Robert River, 25-year-old son of Pro Stock journeyman Dave River, was the odd man out in the 17-car Pro Stock field by .025 of a second two weeks ago in his NHRA debut at St. Louis. He absorbed another DNQ last weekend, as well, falling .18 of a second short of recording bis first NHRA pro start. 

Before he took to the Texas Motorplex track last Friday, the Maquoketa, Iowa, native who followed his father and older sister Amanda in the sport, said, “Our plan is to be safe, keep the car and motor intact. You know, progressively get better through the weekend. Keep going solid A to B’s. Just do our best and have some fun out here. That’s kind of the bottom line.”

In 2009, at age 16, he got his first experience in the Pro Stock car at Cordova Raceway in Illinois. But he’ll wait for his big breakthrough. Although he won’t compete in Sunday’s runoffs, River knows he has a future in Pro Stock racing.

“I’ve certainly been around the Pro Stock game for probably eight or nine years now, working and crewing on the car. I did a lot in the shop. [Dad] and I primarily did most of the work. When he was driving, my primary role was clutch guy. So I was grinding clutches, setting them up, doing all the work on that,” River said. “They say I’m probably the most OCD out of the group, so maybe that [obsessive-compulsive disorder] has something to do with it. It can certainly be a good thing. The attention to detail, there is no margin for error in any racing, especially in these cars.”

With Tanner Gray and Drew Skillman leaving the class, Chris McGaha shortening his 2019 appearances, and Bo Butner undecided about whether he’ll return, the door is open for River to be one of the next hot, new, young guns.

“Obviously, you want to keep as many people around the sport as possible. You know, regardless of age, regardless of any of that. I’m going to stick around as long as I can. I’ll drive as big or as small as the field gets,” River said. “You know, we just want to be out here supporting the class, supporting everyone else out here. You know, that’s the bottom line. We’re out here to have fun. We want to get some clean A-to-Bs. And if we show up on Sunday, we’ll compete and see if we can do something.”

Making his debut, he said, was “real exciting. It was really something special. It’s really incredible to be out here. It’s basically the drivers I’ve grown up watching and grown up around. It’s really special. I’m glad I got to make it out in time for some of these drivers. I remember being a little kid. Mark Pawuk’s not out here anymore in Pro Stock. He’s still in Factory [Stock Showdown], but you know, being a little kid, I got his autograph, and that was real cool. Now I get to be on the other side of the ropes. Pretty cool.”

He said he’s enjoying the father-son experience, as well.

“Absolutely, yeah. That’s another special part of it. You know, a father-son deal, you can’t hardly beat it,” he said. “It’s definitely a family deal. We’ve all been around it kind of our whole lives, and now we’re kind of the top level. And we’re just trying to soak it in and enjoy it while we’re here.”