Bobby Santos III

Robert Santos III (born October 3, 1985) is an American professional racing driver from Franklin, Massachusetts. He graduated in 2004 from Tri-County Regional Vocational Technical High School. Santos, nicknamed "Bobby New England", is the grandson of Bobby Santos, a former modified racer. His sister, Erica Pitkat, and brother in law Woody Pitkat are also racecar drivers. He is the cousin of former University of New Hampshire quarterback, and current head coach Ricky Santos.

Early career Before stock cars, Santos was a successful midget racer. He raced in the Northeastern Midget Association, USAC, PRA Big Car, and ISMA. He had the most wins of any driver in the USAC National Midget Tour in 2006, collecting five wins, including a win at O'Reilly Raceway Park on the Night Before the 500. He was signed to Bill Davis Racing.

ARCA career In 2006, Santos made his stock car debut at Iowa Speedway for Bill Davis Racing in the No. 02 Dodge. He started tenth and finished sixth. He returned to ARCA in 2007 for Bill Davis, now in a Toyota Camry. He won Toyota's first stock car pole at USA International Speedway in Lakeland, Florida. While leading the race, he was involved in an incident with a lapped car and did not finish. He returned at Nashville Superspeedway, but had a mid-pack run. At Kansas Speedway, Santos started second, but a blown engine relegated him to another DNF. Santos broke his dry spell at Kentucky Speedway when he started fourth and finished third, behind Erik Darnell and Erin Crocker. Santos placed third in the next race at Kentucky, as well. He won a pole at Pocono Raceway in early August and qualified fifth at Talladega Superspeedway, but was unable to back up either with a strong finish.

NASCAR career In 2007, Santos made his NASCAR Busch Series debut at Richmond International Raceway for the new Riley D'Hondt Motorsports team. He qualified seventh in his No. 91 Toyota but faded back to a thirtieth-place finish after running in the top-ten at the beginning of the race. He also qualified fourth for the Camping World 200 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway and was running in the top-ten before being hit by a lapped car. He ran two additional races for RDHM but did not finish better than 30th.

Santos has also participated in the Whelen Modified Tour, collecting his first two wins at Thompson International Speedway in October 2007, and the Ice Breaker, also at Thompson International Speedway, in April 2010. He parlayed his season-opening Icebreaker win into the 2010 Whelen Modified Tour championship, collecting a total of four wins and four poles on the season.

Santos ran the 2011 Nationwide Series opener for Jimmy Means in what was a back-up JR Motorsports car after wrecking the No. 52 in practice; the Earnhardt family has a long friendship with the independent owner and former driver. Santos finished seventeenth after vowing to run the race in its entirety.

Current career

After his stint in stock car racing, Santos returned to his roots, racing the full NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour for Bob Garbarino's Mystic Missile Racing team and a limited schedule in all three USAC divisions. Santos also made select appearances in the NEMA ranks in 2009. Santos' post-NASCAR career has been highlighted by wins in many of the nation's largest midget races, including the Turkey Night Grand Prix and Copper World Classic. He also won the 2020 Little 500 USAC Sprint car race at Anderson Speedway.

Santos would drive part-time in the NASCAR Nationwide Series in 2012 for Tommy Baldwin Racing and would continue to compete on the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour behind the wheel of the Tinio Corporation No. 44.

Santos registered back-to-back Musket 250 wins in 2019 and 2020.

Motorsports career results

NASCAR (key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

Nationwide Series NASCAR Nationwide Series results Year Team No. Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 Pts Ref 2007 Riley-D'Hondt Motorsports 91 Toyota DAY CAL MXC LVS ATL BRI NSH TEX PHO TAL RCH30 DAR CLT DOV NHA33 DAY CHI GTY IRP CGV GLN MCH BRI CAL RCH DOV KAN 98th 235 92 NSH37 KEN MLW CLT39 MEM TEX PHO HOM 2010 MacDonald Motorsports 81 Dodge DAY CAL LVS BRI NSH PHO TEX TAL RCH DAR DOV CLT NSH KEN ROA NHA DAY CHI GTY IRP IOW GLN MCH BRI CGV ATL RCH DOV KAN CAL CLT GTYQL† TEX PHO HOM NA - 2011 Jimmy Means Racing 52 Chevy DAY17 PHO LVS BRI CAL TEX TAL NSH RCH DAR DOV IOW CLT CHI MCH ROA DAY KEN NHA NSH IRP IOW GLN CGV BRI ATL RCH CHI DOV KAN CLT TEX PHO HOM 70th 27 2012 Tommy Baldwin Racing 36 Chevy DAY PHO LVS BRI CAL TEX RCH TAL DAR IOW CLT DOV MCH ROA KEN DAY33 NHA CHI IND IOW GLN CGV BRI ATL RCH CHI KEN DOV CLT KAN TEX PHO HOM 91st 11 † - Qualified for Michael McDowell

Camping World Truck Series NASCAR Camping World Truck Series results Year Team No. Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 Pts Ref 2011 Norm Benning Racing 75 Chevy DAY PHO DAR MAR NSH DOV CLT KAN TEX KEN IOW NSH IRP POC MCH BRI ATL CHI NHA34 KEN LVS TAL MAR TEX HOM 110th 01 Ineligible for series points

