Hailing from Clyde, a suburb of Melbourne, Australia, Todd Hobson has found a home in Indiana sprint car circles. With an engaging personality and quick wit, Hobson is also a popular figure among participants and fans. Sometimes hard work both on and off the race track matters, and in this case the payoff was an opportunity to participate in the Chili Bowl Nationals.
“This deal came together very, very late,” he says, “Mike Griffiths who owns my car called me on Christmas Day and said, Merry Christmas, Todd. I have made my Chili Bowl plans and your name is still on the car. Do you want to run it?”
Hobson couldn’t believe his luck.
Given the popularity of the discipline in his homeland, one would have imagined that he came with plenty of midget racing experience. Not so he proclaims.
“My first ever midget race was the BC39 last year,” he said. “Until then I had never run a midget.” That alone is an interesting story.
“My family has a bit of voodoo when it comes to midgets,” he said with a laugh. “They saw one nearly fly out of the ballpark at Warrnambool which is like a mini-Eldora, and I flipped the same night in my V-6 wingless sprint car. Since then, midgets have just been a big no-no. If a midget would have rolled into our house, and it was mine, it would have gone right out the front door and so would have all my belongings.”
It begs the question. What made sprint car racing acceptable?
“My parents were a little ignorant of what a 410 wingless was like,” he says, “until my mum got here. But I’m a big boy now and can do what I want.”
Just getting to Tulsa proved to be a challenge.
“West Evans (also listed as an owner) had a family emergency, so he couldn’t tow me down which was the original plan,” Hobson explained. “I had to scramble for a truck and a trailer. Mike Thomas, my boss, helped me with a trailer and Tony Helton who is also racing this week towed me down.”
Now the task is to get as comfortable as possible quickly. He’s confident he can do that.
“This is very similar to V-6 wingless racing at home,” he said. “If someone gives someone half a car length you just make it a full car length and use that to your full potential. It’s not quite as scary as a non-winged 410 car. I just feel that it is not as crazy, purely for the fact that your front end is on the ground all the time and you aren’t blowing 900 horsepower on just two rear tires. It is a little more gripped out and there is less horsepower, especially in my case since we just have a little Hawk engine, which has less horsepower than the SR-11s and Toyotas.”
Given the disparity in powerplants he realizes that he is at a disadvantage. “I hope we get a late heat and the track slicks off a bit,” he said. “Maybe then the guys with the SR-11s and Toyotas will burn their tires off, and we can scurry on through.”
Hobson finished 14th in the second B main during Wednesday’s preliminary night card after having contact with another car during his qualifier.
An engineer by trade, in 2025 he plans to vie for the Ford Performance Racing School championship, a series based on select races at Bloomington and Paragon Speedway. The prize – a ride in the 2026 Chili Bowl. Indiana Sprint Week is also on his schedule. As for long-term goals, speaking in a manner that befits his nature, he says that he plans to stay in America “until I run out of money or hit my head too many times.”
