Bobby Dotter's NASCAR Race Shop: He Lived In a Truck To Chase The Dream (It Worked)

Wow videos and interviews of Bobby dotter were very hard to come by before this one very detailed!! I have a racing champions 1/64 of his 91 Busch pink car that’s what I really only knew him for before this he seems like a great man

Aaahhh, the good ole days.
Speirence

AWESOME job Mitch. As usual..

Excellent history, and wild information, thanks for sharing, all the best to you and your loved ones

That was someone I would have never heard of. I had a guy on the track named Knock Out Adams, and I pulled the same stunt. He always would go in hot knowing I would run my car high, and I just hit the brakes, and he went flying off of turn two! He saw me after the race and we both had a great laugh over that one. Was in the Air Force and got orders to Germany, so that was the end of my career.

I also had no idea Bobby was SS Greenlight. Cool!

That was an amazing interview👍

I helped him at Loudon in the 90's Nice Dewalt tee and 50 bucks!

This was a really interesting interview. I find I'm enjoying these chats with guys who maybe never achieved Winston Cup success, like Mark Martin, Harry Gant, etc. They still have fascinating stories nonetheless. Side note: One of the days I was at Indy (Friday before the race), I saw Danny Sullivan's beautiful winning car from 1985 and took a couple of photos. I would have shot it on the day of the '500' too, but I was on the grid during prerace and unfortunately couldn't be in two places at once.😀

You asked about the Miller Beer sponsorship he had... When we ran the Miller Showcar program - we got a beer allotment from the local distributor of 32 cases a month.

I agree with Bobby saying that NASCAR Tech doesn't set you up for long-term success in motorsports. I applied myself throughout my time there and got my first opportunity with a race team through them, but it was a big jump from NTI training and the real thing. I worked full time in NASCAR from 2017-2021 and it was a struggle for me to establish a long term career, especially once COVID came and went. Without NTI though I wouldn't have that cup series championship in 2018 with Team Penske, so the program can work if you apply yourself.

When you were talking to Bobby about NASCAR TECH, my son went there many years ago! He was 100% correct about learning enough to work in a dealership! That is exactly what happened to my son. He went to work for a Honda dealer. He stayed there for a couple of years and decided turning wrenches for a living wasn’t his cup of tea! He now works as a carpenter! So much for NASCAR tech tuition!!,

Great story again. Love the history that you are saving, many people from the Golden age of racing.

Got to see Bobby race ASA in the 08 car at the 1994 Minnesota State Fair race. Dick Trickle, Butch Miller, Bob Sennaker, Kenny Schrader, Mike Eddy were notable drivers in that race. Got to meet up with Schrader after the race.

Hey,thanks for the memories!The ASA and Artgo series here in the midwest back in the 70s and 80s was great racing.I raced at Raceway park and Grundy.He is right Raceway park was a real slam bam track and lots of fights in the pits.

Bobby Dotters profile as well as your story of hard work and perserverence are very inspiring Mitchell! 👊🏁
Are you planning to attend Phil Combs reunion in September?

Awesome as usual. Slinger being in my backyard, remember him well. Great story!

I always liked Bobby Dotter as a race car driver hard to believe that he brought DeWalt into the NASCAR Series.. I think DeWalt left his team for Hermie Sadler in the Busch Series then left him for Matt Kenseth

Guys we have got to find a way to get this channel over the hump. I feel like it is right on the verge of another leap in viewership. I am amazed to see that some of these awesome videos only have 50k views or so. They clearly deserve to be hitting hundreds of thousands consistently. I would love to see Mitchell in a race at Cleetus' Freedom Factory some day(for the racing experience and the extra exposure) and I think there are a lot of fans of Cleet's who would also enjoy these videos. Maybe I am seeing something that isn't there but I feel like with Mitchell getting into racing stock cars and the similarity in the kinds of stuff they do, it just feels like it is meant to be. I feel like Cleetus would be up for it if Mitchell is, anybody else think so? Or am I wrong?

