TREVOR KOBYLARZ
Trevor Kobylarz Achieves His Goal for the 2013 Season
Fifteen years after Bryan Kobylarz won his first ARDC Championship, twenty year old Trevor Kobylarz adds his name to the impressive list of ARDC Midget Champions.
After trailing champion, Tim Buckwalter in the 2012 points race, Trevor Kobylarz declared his intentions to seek this year’s championship – immediately following the 2012 ARDC banquet. After winning the Owners’ Championship for R/T Racing’s Dyke and Carey Becker, Trevor decided that it was time to chase after both awards – the driver’s and the owner’s award in 2013.
It was an ambitious goal by most standards but it seemed like the thing to do for the son of a champion who had grown up around racing and ARDC midgets all his life.
Leroy Bossler, a long time Kobylarz crew member, remembers Trevor always being at the races. Bossler was the recipient of the Ken Hickey Crew Chief Award in 2008 when Randy Monroe won the championship with Bryan Kobylarz as his car owner. “When Trevor was just a toddler, he’d be in the grandstands with a babysitter because the tracks wouldn’t allow a small child in the pits. But when we’d go down south, it was allowed and Trevor would be right there in the pits with us.” While most kids his age had a sandbox, Trevor did too but instead of sand, his box was filled with dirt for his sprint cars. Bossler continues, “He’d run his races right there – he’d make up A Mains and B Mains.” Bossler remembers the first time he saw Trevor race. “He might have been four or five. Then made a track at Lincoln for a Big Wheel race and Trevor won!”
As Trevor got older, he began to help around the cars. “He always aspired to be a driver like his dad,,” Bossler says.
Trevor did well as a rookie having driven quarter midgets, go karts and micros before getting into a midget. But the young Kobylarz lacked consistency. He had good runs and he had wrecks. Some times his father questioned his ability.
Billy Pauch, Jr. picked up a ride in a third car whenever the car and his schedule allowed back in the Two Dogs Racing Team days with Doug Starret. Pauch, Jr was just old enough to be a role model for Trevor and young enough to be his friend. “Bryan used to ask me what I thought – would Trevor make it, when he was just starting out,” Pauch Jr. says. “He’d ask me to talk to Trevor.”
Bossler has similar memories and explains it quite well. “Trevor did well. His first Chili Bowl trip was better than any of our trips had been! The drive was there – maybe it took a little time for the skill and the maturity to catch up but you can’t put a time limit on those types of things.” That time has come!
Pauch, Jr. picked up a win with ARDC during Trevor’s second season of racing. Trevor finished second that night. “I never let him forget it,” says Pauch, Jr. “I still tell him that he’s never passed me on the race track!” The two young drivers now compare notes and bounce ideas off of one another when they are racing. Over the years, the Pauch and Kobylarz families have become good friends.
Former Championship car owner, Doug Starrett has known the Kobylarz for a long time. According to Starrett, “Trevor saw his dad win the championship. He grew up with Bryan as his mentor. He’s the kind of kid that I would be honored to call my grandson. He is kind and a gentleman.”
After earning his first ever ARDC feature wins last season, Trevor continued on his way in 2013, adding four more victories to his total. He ended the season with four wins and five second place finishes – a total of ten top fives and fourteen top tens. There was only one DNF and that came at the Labor Day race at Port Royal. Trevor had the R/T Racing #1 in the top fifteen in nineteen of the twenty races run.
The highlights of the 2013 season were the four feature wins – each special for a different reason. “The win at Susky was special because it was part of the Eastern Storm USAC tour and Doug (Starrett) was there to see me win for the first time,” Trevor explains. “Potomac was our second win and that’s where I won my first ARDC feature a year ago.” Four days before the Potomac win, Trevor had proposed to his Nicole Adams. The couple was now engaged to be married. “Bedford was special because it was the first ever ARDC race at the Bedford Fairgrounds. Grandview was a big win. I raced for Tom Herbert that day. It was the first win that Dyke Becker saw and we had a lot of sponsors with us at the track that night,” Trevor continues.
And while the turn one wreck at Port Royal was certainly the low point of the season, even that could be viewed with a positive attitude. “You know they say that everything happens for a reason,” Trevor explains. “Well after Port Royal, the #20 car became the #1 car and I picked up two seconds and a win in the next three races.” It gave him the end of the season that he needed to clinch the championship.
The crew on the R/T Racing cars are led by Bryan Kobylarz as crew chief. Trevor and Bryan make most of the decisions relevant to the car maintenance and set-up together. Crew members include Homer Hiester, Scott Cooper, Leroy Bossler and Mike Lengel as well as Deanna Kobylarz and Nicole who help with everything from feeding the crew to helping on wash day.
Sponsors on the #1 are Café Waldorf, Becker Painting, ProMax Fence, Pioneer Pole Building, Chuck’s Auto Salvage, Caldwell Banker Select Professionals, Awesome Racing Uniforms, Deka Battery, Spike Chassis and BDB Graphics with a special thanks to Doug Starrett and Glenn Sinibaldi.
It has been a big year for the twenty year old junior at Penn State’s Berks Campus. In addition to winning the ARDC Championship and becoming engaged, Trevor has also been working for Carpenter Technologies as part of his co-op program through school. During the school term, he works part time at Carpenter while taking classes but he worked full time hours during the summer months in addition to his TK Landscaping Business.
Trevor is appreciative for all of the help and support that he has received. “I will be forever grateful to the Beckers for what they have done for me,” the new champion states.
Congratulations to 2013 ARDC Champion, second generation driver, Trevor Kobylarz!