RFM Front Page News

TORONTO, Canada (July 7, 2006) — Tonis Kasemets of Rocketsports Racing has traveled a long road to get to the Bridgestone Presents the Champ Car World Series Powered by Ford. His journey has taken patience and hard work, both in heaping portions. Indeed, he credits his parents with the wise instruction to be patient like a tiger, an injunction memorialized in his helmet design. Now, with a six-race deal to drive the second Rocketsports Racing Lola No. 18, Tonis takes satisfaction into the car with him but not relaxation. This deal is only another milestone in a long road he has traveled from his boyhood home in Estonia in 1983.

Tonis is one of two drivers from Estonia who have made it into the top levels of motor racing (the other being Marko Martin, the World Rally driver who drove for Ford). This he explains has nothing to do with the lack of talent or ambition among Estonians – it has everything to do with the dearth of opportunity and of the undeniably high level of financing it takes to follow a racing programme. “At the end of the day,” he said with a half-humorous sigh, “it is always about getting the money.” Tonis has a small but dedicated group of supporters who have assisted him on his climb up the ladder, including Jay Illohan, owner of sponsor FlexOVit Abrasives, a diehard racing fan who has supported Tonis since he moved to America in 1998. According to Mr. Illohan, “Tonis has that rare combination of skill and relentless determination that makes a champion. On top of that, he is just fun to watch!” His career has run from karting in Estonia and the Baltic Series States Kart Racing championship in 1992 through a 2005 stint with the Toyota Atlantic Series Dan Cobb Racing/Team Tonis, where he blitzed the series with a flurry of pole positions, race wins, and ultimately the second place finish in the championship standings. And he did it all with patience and very hard work – while keeping his day job.

“I would love to race full time for pay,” he said honestly, “but meanwhile the mortgage has to be paid and the children have to be fed.” Tonis has a residential and commercial painting business to look after his family while he pursues his dream at the fastest pace he can maintain, and during the current six-race deal he has with Rocketsports he is focusing in “making a picture with the puzzle pieces we have been given”, taking full advantage of the willingness of his team to support his learning curve and the time it takes for a driver to forge a relationship with his engineer. “There is a lot to learn about driving a Champ Car,” he explained. “It’s different from the Atlantics car I drove last year; the brakes, the downforce, just learning to trust the car. And meanwhile developing the chemistry with my engineer so he understands the window in which I work. As soon as we hit that chemical relationship, our results will begin to be much better.”

Tonis Kasemets knows what he thinks, and despite the body blow absorbed by racing with the removal of tobacco money, he believes this was a good and necessary change, as he does not approve of smoking. To suggestions that some people feel the same way about MacDonald’s hamburgers, he answered firmly, “You have to eat. You don’t have to smoke. It’s possible to eat a healthy meal at MacDonald’s if you are careful to choose wisely; there is no such thing as a healthy cigarette.” From some people this would sound like a speech from a soap box; but from Tonis this is a conclusion reached in full realization that accepting tobacco money might have brought the dream to him sooner, but at a price he was willing to forego. It’s one more thing about him to admire.

And the man’s determination shows both in and out of the car. Stand by the Rocketsports Paddock and you’ll see him busy signing autographs, greeting sponsors, and interacting with winners of two different contests whose prize he could certainly relate to: a chance to spend the weekend with the driver and crew of Rocketsports, learning what they do and how they do it. Even his interviews are combined with other tasks – in this particular case, having the molds made for the earpieces that will form part of his communications equipment. If you can, try to imagine conducting a thoughtful and informative interview while someone is poking things in your ears! Yet there was no fuss in him and no indication that either task was interfering with the other.

And what accomplishments in his life are he most proud of? “Following my dreams,” he says, “working hard, getting the opportunities that I had to race – and finally getting to race in Champ Cars.” His ambition is to get to the point where he can spend one or two years racing competitively in the Champ Car World Series. With support from those who believe in him, and his belief in himself, there’s no doubt he will one day reach out for that gold ring and it will be within his grasp. Meanwhile he continues to work for his dream. You can’t ask for better than that.