While other kids his age spent their afternoons and weekends shooting hoops on the local courts, running the basepaths of Little League diamonds and kicking soccer balls around community fields, Bobby Dotter could be found hunched over the engine or behind the wheel of a race car.
It wasn’t the most common of hobbies. But Dotter’s love for the sport has driven him, literally, to the Busch Grand National Series, sort of the Triple-A league of NASCAR racing.
“I was brought up morning, noon and night racing,” said Dotter, who was raised on Chicago’s Northwest Side. “My brother and I never participated in any other sports–just racing.”
Dotter, 35, has been on the Busch circuit since 1990. He has one victory and will be racing in front of family and friends at Sunday’s Sears Auto Center 250 at Milwaukee.
“I want to start getting to where I can win some of these Busch Grand National races,” he said. “I feel before I’m ready to move to the next level, I need to win some races. I need to be more competitive than I am now.”
Dotter’s father, Bob, prompted the interest in racing by involving Bobby and his brother David in his own love for the sport. Bob was a three-time Automobile Racing Club of America (ARCA) champion.
“When I was 1 year old, my dad lost his arm in an industrial accident,” Bobby said. “He got involved in auto racing as a mechanic. Then he actually started to do some driving. He let racing consume him. As far as other interests, he has none.”
“They raced toy cars, wagons, anything,” Bob Dotter said. “Everything was a race. They’d push each other in wagons to see who could win. That’s pretty much all both of them knew, weekends at the racetrack.”
In a sport where southern hometowns are the nurturing grounds for famous racers, Dotter’s northern roots make him stand out in the media guide. But on the racetrack, he’s one of the boys.
For career reasons, he now lives in Mooresville, N.C.
Dotter won his one race on the Busch Grand National circuit in May, 1992 at New River Valley Speedway in Radford, Va. But more to his credit is his consistency. In 1993 and 1994, he finished seventh in the point standings. But the 1994 finish was a bit of a disappointment.
In June of last season, while sitting fifth in points, Dotter broke his shoulder in a wreck at Dover, Del. To stay in the hunt in the points race, he started the next few events. But he had to give the car up to a fill-in driver to finish each of the races because of the stress on his shoulder.
“In ’93, we had struggled back at 13th, 14th in points and our goal was to get in the top 10 in points. We accomplished that. Last year we got up to fourth, but fell back to seventh. I feel that’s the type of driver I should be. Even with a crash, we should be in the top 10.”
At the end of the 1994 season, Dotter purchased Team R Racing and joined up with partners Ron and Lee Smith to form M.P.H. Racing. Together they secured a new sponsor with Hyde Tools.
He credits his father with helping him get involved in the sport and girlfriend Jan Kierzek with keeping him in it.
“She was a really big help to me,” Dotter said. “She was able to keep our home life together even when money was a big problem.”
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The money was not a problem last year. Eight top-10 finishes helped yield $176,093. So far this season, in 14 starts, he has posted four top-10 finishes–including two top fives–and has earned $72,532. He is currently No. 10 in the points race.
Dotter began driving competitively at 16–Bob wouldn’t let him behind the wheel until he had his driver’s license–and proceeded to win 23 late-model features in the Chicago area his rookie season.
“He was pretty remarkable,” said Norm Noble, Dotter’s friend and crew chief from 1977 to 1981. At Raceway Park, the newcomers wouldn’t do well. The old-timers would knock them out of the way. His third night out, he won the feature . It surprised everybody.”
Dotter claimed several features and late-model division track championships in the next few years before venturing on to the American Speed Association (ASA) in 1982.
He competed for five years in the ASA, recording 28 top-five and 61 top-10 finishes and one victory. All six years he finished in the top 10 in final points.
He competed in the NASCAR All-Pro series in 1989, found a sponsor and moved to the Busch Series full-time in 1990.
“Bobby, he’s one of a few, one or two, guys out of the Chicago area who’s been able to make it,” Noble said. “He’s one step from the top (the Winston Cup circuit). He’s one of the few guys determined enough to go down South, basically pick up his life. A lot of guys come running back with their tails between their legs.”