Drag racing is in Jay Robinson’s blood. In fact, Robinson was flying down the quarter-mile track before he was even born. His mother, Wanda, was pregnant with Jay when she was still drag racing.
“It’s kind of been bred into him,” said Jay’s dad, Jack, who’s been drag racing for 33 years. “My dad raced. I raced, and my wife raced. He was going down the track before he was born. It pretty much comes second nature to him.”
Jack might be right. His 21-year-old son pulled off an unbelievable feat in Shreveport, La., last month. Jay won three of four separate events, including the IHRA Division 4 Bracket Finals Sept. 19-21. Overall, he won $6,000 during the weekend.
Keep in mind, you have to win several rounds just to win an event. So things were really going Jay’s way that weekend.
“I was pretty happy,” Jay said. “I’d won some races before. To win three in one weekend was pretty exciting.”
Jay got the chance to race in Shreveport because he won the season series in the No Electronics Class at Lone Star Raceway in Sealy. As the track champion, he got the chance to represent the track at the Shreveport event and race against the other track champions in Division 4.
The Galveston resident began racing at age 16 after watching his grandfather, dad and mom race.
“As long as I could remember, I always wanted to race,” he said. “It was kind of expected, really. I knew I’d be able to race a car. Now that I get to do it, it’s fun.”
He started out racing his 1973 Nova in the Electronics Class and had some success, but he recently switched to the No Electronics Class. He said it’s hard to compete in the high-dollar Electronics Class with a low-tech Nova race car. Most drivers race a dragster — a long, skinny, rear-engined rail — in the Electronics Class. Dragsters are more aerodynamic, thus more consistent, but cost a lot more to outfit with all the needed electronic gizmos to compete. Jay said it would cost $65,000 to buy a good dragster to race in the Electronics Class.
Jay’s dad, 49-year-old Jack, has been impressed with his son’s driving.
“I’ve been racing for 33 years, and he’s as good as the best in the country,” he said. “To win three races on a weekend is extremely difficult. At 16, he was winning with a car he shouldn’t be winning in. To run in the Electronics Class with a door car is like taking a stick to a gunfight. You could win if everything’s going your way, and you have a good car.”
Jay has handled the driving duties for a few other race teams around the state, but his most memorable opportunity came during the summer. A Dickinson team asked him to drive their dragster in Aruba in May.
“It’s the coolest thing I’ve ever done,” said Jay, who works for his dad’s Galveston-based moving company.
Jay, who says Bob Carpenter at Trans-King in Galveston and local racer Billy Bunch have helped him out a lot, said he hopes to eventually land a big-time driving gig racing full-time for a well-heeled team.
“He’s kind of hoping for a break someday where somebody will let him drive and get paid to do it,” Jack said. “We’re just really proud of him. He’s made a name for himself throughout the state. Just about anywhere he goes, he gains some respect. I didn’t make it all the way, but I think he will.”
