Outracing History, Twice Over [Culturelicious]

Their arrangement was simple and precise: Ribbs dealt with Cosby directly, bypassing the usual lawyers or managers connected to one of the world’s best-known celebrities. For his part, Ribbs only had to a) tell Cosby how much sponsorship money he needed and b) use that sum wisely.

With two top 10 finishes his rookie year, on top of his historic arrival and Top 20 finish at Indy, Cosby’s money had been invested wisely. But, Ribbs says, he still faced an uphill battle: teams like Penske, Ganassi or Newman Haas, he says, had two-thirds more of a budget than his own. This disparity is at the heart of Ribbs’ only regret from his Indy Car years.

When asked where that reticence came from, despite his successes and history-making appearance, Ribbs is at a loss: “I have no answer for that,” he says. “Its something they would have to answer.”

Twenty years after that first tense qualifying run, and a second Indy appearance in 1993, Ribbs returned to the Speedway, but this time he’s in another role: as a team owner in the Indy Lights Series circuit, Ribbs is helping a new generation of drivers prepare to go through that same tunnel. He says that coming back to Indy as an owner was something he was thinking of the first time he made it to Indy.

“Once you retire from the sport a lot of drivers head out to pasture,” Ribbs says. “Well I wasn’t ready to start grazing yet. The new goal is to go to Indy. To be in the Indy Championship Series.”

Ribbs’ driver, Chase Austin, is making history in his own right: he was both the first biracial driver to make his start on a NASCAR Bush series race, and the first in the Indy Lights Series’ short history.

Ribbs has known Austin, a 21-year-old Kansas native, for the past five years, when Austin’s family approached the veteran for advice on their son’s driving career. Ribbs says the goal, at this point, is to lead Austin along “his first rodeo,” but not to pressure him – especially on this kind of track.

“Indy is difficult no matter what,” Ribbs says. “You could run a golf cart around here and it would still be difficult. It is the toughest racetrack in the world. There isn’t even a close or distant second. The fact of the matter is its very dangerous and this place has killed more race drivers than anywhere else on the planet. But the prestige is worth it. The event speaks for itself.”

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