Race Fan's Reflections ~ Rob Moroso
12/13/2013 Jim Fitzgerald On September 26th, 1968 in Greenwich, Connecticut, a future Busch Series Champion and Winston Cup Rookie of the Year entered this world. Twenty-two years and four days later, near Mooresville, North Carolina, he would leave it. This is the story of Robert James Moroso… Dick Moroso was a very successful driver in the ranks of the drag racing community. He found, however, that he was just as good at innovation as he was at performance. In 1968, he started Moroso Performance Products, which focused on improved versions of products such as oil pans, ignition, and air filters. That same year, his son, Rob, was born. The son of an automotive professional, Rob was destined to be in the business, and by the age of ten years old was racing go-karts. A few years later he was well on his way to a career in racing, gathering six wins in the Goody’s Dash Series, now most recently known as the ISCARS Dash Touring Series. The young Moroso finally reached the NASCAR Busch Grand National Series in 1986, running two races in a car sponsored by Old Milwaukee. (He was seventeen years old at the time, and a minor being sponsored by an alcoholic beverage company is something you’d never see today.) In Moroso’s two starts that season, he finished 21st at Rougemont (Orange County Speedway) and 18th at Rockingham in a car owned by Rick Hendrick. In 1987, Moroso ran a race in a new series, called the Busch Grand National North Series, which evolved over time and changed names, and is now the K&N Pro Series East. In that race, he finished 16th, completing all 124 laps at the then-1/3 mile Oxford Plains Speedway in Oxford, Maine, which is now a 3/8 mile facility. That year, he also expanded his Busch Grand National Series schedule to 25 of 27 races in a car owned by his father. He scored two top-five finishes that season, one at Indianapolis Raceway Park, which is now Lucas Oil Raceway. The other top-five was once again at Oxford. He got as high at 13th in the final points before finally finishing 15th for the season. When 1988 began, Moroso was running again in a car owned by his father, sponsored by Moroso Performance Products. At the half-way point of the season, Moroso’s talent was beginning to show, scoring eight top-ten finishes in fifteen races. The sixteenth race would prove that none of it was a fluke. At the Myrtle Beach 200, Moroso led the final 33 laps, beating Larry Pearson to the finish line by more than three seconds. Later in the season, after six more top-ten finishes, Moroso won again, this time in the All-Pro 300 at Charlotte, this time topping Geoff Bodine by about four-tenths of a second. Moroso finished the season with eighteen top-tens and two wins, was never worse than eighth in the points, and finished second to Champion Tommy Ellis. He also made his first Winston Cup Series (Now Sprint Cup Series) starts that season. He ran at Charlotte for Rick Hendrick in the No. 47 Peak Antifreeze Chevrolet, and a week later at North Wilkesboro in the No. 22 Moroso Racing Oldsmobile, finishing 14th and 31st, respectively. His Cup Series starts aside, Moroso’s 1989 season was to be focused on the Busch Grand National Series Championship in the Moroso-owned No. 25 Swisher Sweets Olds. He would start on the outside pole at Daytona and finish third, and then take over the series point lead with a win from the pole the following week in Rockingham. Poles at Martinsville and South Boston followed, with five more top-ten finishes before getting to the May race at Charlotte, where he would take his second win of the season, this time beating Darrell and Michael Waltrip to the line, giving him a 39-point lead over Jack Ingram. The series continued on, and four races later, he would solidify his position atop the series standing with a win from the pole at Volusia County Speedway, giving him a 51-point lead over Jack Ingram. The lead would be 64 points after the next two races were completed. The next eight races, however, would produce only one top ten finish (Richmond), and cost Moroso four positions in the point standings. With four races remaining, Moroso was 127 points behind Tommy Ellis. At the next race in Martinsville, Moroso sat on the pole and never led a lap, but he did finish second to Tommy Houston who took over the point lead, while Ellis finished 29th with engine problems. Moroso was now in third place, 125 back with three to go. The series’ next stop was Charlotte, where Moroso was the defending champion. He backed it up with another win from the fourth starting position, and retook the point lead when Houston blew an engine on the 24th Lap and Ellis finished 16th, seven laps down. Harry Gant won the following week at Rockingham, while Houston and Ellis both outpointed Moroso, once again knocking him off the top of the standings. With one race remaining, Moroso was trailing Houston by 19 points. The series finale, the Winston Classic at Martinsville, however, was a reversal of fortunes. Moroso qualified well, starting in third, while Houston was sixth and Ellis thirteenth. Ellis led 112 laps and finished tenth. Tommy Houston’s engine quit about 26 laps too early, leaving him in 24th, while Moroso led the first 54 laps of the race and finished third behind Gant and race winner L. D. Ottinger. Once the points were tallied, Moroso had scored 4001 points during the season, 55 more than Tommy Houston, and 56 more than Tommy Ellis. Rob Moroso was the 1989 Busch Grand National Series Champion, grabbing four wins and seven poles. He also made two more Cup series starts that season, finishing 28th at Dover in the No. 22 Prestone Olds, and 34th in Atlanta in the Swisher Sweets Olds, crashing in both races. As 1990 approached, it was announced that Moroso would run in the Winston Cup Series for the Rookie of the Year title. Still driving the family owned Oldsmobile, they had Crown Petroleum as a sponsor, and for Crew Chief, found “Suitcase” Jake Elder available for the job. Moroso’s plan at the start of the season was to run the full schedule. His nearest competitor for the Rookie title was Jack Pennington, who only made fourteen starts for car owner Derrick Close. Moroso ran his Rookie of the Year campaign as most do, with limited success. He did start in the top ten six times, but the finishes weren’t there. There were fifteen DNFs, he led only nine laps all season, and scored his only top-ten finish of the year, a ninth, in the summer Daytona 400-miler. On Sunday, September 30th, 1990, the NASCAR Winston Cup Series ran the Tyson Holly Farms 400 at North Wilkesboro. Mark Martin took the win over Dale Earnhardt, while Brett Bodine, Bill Elliott, and Ken Schrader completed the top five. Rob Moroso would finish 21st that day. Hours later, Moroso would be driving his personal vehicle around a curve in a road near Mooresville, North Carolina. The posted speed was 35 miles per hour. It was estimated that Moroso’s car was traveling at more than 70 miles per hour when it struck the oncoming car of Tammy Williams. The resulting crash killed the drivers of both vehicles. After the investigation, it was reported that Moroso’s blood alcohol content was 0.22, which was more than twice the legal limit. Rob Moroso was posthumously declared the 1990 Winston Cup Series Rookie of the Year over Jack Pennington. In 1998, Dick Moroso succumbed to cancer after a year-long battle. Moroso Performance Products is still in operation today, and is run by Dick’s son, Rick. Be sure to follow me @Forewasabi on Twitter. Sometimes I give racing stuff away! |
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