine upon us.

See you all at the track.

There is a saying that “Work hard, and you shall reap the rewards.” Well, this past weekend of racing, we did just that. Throughout our trying season, the team kept at it and soldiered on to every planned race. Regardless of the circumstances, out to the garage on a regular basis, we would go. We spent days going through the various mechanical issues, nights tweaking the setup, all in search of that one elusive good run.

Going into Lee Speedway’s annual Octoberfest race on Oct 2, the team had no expectations. We only had one goal in mind, to complete the race and be able to move forward.

Practice was uneventful, and though we were not at the top of the speed charts, we were happy with the car. Everything ran fine, and we made calculated adjustments to get faster. Entering the heat race, we would start fifth and knew new tires would be a help. Starting fifth, inside the third row, we got a good start, and the outside row backed up, which allowed us to run in the third position for the entire 12 laps. It was not a win, but at least we were competitive, and nothing went wrong.

As this event was scheduled to have twin 40 lap races, we need to plan our strategy accordingly. Our heat race finished earned us the fifth place starting spot in Feature one. As the feature began, we diced for a few laps and settled into the fifth spot. Many attempts were made to try and get by fourth place, but with a car that was not handling the way we wanted, it proved to be a tough task. When the third-place car got loose after being tapped in turns three and four, we moved up a spot only to be passed several laps later by that car and continue to run in fifth place. As the race wore on, the looseness we battled all day didn’t get any better, and with three to go, we got passed by several cars and finished in 8^th place. Not a win or even the finish we wanted, but, on the upside, we completed a race and were very competitive as well—a victory in our books this season.

During the break between races, we made several changes and repaired minor damage from the first race. We hoped the changes were enough to propel up towards the front after the decent car we had in the first race. The second race was lined up based on inverting the top 18 cars from race one. Based on our finish in the first race and a car unable to start the race, it put us in the number nine starting spot. We knew now what our car was capable of and hoped the changes from the first race made it even better.

The second race was spent battling with cars in positions six through ten. Lap after lap, we were side by side with these cars running in close proximity to each other. Derek climbed as high as 6^th position, and on lap 38 of 40, while running 7^th, a caution came out. It was a heartbreaker as positions 6^th through 9^th (us included) were moving faster than the next three cars, and it looked like we would overtake them just before the race’s finish. But heck, that is how racing goes, and a restart with two laps to go would seal the fate of everyone racing. We lined up seventh and, on the restart, the inside line did not come up to speed as quickly as the outside line, and we ended the race in the ninth position.

Again, the finish does not show the results we had hoped for but based on the season we have had so far, we’ll take it and build on it. The car performed to our liking, the driver was up on the wheel, and the crew got the satisfaction the car finished a race. It made the 2-hour ride home so much easier. We are now off to the season’s last race on Oct 24 at Seekonk Speedway for the Tri-Track Series Haunted 100 race. Hopefully, our climb upwards will continue.

See ya at the track

This year’s off season has been longer than we are normally used to. After having engine problems in September the team decided to halt racing for the year and begin the preparation for 2021. For the upcoming year there would be team structure changes along with the need for new equipment to be purchased, this undoubtedly put a strain on time, resources and budget.

But, with the extra time realized, we could focus on various upgrades the team has spoken about. For 2021, the front end geometry has been revise, and tweaked to give us the action we want. It has also been upgraded to allow for simple and quick adjustments as need.  In the rear suspension it has been totally overhauled to be more in line with the successful setup we ran in our Pro4 modified days. That car was so responsive to changes it has always been the desire of Derek to have that feel back. Even though the car has not left the shop yet, his excitement on how the rear end moves and reacts is high.

The other place where we not necessary made improvements but still had a change is in the engine department. As our business arrangements changed at the end of last season, it meant the need for a new power plant. We had to say goodbye to the strong Dodge power plant we ran for the previous 3 years and  find a new engine. AS we do not have any brand affiliation requirements the search was wide open to find a good solid engine. After an extensive search we found a great core piece in a prior K&N 358 engine. Having a motor that was built to NASCAR specs means there was confidence it will perform as required. After adding our accessories and new plumbing where needed, the engine has been fired and is ready for its maiden trip to the track.

Stay tuned for further updates as we get closer to the beginning of the season.

Feel free to reach out to us at doug@ddr-motorsports.com

As we have all experienced, 2021 has not be kind to many. I pray for all those tragically affected by the pandemic and wish strong health to others as we head into the winter months. In speaking of the winter months, its time for a quick update on the our future racing plans.

As I have spoken about earlier, my business partner and I have agreed to part ways at the end of 2020. We each have different ideas of the team’s direction and it is with some sadness we do not continues. I thank him for the effort he put forth and I can confidently says neither of us would have been tour type car owners with out the other.

With the split, there was a mutual agreement of access division and it left us having to seek out a new powerplant for the race car. Luckily it was not a hard search as there were some fairly stout pieces available. A few weeks ago, Derek and I drove to the Mid-Atlantic states and picked up an new to us 18 Deg Chevy 358 ci V8 to power our Raceworks modified. We feel confident the machine will not be lacking in HP as we enter 2021.  There are some other upgrades and refreshing going into the car as well, and not to mention the building of a second car. When they all come together, we speak more about them.

Many people have been asking, what are you doing next year for racing. And this is a good question, as there are a lot of options in the New England modified space. For starters, we are looking at the new Thompson Speedway Outlaw open shows. With the track one of the closest to our home it only makes sense to go where our fans can see and Derek has had some good runs there in many cars, including the tour type mod.  Other ventures include trying to run several if not all the Tri-Track races, and of course if we can squeeze in an MRS race it would be great as we always like racing with those guys. Much of what our schedule will pan out to be is based on time and funding. We are constantly on the hunt for new marketing partners and as with most teams the time to prepare well is limited. But you can rest assured, we will do everything in our power to be competitive.

In closing I’d like to thank our partners and sponsors from 2020 as if it wasn’t for them we couldn’t have done this. So special shout-outs to New Hampshire Oil Undercoating, Competitive Tire, and Ashaway Performance Engine. We also want to thanks Shibles Family Mattress for returning to DDR Motorsports for 2021.

See you all soon!