Big Announcements. . .

            For weeks now I have been talking about the racing season starting.  About how all of the teams, from all walks of life, and all types of racing are gearing up for this season.  I’ve also been telling you to stay tuned to this blog, because I had some plans to announce.

            On Monday, we announced that we were entering the NASA Pro Touring Division.  This will mark the first time Onderko Motorsports will field a car since 2009.  2010 saw us win the Sundance Vacations Speedway Late Model championship in a RPM Fabrications backed ride, and 2011 was spent competing in some various open wheel races.

            I am very excited for this new opportunity, and am also very pleased that we will field this car out of our stable.  While it is every driver’s goal to have a funded ride with a race winning team, I have some very talented people that are behind me 100% and they are anxious to get back to the track again.  Most of the work on our cars will be completed in house once again.

            This blog has mostly been about the early years of my career so far.  I have been telling you about these years, because they were very important.  Not only because its how my career got started, but also because it helped shaped me as the driver and person I am today.  Instead of telling you about the past, this week is more current events.  We have been making some big strides in our efforts towards racing full time on the “

Mazda Road

to Indy”.  While this announcement on Monday was a big shot in the arm to our effort, we have been hard at work behind the scenes to make this and other announcements happen.

            Any time you find yourself immersed in a situation that you have had success in; it is always difficult to leave that situation.  However, after looking at where stock car racing has been, and where I believe it to be headed, I felt a need to make a change.  For me, that change meant heading towards road racing, and more specifically- open wheel. That meant leaving behind all that we knew, and built up with the late models.

Open wheel racing, in the United States, is growing into its own again.  While the rift between CART and IRL hurt the sport some years ago, INDYCAR has gotten its act together and is moving forward.  Bringing in the right people and giving them the resources to make the right decisions is starting to pay off.  The teams are soon headed to St. Petersburg, Florida to kick off the INDYCAR season, and with new cars and some new faces, the series will continue to grow this season.

For Onderko Motorsports, this season will be packed with lots of track time, research and development of our cars, driver appearances, and promotion of our sponsors.  Competing in NASA, gives us a chance to gain valuable track time, and it gets us back in front of the Motorsports community once again.  This is not only beneficial for our sponsors, but also for our charity RAD Racing.  RAD Racing, will once again be onboard our cars and promoted through our actions of living drug free and healthy lifestyles as we return to the track to compete. 

            This announcement was a big step in attaining the goals that our organization has set forth.  I thought this week I would bring everyone up to speed on our current competition status.  While we are ironing out the last remaining details of our schedule, we don’t plan on competing for the Pro Touring championship this year; instead we plan on attending the bigger races on the schedule.  Follow along on twitter (@justinonderko) as we get ready to compete in our first Pro Touring race this year.  Check in at http://www.justinonderko.com/, to see updates and results after race weekends.  Now, more than ever, check out our sponsors here on this blog, they will be along with us this year, and are making racing possible for us.  Also, check out http://www.ncprs.org/ to stay current with all the happenings at RAD Racing.