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| Bobby Timmons III of Windham competes in a Super modified race at Star Speedway in Epping, New Hampshire. He is a third- generation auto racer who is making his mark on the racing scene in New England. Timmons won the 350 Super modified race at Thompson Motor Speedway Motorsports Park in Connecticut over the Columbus Day weekend. PHOTO COURTESY OF MIKE ROTHWELL |
As far back as Bobby Timmons III can recall, he’s had a need
for speed and 2020 has proven to be an unqualified success for the 27-year-old
driver from Windham.
A third-generation racer, Timmons, 27, launched his career
while competing in go-karts at
Beech Ridge Motor Speedway in Scarborough after watching his father, Bobby
Timmons, Jr. and his grandfather, Bobby Timmons, race Super modified
automobiles at racetrack in both Maine and New Hampshire. His devotion to
living up to their legacy has led to numerous racing victories, including
taking the checkered flag in September’s Star Classic at the Star Speedway in Epping, New Hampshire and
winning the 350 Super modified race at Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park in
Connecticut over the Columbus Day weekend.
“I admire my dad and his work ethic toward racing cars and life in general,” Timmons said. “Growing up I was a fan of local guys that were friends with my dad, Scott Mulkern, Gary Drew, and Larry Gelinas. I was also a big fan of Ben Rowe. On the NASCAR end of things, I was huge Kevin Harvick fan. He filled in for Earnhardt after he died and was a rookie the same year that I was a rookie in go-karts.”
Currently Timmons
competes in two different super modified cars, which are a class of open wheel race
cars that compete on paved short tracks throughout the U.S. and Canada.
cubic inch Chevrolet big block that makes around 800 horsepower and has tires that range from 13- to 18-inches wide. They are considered the fastest short track racecars in the country.”
During the season,
Timmons races weekly at Star Speedway in New Hampshire on a one quarter-mile
banked track. Races are typically 35 to 60-laps in length. In winning in his
final race of the year in Connecticut, Timmons raced on a 5/8 of a mile track
with the most banking out of any racetrack in New England. This summer he also
raced in three ISMA events and in the past has raced in the Oxford 250 in
Maine.
“The challenge of
trying to make a car go faster than everyone else in the garage and on the
track, the friends I've made along the way, and the shear aspect of driving a
car that fast are the best things about
the sport for me,” Timmons said. “At the last ISMA race I competed in,
we were reaching speeds of 150 mph.”
A 2011 graduate of
Windham High School, Timmons says that the worst part of auto racing for
drivers is the money it takes just to be there, let alone to be competitive
but my dad and I fund the majority of it out of our own pockets.”
He’s worked for his
father since he was 12 and is a machinist and a welder at his father’s
shop, Timmons Machine & Fabrication Inc. of Windham, when not racing Super
modified cars.
“My dad built his first
super modified when he was 19-years-old,” Timmons said. “Buying equipment and
tools to do so is what eventually led to him starting his own business in 1985
that we have still going today. But it’s an entire family affair for us.
My dad works on the cars with me. My mom and sister are at just about every
race to support me. My sister’s husband helps us out and races go karts
himself. My last remaining grandparent, my grandmother on my dad’s side, is my
biggest fan and never misses a race. She owns the ISMA big block super that I
race.”
His advice for others
wanting to become a racer is to just enjoy the experience and have fun.
“Racing has given me a
lot of great moments in my life and I've made plenty of lifelong friends from
it,” Timmons said. “I just want to keep having fun.” <
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