Riley Racing

I've been meaning to write about the Riley's for a long time. They own the Riley dealerships around Stamford...Riley Mazda, Stamford Volvo... Both their sons went to UConn and both of them and their father race cars. I know their son A.J. a bit because I have gone to see him race a couple of times at Lime Rock Park in the Northwest corner of the state.

A.J. Riley is a UConn Student-Athlete that one really knows about because he's not on UConn Huskies.com. He's not a varsity athlete but A.J. has been involved in motorsports for a longtime. He also graduated fairly high up in his class from the school of Business. A.J. has a good future in whatever he chooses to do.

http://www.rileyracing.com/index.cfm

I love Motorsports. I've been to an SCCA race, NASCAR Race, and an IRL Race. I've watched Races at Lime Rock Park, The streets of St. Petersburg, Pocono Raceway and New Hampshire Motor Speedway. I've also walked on Homestead Miami speedway.

There is something about hearing those engines running that gets your testosterone and adrenaline flowing. I love listening to races. Just hearing those engines going by. Hearing them roar and feeling the ground shake around you. It's such a cool thing to see.

A.J. and his brother Jameson have won races locally and have driven a variety of different cars. I've seen their father Chris race a mini-cooper, Jameson drive a Volvo S-40...at the time...and maybe still is, was the only real racing Volvo in the country. A saw A.J. drive an open-wheel car. I think I saw A.J. win. I watched Jameson race on the Speed Channel once.

Both A.J. and Jameson are in good Shape. I know A.J. enjoys cycling. I've seen him at the gym at UConn on many occasions. Don't you dare think that they don't stay in shape or workout. That is a huge misnomer. A.J. would race around the country and also was a tremendous student at UConn. Not that many people know about him being a Student Athlete because he never drove for the school.

The Family would bring their RV and cars to Lime Rock for the weekend...and whatever places they raced at...which included Mid Ohio, and Watkins Glenn. They spent several days...qualifying, practicing and racing there.

I got to see a lot of cool things because we knew them. We got to be in the garage as they were getting into the car and as they were coming back from the race.

Often at races they talk about drifting into the marbles...really it's the stuff on the side of the road with debris....The tires get so hot while racing that they pick up that debris when driving. The cars also are devoid of everything that could possibly add weight.

Racing is extremely expensive and the fact that they own Riley Mazda and Stamford Volvo helps them with racing. They also have great sponsors, like Castrol Syntec Motor oil. Still it is very expensive to race, and unfortunately with the economy the way it is they will be cutting back this year.

The entire family got involved during the race. They used walkie talkies and radios to communicate with the driver and each other...the spotters and moral support. Usually two people would be spotters at a track like Lime Rock, a road circuit with a lot of turns and hills.

There would be tents, 18 wheelers and race cars everywhere in the in-field on race weekends. It's basically a small town with lots of race cars, and race parts.

Other people who raced at Lime Rock when I attended races would be, Paul Newman, the deceased actor and founder of "Newman's Own" grocery products. He'd change his car number every year he raced because he'd put his age as the car number.

Drivers get in such a zone that it takes them a little bit before they can get out of there car and talk to people. They sometimes take as long as 5 minutes just to get out of the car and get back to reality. It took Newman awhile. I found the same thing after I go on an intense bike ride. I sometimes just sit and stare into the woods, or at the ground or grass for a seemingly endless amount of time just to get my mind right.

(It's also why I often will not talk to any athletes I know at sporting events. I am very hesitant to bother them. I saw Willis after her race this year but I felt like it was too close after the race for me to speak with her so I waited a little bit longer and went over to speak with her after I felt like she had a good cooling off period)

I also saw Marco Andretti race at Lime Rock. Yes he's related to Mario Andretti, the famous race-car driver. Marco now races in the IRL.

Lime Rock is such a pretty race track and it's a great place to sit and watch a race. You can bring your family or friends for a picnic and watch some good racing. Really if you have never been to a race before you should go and check it out. It's in such a pretty part of the State of Connecticut.

http://www.limerock.com/

Tomorrow, May 18th, is also A.J. Riley's birthday. Just thought you should know. Facebook is good for some things.