If you Google the term “race car driver” the next time you turn on your computer, don’t be surprised to see a picture of Bobby Bond come up first. Ever since watching his first laps at Oswego Speedway as a boy growing up, he knew he wanted to drive a racecar. Even today, as he put it, “I just always wanted to go faster, doesn’t matter what it was, I just wanted to go faster.” Doesn’t that sound like a perfect definition of racecar driver?
“My dad took us as kids to the racetrack, and it’s been with us ever since,” Bob reminisced about how he got the racing bug. Like many of the kids in the Oswego area growing up, once they saw the sleek cars, heard the huge horsepower of the engines, and smelled the spent methanol, it was all over.
“We started when they had the enduros”, Bob said. “Back then, they were fun, and they got more like pure stocks, so we then ran pure stocks. From the pure stocks, we went to street stocks.” Bob ran the Fulton-Brewerton speedway circuit, back in the day.
After dabbling in the dirt, it was time to shift off the dirt and move to Oswego and the limited supermodified division in 1994. Bob impressed right out of the box as he won the limited supermodified rookie of the year, and was a contender week in and week out. He finished 10th in points his very first season on asphalt, and in the division. It was a sign of many good things to come.
Bob continued his progression in the limiteds, continuing to advance. He moved from a solid driver, to contender. He went from contender to a front of the pack runner, and a front pack guy to weekly threat.
Bob often led features in the first half of his limited career, only to have mechanical gremlins force him out of the lead, or other issues take him out of the win. 1995 saw the 11 finish fifth in the standings, and ’96 Bond finished sixth.
1997 was a breakout year for the driver of the 11, as on June 28, he picked up that first ever Oswego Speedway feature win, as he outdueled Shawn Muldoon for the win in the 25 lapper.
He was in a season long point race with Dean Hoag. In the last race of 1997, it appeared Bond was on his way to a point championship, until the motor on his car blew, ending his dream of a championship. After the point championship was decided, Bob made his next career move, onto the supermodifieds.
A ride in one of the Stowell supermodifieds was open for Classic, and to everyone’s surprise, it was Bobby Bond behind the wheel of the #39. Bo qualified in time trials, 20th, with a lap of 17.550, impressive for his first ever run in a super. He learned the car all weekend, and wheeled it to a 14th place finish in his first ever race in a supermodified, let alone his first Classic.
He was hooked from there, and picked up a supermodified from the Pat Abold stable, and was off in the methanol monsters. The 1998 Oswego Speedway supermodifed rookie of the year followed. Bob quickly gained the confidence of the fellow supermodified drivers at the track, as he was a quick and smooth competitor, laurels you have to earn through time.
He was a threat to win week in and week out in the #25. He ranks in the top 50 of all time supermodified points in the history of Oswego, showing his true mettle as a driver. On top of that, he is one of the few that is in the top 50 of both supermodified and SBS all time points.
While Bob had a stellar career at Oswego, it was time for another change. He picks it up from there. “Steve and Pat had a meeting with me, and said they were thinking of banning independents. I told them that was fine, I was thinking about running ISMA anyway. I knew banning the independent was possibility when it was built, I thought of going ISMA anyway.”
So, off in search of going faster again and running with the traveling ISMA circuit. “I like traveling,” Bob relayed. “Its tough to get guys to travel sometimes, but I like the travel. Its fun going to a new track, and having to figure out how to make the car go fast. You have to work on it, think about it, and make it fast. You don’t come in with the same set up all the time and have it work. It’s a challenge I like.”
Looking at 2010, he added,” I guess I’m not really happy overall. We’ve stayed out of trouble, and done ok, but we’re not as fast as we would like. We been trying to do some new things, but normally we don’t get a lot of warm up time, so you usually go back to what you know works.”
While he hasn’t been totally thrilled with 2010, Bob’s biggest career thrill came this season at Oswego Speedway, when he finally got that long dreamed of Oswego Speedway supermodified feature win. It wasn’t just any other race at that, it was the King of Wings show. In an added bonus that night, brother Mike won the SBS race that night, making the Bond’s the first set of brothers in Oswego Speedway history to win feature events on the same race night.
“It was a relief more than it was anything else,” he mentioned. “We’ve tried so hard, for so long, it was nice to finally get it. Everyone wants to win at Oswego. We tried for so long and so any times, I thought the first one would come without the wing, instead of with the wing. Now, we just hope to get another.”
But, as with every other race, it was a team effort with the 25. “I can’t thank Ed Matteson, Larry Von Holtz and my dad enough,” Bob said gratefully. “They’ve been with me every step of the way. They have been with me every step, we’ve been through it all. It’s a total team effort here.”
Designs of Elegance, Trytek Construction, Philips Family Farm, and mom and dad have been the longtime supporters of Bob and his racing efforts. Ed Matteson, Larry Von Holtz, David Bond (Bob’s dad), Mike Bond and Travis Cole are the guys that get the 25 race ready, and the team behind the machine.
He is one of the few drivers that sits in the top 50 of both supermodified and SBS points all time at Oswego, as well as being one of the few to win feature events in both divisions. In his search of always wanting to go faster, he’s succeeded every step along the way. That search of going faster continues this weekend, as he looks to go back to back in winged action at Oswego Speedway in the 17th Oswego Super Nationals.