AFTER A LONG LAYOFF, BRODY ROA SCORES AN IMPRESSIVE 5^TH PLACE FINISH IN HIS RETURN TO PERRIS

(Cypress, CA, March 5, 2025) After more than six months out of the saddle, Southern California sprint car racing star Brody Roa finally returned to action when the Avanti Windows and Doors USAC/CRA Series made its first 2025 appearance at Perris Auto Speedway last Saturday night.  The veteran racer looked like he had not missed a day as he started 13^th and drove all the way to fifth to capture the Jim and Chet Gardner Hard Charger Award.   

Roa, who suffered a bad cut to his fingers last October, said he never noticed the injuries.  That included using the repaired hand to pull tear offs and adjust his shocks in the heat of the battle. 

After qualifying 14^th fastest in the 25-car field, Roa, who makes his home in Garden Grove, California, improved throughout the night.  Starting on the outside of the front row in the second heat race of the Perris sprint car season opener, Roa steered his bright green #91R to a second place finish in the 10-lapper.

“It felt pretty good,” Roa happily stated about getting back in the car after the layoff.  “It took a bit of time to get going.  I would say my track record as a qualifier is not very good.  After taking what felt like a year off did not help.  I kind of started the night getting back into the swing of it.  We were getting our new engine tuned in and we made improvements all night.”

Even though the 2023 USAC/CRA Series champion ran well in his heat race, the qualifying time was still going to hamper his effort in the main event.  He was starting from the inside of row seven in the 23 car field, 30 lap main event.  That meant he was going to have to pass a lot of cars to get a decent finishing position.  As is usually the case at Perris, the main event was a war!  Roa was one of several drivers in a wild mid-pack battle for most of the race before he really began to roll forward. 

“I knew what we had to do, we were going to have to pass cars,” Roa recalled.  “Starting there, I was with, behind and around a few cars I really did not want to spend much time around.  I knew we were better than where we were starting.  I did not get the best of starts and it felt like I fell back to 17^th or 18^th the first couple of laps.  I got stuck behind the #73 on the bottom before I could get up to the top and get some momentum.  I just wanted to get forward and get up to the guys who I knew had some speed.  In the last 1/3 of the race I got there.  I felt we had some pretty good speed with them.  We were a little behind on the set up for the feature.  We were to free at the end to do anything once we got there.”

Roa used the DRC Chassis he drove to the championship in 2023.  His uncle purchased the engine for the car last year. He only got about half a race with it last September before being knocked out of the action due to a crash at the Santa Maria Speedway.  Despite being a little off on the gearing at the start of the night, the team tweaked on it and it got better.  That gives the veteran driver more confidence regarding setup heading into his next race in four weeks. 

Roa will return to action when the USAC/CRA Series returns to Perris Auto Speedway on Saturday, April 5^th.  That gives him some extra time off.  His wife Tailor just bought the family a new toy hauler and they plan to make good use of it.  So where will Roa, Tailor and their two daughters head to before he returns on the 5^th?

“We are actually taking it to Lake Perris (which is adjacent to the track) on the High Limit Series weekend,” Roa laughed.  We are going to come out and watch them.  That will be fun.”

Roa would like to thank his 2025 sponsors, “Biker” Bruce Fischer, Burris Racing, ALR Virtual Services, Caltrol, Molecule, and Wilwood Disc Brakes.  If you would like to be a marketing partner with the team in 2025, contact Roa using the information at the top of this release.