Sting Ray Robb closing in on end of challenging IndyCar rookie season

The Idaho native has had a very difficult season at times, but he's hoping to finish the last two races of 2023 in a strong fashion.

While there won't be any home state driver from Oregon in Sunday’s BitNile.com Grand Prix of Portland, there will be one driver from the Pacific Northwest in the race.

The guy with one of the most unique names in all sports, 21-year-old rookie Sting Ray Robb (yes, that's his real name), makes his IndyCar debut at his "home" track this Sunday. Robb is from Payette, Idaho - a small town of 7,500 residents located roughly six hours east of Portland on the Idaho/Oregon border.

With Portland being the series' lone visit to the Pacific Northwest, the race provides an opportunity for many of Robb's friends and family to watch him race in-person.

(Portland is) where we have the biggest crowds (of friends and family) and I get to drive home after the weekend, which is not something we get to do at any other track," Robb said in an interview with Auto Racing Digest. "It’s (Portland) an area where we all know fairly well.

"It’s where we’d vacation in the summer sometimes or we’d be at races at Pat’s Acres (a go-kart track in nearby Canby, Oregon). I grew up go-karting in that area and it’s very familiar to me. It feels like coming home a little bit."

A good finish at Portland would not only be great for Robb's friends and family at the track, but would also be much needed for Robb himself.

The 2022 Indy Lights (the series is now known as Indy NXT) runner-up has struggled in his first season of IndyCar competition. His best finish to date has been 16th in the season opener on the streets of St. Petersburg.

"This year has been disappointing for myself," Robb said. "I had higher expectations. But at the same time, I came in with the idea that I was going to make rookie mistakes and that it would be challenging.

"I think that my idea of challenging would be that we’d have bad races every once in a while. We have had that -- but we haven’t had the good races yet. That’s not to say that we’ve had all bad races, but just some have been okay.

"For myself, I think the best way that I can sum it up is room for improvement and we know where to look."

Despite the tough season, Robb said he looks forward to the final two races of the year, especially Portland.

"I definitely want to perform well at Portland," Robb said. "It seems like that race is kind of the catalyst for us every year.

"In my Indy Pro 2000 days, that was really the track where I’d see my learning curve come to use. It’s where I qualified on pole for the first time.

"It’s a race where I’d finish on the podium and do really well with minimal experience there, so it’s somewhere that I think I feel most comfortable at - which is kind of ironic to say since it’s somewhere that we don’t get a lot of seat time at. I think that’s why I look forward to performing well there. Because it’s familiar and I understand it. It’s a place that I’ve enjoyed."

Sting Ray Robb hopes to finish the last two races of the season -- this Sunday at Portland and next week's finale at Laguna Seca -- strongly. Photo courtesy IndyCar

Next weekend's season finale at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca is another upcoming race that Robb is looking forward to.

"These are probably the best chances we have for a good result this year," Robb said. "I’m really excited about that.

"Laguna and Portland, those are two of my favorite racetracks that we go to, and with Laguna being a repave similar to what we had at Road America, I think we have a good chance to apply what we learned. That track is one of my favorites - ever. The elevation change and just the course in general is so much fun to drive on and it races halfway decent, it seems like. But I haven’t got a chance there in an Indy car yet so I’m looking forward to that."

Robb's 2024 racing plans are still up in the air, but says he hopes to return for a second IndyCar season next year.

The BitNile.com Grand Prix of Portland takes place this Sunday at 3 p.m. ET (NBC, Peacock and the IndyCar Radio Network).