Sting Ray Robb is an Idaho native whose passion for racing began early in life. At 22, he is a champion with lofty goals for more racing-track wins, but he remains steadfastly committed to his roots, his family, and his faith. (Photo courtesy of SR2 Racing)
By Dennis Lopez
At first glance, the hyper-competitive world of auto racing and faith-based religion may seem polar opposites. The reality is that for many involved in the sport, there is a rich vein of commitment to faith in God.
Just where the source of that vein began seems unclear, but most likely starting with individual members of the racing community who carried Christianity as part of their lives both on and off the track. Today, both NTT IndyCar and NASCAR have full-time ministries that travel with their respective racing series. Each is dedicated to spiritually helping those in the sport deal with the incredible pressure of intense competition.
For a Payette, Idaho native and NTT IndyCar driver, his faith and his profession have melded into one. His name is Sting Ray Robb, and at 22-years-old, his racing career is propelling him forward towards becoming an IndyCar champion.
He will do so this season sponsored by Pray.com, a Christian social networking service and mobile app that serves as a social media platform for religious communities.
“With the explosive growth of Christian advertisers being embraced by television networks like CBS, FOX, and others, we recognized motorsports fans as an incredible audience for Pray.com,” said Steve Gatena, Founder and CEO of Pray.com.
“We partnered up with Sting Ray – not only because of his cool name, but also because of his Christian testimony.
“The more the Pray.com team got to know him, the more we came to love him – he’s got an infectious faith and a great passion for sharing the power of prayer.”
And yes, his backstory is nearly as unusual as his “cool name,” which is a combined derivation of Stirlingshire, Scotland, shortened to Sting, the place where his ancestors lived, and his grandfather’s first name, Ray. And racing was seemingly always on his mind.
“When I was four-years-old, I watched a YouTube video of Travis Pastrana jumping a go kart into a pit of foam rubber,” he said. “When I saw that, I was hooked. I wanted a go kart.”
That go kart came a bit later but too soon to start Sting Ray on the road to becoming a future racer. He was too young to compete. Instead his race track was the family’s long driveway where he drove daily for almost a year.
“It was almost impossible to get him off the kart,” his mother and “momager,” Kimmie Serrano, recalls. “He knew he wanted to race.”
Robb began racing competitively at five-years-old, about the time most kids are trying their hand at T-Ball or soccer. After gaining experience racing at local kart tracks, an eight-year-old Sting Ray Robb entered the wider world of motorsports, racing at tracks and events nationally in the Cadet Class.
By 2014, he moved up to racing in the Junior Division where in his first season he finished second in the United States and then raced internationally in Spain and Portugal. The following year, he won the U.S. National Rotax Junior Division championship.
He moved up to racing cars in 2016, racing in the NASCAR-sanctioned K&N series, and ultimately into open-wheel cars beginning with the late Pro Mazda Championship series. By 2020, he won the series championship. That championship opened the door to the Indy Lights program, one rung away from what is arguably the top of the American racing ladder, racing in the NTT IndyCar series, including the “Great American Race,” the Indianapolis 500.
Robb’s first Indy car ride came in 2023, driving for the auto racing dynasty, Andretti Autosport. For the 2024 season, Robb will drive the Number 41 car for A.J. Foyt, himself a four-time winner of the Indianapolis 500.
There is no question that Robb’s racing resume’ is impressive. But it is Sting Ray Robb the young man that is most impressive. He is an admirable young man driven by his desire to reach the top of his profession, yet remains firmly grounded to his Idaho roots, his family and his faith. It is perhaps the mechanism that gives him balance between the two worlds.
Racing has many component parts but ultimately it comes down to two elements: mechanical and mental. Poor performance can come from one or both. The mechanical side, the race car and its myriad systems, pieces and parts, can lead to failure. But generally mechanical issues can be found and fixed.
The mental component is another story. A growing number of professional athletes are turning to mental coaches to help them in their careers. Mental coaches are becoming as important as physical trainers.
Robb, on the other hand, relies on his spiritual connection and faith as a way to navigate the difficulties of auto racing. In a previous interview with writer Marshall Pruett, he recounted how his faith and belief system helped him overcome his disappointment in his on-track performance.
“I was really frustrated…and I took my helmet off, went stomping in the trailer, and I just went on a little walk by myself for a while,” he said. “They’ve got those trees out in the park area there in Mid-Ohio, and I just knelt down and started praying. I was like, ‘God, this is it. I feel like I’ve given everything that I can, and if it’s not the car breaking down, or someone running me off the track, then it’s me. Everything that can go wrong, has gone wrong. I’m done, this is all I can give anymore.’
“I all of a sudden had this peace about me: this is all part of the plan,” he continued. “This is preparing you, this is what’s going to make you great in the future, because it’s teaching you to persevere. That was that same weekend that I won my first race, and from there on, it was like the floodgates broke open.
“I think that the trials and tribulations, and everything that has gone wrong, has taught me so much about becoming a mature driver: Not only how to handle a bad situation, but how to succeed in a bad situation, and having the confidence to look at it and go, ‘OK, I know what I’m capable of, I believe in the team that I’m with, and I know that whatever they throw at us, we’ll be able to fight through it,’ which I thought was pretty cool.”
Sting Ray Robb is an impressive young man, not only because of his successes on the race track, but also because of his sincere faith in God.
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