Whelen Modified Tour NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour results Year Car owner No. Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Pts Ref 2001 Info not available SBO TMP STA WFD NZH STA RIV SEE RCH NHA HOL RIV CHE TMP STA WFD TMP STADNQ MARDNQ N/A 0 Info not available 97 TMPDNQ 2004 Joe Brady 00 Chevy TMP30 STA32 WFD22 NZH STA RIV LER BLL BEE28 NHA SEE9 RIV STA14 TMP28 WFD TMP NHA STA 37th 804 34 TMP6 2005 Info not available 14 TMP STA RIV WFD STA JEN NHA BEE SEE RIV STA TMP WFD MAR TMP NHA STADNQ TMP N/A 0 2006 Jeffrey Preece 40 Chevy TMP STA JEN TMP STA NHA29 HOL RIV STA TMP MAR TMP NHA WFD TMP STA 66th 76 2007 Jan Boehler 3 Chevy TMP32 STA32 WTO STA TMP3 NHA7 TSA RIV STA32 TMP35 MAN MAR20 NHA4 TMP4 STA9 TMP1* 25th 1311 2008 Joe Brady 00 Chevy TMP35 STA STA 31st 781 Bobby Santos 98 Chevy TMP8 NHA6 SPE RIV STA TMP3 MAN TMP6 NHA38 MAR CHE STA TMP32 2009 96 TMP STA STA NHA SPE RIV STA BRI TMP NHA37 MAR STA TMP27 50th 134 2010 Robert Garbarino 4 Dodge TMP1* STA2 STA1 MAR1 NHA4 LIM17 MND5 RIV9 STA23 TMP3 BRI3 NHA19 STA1 TMP6 1st 2180 2011 TMP33 STA1* STA3 MND15 TMP4 NHA12 RIV9 STA3 NHA6* BRI18 DEL11 TMP13 LRP17 NHA18 STA27 TMP2 8th 2133 2012 Sully Tinio 44 Chevy TMP17 STA MND STA2* WFD NHA11 STA27 TMP8 BRI TMP2 RIV NHA28 STA1 TMP1 20th 310 2013 TMP18 13th 421 Mike Curb Chevy STA1* STA5 WFD5 RIV NHA24 MND STA4 TMP1* BRI21 RIV25 NHA4 STA9 TMP4* 2014 TMP18 STA1* STA3 WFD1 RIV10 NHA1 MND11 STA12 TMP25 BRI2* NHA8 STA12 TMP28 6th 458 2015 TMP3 STA11 WFD6 STA5 TMP6 RIV20 NHA3 MND22 STA9 TMP23 BRI5 RIV NHA3 STA20 TMP16 11th 467 2016 TMP13 STA7 WFD26 STA8 TMP1 RIV12 NHA27 MND20 STA17 TMP3 BRI7 RIV28 OSW13 SEE5 NHA26 STA18 TMP15 12th 507 2017 Sully Tinio Chevy MYR THO4 STA LGY THO3 RIV NHA1 STA11 THO5 NHA1 STA8 THO29 16th 334 Mike Curb 77 Chevy BRI9 SEE OSW RIV 2018 Sully Tinio 44 Chevy MYR THO9 STA12 SEE THOWth LGY RIV NHA1 STA22 THO5 BRI OSW RIV NHA22 STA23 THO8 25th 256 2019 Judy Thilberg 36 Dodge MYR SBO TMP STA WAL SEE TMP RIV NHA24 NHA1 STA7 TMP4 24th 241 Chevy STA 8 TMP 23 OSW 5 RIV 2020 63 JEN WMM WMM JEN MND TMP NHA1 STA TMP 35th 47 2021 44 MAR STA RIV JEN OSW RIV NHA8 NRP STA BEE OSW6 RCH23 RIV STA24 29th 115 2022 Lawney Tinio NSM RCH17 RIV LEE JEN MND RIV WAL NHA13 CLM TMP LGY OSW8 RIV TMP10 MAR4 26th 168 2023 NSM RCH MON RIV LEE SEE RIV WAL NHA LMP THO LGY OSW MON RIV NWS THO MAR 26th 186 2024 Joe Stearns 14 Chevy NSM RCH 39th 94 Lawney Tinio 44 Chevy THO MON RIV SEE NHA MON LMP THO Boehler Racing Enterprises 3 Chevy OSW RIV MON THO NWS MAR

ARCA Re/Max Series (key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.) ARCA Re/Max Series results Year Team No. Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 Pts Ref 2006 Bill Davis Racing 02 Dodge DAY NSH SLM WIN KEN TOL POC MCH KAN KEN BLN POC GTW NSH MCH ISF MIL TOL DSF CHI SLM TAL IOW6 108th 200 2007 Toyota DAY USA33* NSH18 SLM KAN32 WIN KEN3 TOL IOW POC MCH BLN KEN3 POC34 NSH ISF MIL GTW DSF CHI SLM 40th 835 20 TAL41 TOL

Superstar Racing Experience (key) * – Most laps led. 1 – Heat 1 winner. 2 – Heat 2 winner. Superstar Racing Experience results Year No. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Pts 2021 22 STA KNX ELD IRP5 SLG NSV 17th 28

Season still in progress