Sad to see all builds fall off the channel 😢

Mr Bobby is a great guy I volunteer and help his team at Darlington every year

Y’all need to go see Steve Grissom he has awesome stories !!

This is an awesome story that needed to be told, Mitchell. The hard work ain’t gonna do itself. And it’s the ‘hard’ that makes it great, otherwise anyone could/would do it. Respect.

Seems like a good camera 🤙🏻🤙🏻

Another great upload, great guy , grafter , good stuff Mitch love that you feature some of the lesser known drivers/owners 😎keep doing what you do!!

I started watching NASCAR in a 89. In the Cup series the winner only got around $75,000. I was always baffled how NASCAR drivers won ,$75,000 risking their lives while golf paid $1,000,000+ for the win.

Glad to see Bobby still going. Short mention to this , I was the original crew chief that bult SS racing to what it was when we teamed up with Bobby. Butch Ken and I had a good ASA run with wins in ASA national tour and ASA Latemodel series. Then we moved down to Bobbys shop. Soon after I moved on to 5K motorsports.

Classic stock cars are so damn beautiful!

Nice shoutout for Chad McCumbee. As an IMSA fan I'm very familiar with Chad's successes after NASCAR as a driver and a team owner. I didn't remember he had a deal with Petty for the Cup series but I definitely remember him playing Dale Jr. in the movie!

Once again, great video of a NASCAR legend. Thanks Stapleton42.

Great video! I recall hearing his name so often during races back in the day, but didn't really know his background. So cool to hear about the Gunderman connection, I had no idea!

That's what I did when I was 17 going to school and working plus building my dirt cars to race when I got out of high school I worked at night got of at 10 pm then gi work in my race cars until like 3 am go to bed get back up and go to work

Another fantastic story from the greatest days of Nascar and stock car racing, Thank you for hunting these people down and preserving these stories before these people are gone

Seeing “Bobby Dotter” on the video really caught me off guard. Man haven’t heard that name in years. Awesome video.

Another good video! I remember when he was running the West series. I was asked/ voluntold to change his valve springs between the Portland and Monroe races.

Another interesting video. I like your line about Earnhardt planning to use 8 tires rather than 4 to get through the corner.

Guess what, you don't need to shower every day, depending on your activity

I knew of him and his name but never knew who he was. Seems like super likeable guy and someone who worked for everything he got. Great story teller too! Thanks for doing this interview!

The body style of race cars back in the 80 and 90 are so much better and stand out the manufacturer that built it

That was awesome.... i loved the Dewalt 08 , great sponsorship and great colors on the car . I'm trying to think if Hermie Sadler or Bobby had Dewalt first .... Bobby definitely had a dream and made it work , love to hear his story . Great video Stapleton

I met Bob Dotter when I went to work at Ace Muffler in Chicago as they built his exhaust and other compensation
Later on I got my car and he ask me what track did I have it set up for told him I didn't he suggested taking it to every one to test
Bob would run dirt tracks at seasons end big money shows and borrow my dirt tires. Years later I joined a Hooters Pro-Cup team and there was a memorial race in Milwaukee to honor Alan K and I was away from our pit when I returned was informed someone borrowed a set of valve cover gaskets and you know him he only has one hand. Later Bobby is reskinning the Spam Fords to Chevy and we got the TBirds. Reskinned ours over the winter 1st race we didn't pass inspection we appealed to Fritz Augustine where we got the body from he walked away shaking his head. Proud of you Bobby

Bobby drove the #5 car in Chicago in 1979.

Great video Mitchell, one of your best as far as I’m concerned.

Fun fact I raced at raceway park in the 90s as well and Bobby's brother Dave built several of my cars

You guys really should try to get up to Griffith Indiana to visit Ray Nichols oid race shop.

Mitchell, this is the good stuff man. I love it!

And thats when you ended up on 150 at the shop and traded you a bunch lead weights for a DeWalt chop saw

Can you imagine living in North Carolina in the summer with nothing but a truck camper (with no AC) and the nearest bathroom at a gas station?