Chasing The Racing

Children around the world grow up with dreams of becoming a professional racing driver. The fact is, however, that only a small number of them will actually become one. Being able to race cars for a living is an incredibly difficult task, but the chase for that dream will always continue.

For IMSA Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge driver Jason Rabe, achieving that goal was a case of all or nothing. There was never a sacrifice he wouldn’t make to get that ride.

“I’ve been into racing since I was about four years old, growing up at a local dirt short track watching my cousin run a dirt modified,” Rabe said. “All I wanted to do as a kid was play with race cars and racing games or drive around in my little go-kart.”

In high school, Rabe worked on cars with his father, building custom rides to drive around the back country roads of the Pocono Mountains. From there, he enrolled at Penn State University with the original intent of pursuing a degree but after a few semesters, Rabe realized his true passion was elsewhere.

“All I would think about was racing,” explained Rabe. “I knew I could make it, so I dropped out and went to Bertil Roos Racing School in the Poconos, which obviously didn’t please my family very much.”

Despite the move being controversial, Rabe excelled at the school. After setting numerous fastest laps, capturing poles and winning races, he thought his career as a driver might instantly kick off.  Unfortunately, his story was not quite so fairytale.

He returned to wrenching on street cars in addition to the BMW detailing work he was doing on the side. Getting so close to the motorsports world and then having it seem to fall away may have proven too much for others, but Rabe persevered.

He continued to look for racing opportunities and finally found a way back in, landing a job at Bertil Roos’ prep shop working on a local team’s race cars. By that point, Rabe was in his mid-twenties, and while his passion was deeper than ever before, it still wasn’t the same as driving.

“After doing that for a while, I finally got around to figuring out that it was now or never,” Rabe said. “I packed up my car and drove down to a fairly new circuit, New Jersey Motorsports Park, and filled out an application to do anything there I could.  Networking was really the only thing I had in mind.”

The bold move worked, or at least partially. He received an offer to flag corners for a couple of days per week. Accepting the offer but not knowing anyone at the time, Rabe resorted to something that he probably never predicted he would have to do: live out of his car.

Despite the unconventional living conditions, Rabe continued to work hard. The track eventually increased his flagging duties from two days per week to nearly seven full days.

“During my lunch breaks, I would go walk around the paddock and network with teams, just trying to find any opportunity,” he said. “These guys had to think I was nuts, just some random flagger walking around. But I wanted to prove to them that I knew everything there was to know about racing, and they eventually saw that.”

The track later asked Rabe to do some work in Race Control, where he met John Maesky, who now works as an IMSA official. The two became fast friends and after finding out that Rabe was living out of his car, Maesky insisted that he move in with him.

“His current roommate was moving out, so there was an opening,” explained Rabe. “He told me not to worry about rent for a couple of months until I was back on my feet. Honestly, he’s like a brother to me – if it wasn’t for that kindness, a lot of this probably wouldn’t have happened.”

Eventually, an opportunity to work on race cars returned for Rabe. An SCCA team owner named Mike Amy offered a mechanic position on his team and, in addition, some seat time in the cars from time to time. Rabe accepted right away.

“It worked out great for me, because I ended up getting some podiums, track records and wins, which started opening up more eyes,” he said. “That’s how I got my start with pro racing, folks from NJMP helping me out. My main sponsor became Delaware Investments and, if it wasn’t for them, none of the racing I’m doing today would have ever happened. They basically took me from a flagger/mechanic/amateur driver to a professional driver. It was an absolute dream come true.”

Rabe has spent the past two seasons driving for Bodymotion Racing in the Continental Tire Challenge, where he has earned multiple top-five and top-10 finishes, along with a podium in 2016 at Watkins Glen and pole at Road Atlanta. Though still chasing a win in the series, he is already mapping out future plans and is willing to do whatever it takes.

“I’m still working out my plans for the next couple of seasons, but I’d love to make an appearance in the WeatherTech Championship at some point,” he said. “That’s my goal.”