Another Road Raber Family Racing
Some parents encourage their sons and daughters to play
soccer or baseball or hockey or gymnastics. They take their children
all over the countryside to practice, play on elite teams and encourage
their talent. The Raber family has encouraged their sons, Ben and Will,
to try another road — car racing.
The Raber racing heritage runs
deep. Wilbur Raber p
assed his love of racing to his son, Dale, who
began racing stock cars at 16, and raced go carts through his 20s. His
son,
Ben, has been racing for 15 years and now, Will, age 8, is carrying
on the family tradition racing quarter midgets throughout the Midwest.
Ben
Raber races stock cars every Saturday night at the Kalamazoo Speedway.
At 23, he is one of the veterans on the racetrack; most drivers currently
racing are 16-19 years old. Ben has raced quarter midgets, Formula
1, go carts and now stock cars. Since his teenage years, he has been
one
of the top racers at the Speedway. An evening at the Speedway includes
10 laps of qualifying and a 35 lap feature race on the 3/8 mile track.
He generally wins once or twice a season.
Will Raber is entering his
second season of racing quarter midgets on an oval track. There isn’t
an oval track in the Kalamazoo area currently, so Will and his Dad travel
to Lansing, Toledo, Columbus, or Indianapolis most weekends to compete.
Will competes in both the 5-8 year old and the 8-15 year old divisions,
sometimes racing 6 or 8 times a weekend. Many weekends, Will’s
mother Anne Raber joins them to watch her son race, and as she puts it, “screams
her head off” to encourage him. Last weekend, he won 6 ribbons
including two first place ribbons and two “fastest time” ribbons.
Based in Allegan, Raber Racing maintains a Honda Junior
120 quarter midget car, a Honda Light 160 quarter midget, both driven
by Will, and two stock
cars — one that Ben drives and one for another Kalamazoo Speedway
driver. Every evening is spent maintaining the cars; from after work
until late into the evenings for Ben and Dale. Will helps by loading
and unloading the cars from the trailers and running errands. Additionally,
Ben works for Advanced Automotive as a mechanic – his entire life
is cars and racing. On his off nights, he hangs out with other drivers,
talking shop or racing Formula 1 cars.
Why this kind of lifestyle? All
three Raber men feel very bon
ded to racing and each other. Ben feels
that he and his Dad have a better relationship than most young men
do with their Dads. Growing up, he knew that racing was the reward for
well
done schoolwork and behavior. He remembers two times when he was a
teenager that he goofed off at school and home. Even though it was pretty
well
assured that he would win the weekend’s races, he was not allowed
to participate. His comment: “I though for sure my Dad would let
me race. Learned a good lesson!” Will already knows that homework
comes first.
During the winter, he found a race that he wanted to go
to in Alabama. Thinking that his father would take him there for the
weekend, he asked his teacher for homework in advance and got it all
done. They didn’t go to the race that weekend, but Will says, “At
least I got a whole week’s worth of homework done ahead of time.”
What
does the future hold for the Raber family? Dale is active in a plan
to get a Quarter Midget racetrack on the grounds of the Kalamazoo Speedway
because there isn’t one in the area. Opening this summer, it will
cut down a bit on the weekly travel for the family. Ben isn’t sure
how much longer he is going to race, but because of his career as a mechanic,
he is liable to continue to spend his life in racing. Will, of course,
expects that he will become as enmeshed in racing as his Dad and brother,
keep winning ribbons and trophies, and as he says, “finish up the
race without getting hurt.”
The Greater Guide Southwest Michigan
wishes them well and encourages race fans to come to the Kalamazoo
Speedway on June 16 when the family will be there signing autographs
and greeting
visitors.
Photos by Amelia Falk.
