5 Flags Speedway: Snowball Derby gets underway tonight with Pensacola’s Robbins eyeing Sunday immortality

Seventeen years ago this week, 14-year-old Hunter Robbins announced his presence at Five Flags Speedway.

The then-teenager and family drove down to Pensacola from their native Shorter, Ala., and stunned the Late Model world by winning the 2005 running of the Snowflake 100. Robbins—now 31 and a Pensacola transplant with a budding family—hopes a championship-winning season will yield a Super Late Model victory on short-track racing’s biggest stage at the 55th annual Snowball Derby presented by Hooters on Sunday at the famed half-mile asphalt oval.

As a driver, he has come close several times to winning the Derby. Robbins’ best finishes were back-to-back fourth-place results in the 2013 and 2014’s running of the renowned race. He worked as an engineer for Kyle Busch Motorsports when the team’s namesake captured the Derby five years ago.

“That felt awesome,” Robbins said of Busch’s win in 2017. “But being able to win it as a driver and doing it with Ronnie and the team of family and friends we have would be different for sure. Especially with me living in Pensacola now, winning the Derby would be pretty special.”

Before the nation’s most prestigious race Sunday, Derby festivities officially take the green flag tonight at Five Flags. Drivers from three local divisions hope to capture their own pieces of Derby glory. The Pro Trucks 50 gets things underway at 8 p.m. today. The Sportsmen 50 and Pure Stocks 35 follow with individual Derby titles on the line. For tickets and general admission questions, call the Five Flags office at (850) 944-8400.

Last year's Derby: Chandler Smith wins 54th Annual Snowball Derby

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Two-time reigning Pure Stocks track champion Robert Loper is looking for his second consecutive Derby crown, which would be his fourth career overall (2015, 2017, 2021). The Theodore, Ala., driver scored six victories this season at Pensacola’s high banks.

“It’s amazing. I’m always trying to find more,” Loper said. “I make major adjustments every week, always digging for more.”

Robbins won several times in the Ronnie Sanders famed No. 18 en route to the Southern Super Series crown, finished in the top-five seven times and recorded 14 top-10s in 18 races in 2022.

“Coming off one of the best years I’ve ever had in racing from start to finish,” Robbins said,“We’re trying to cap off the year and finish what we started.

“The biggest thing was the satisfaction of finally being consistent enough to win a championship. (Consistency is) what it takes. You’ve gotta run good every week. This was the first time we were a contender from start all the way to finish.”

While Sanders—the 1977 Derby champion—still handles setups and keeps a careful eye on his candy-red SLM machine, Robbins enjoys the grassroots approach he and Sanders share. Instead of hired hands and unfamiliar faces turning wrenches, Robbins surrounds himself with family and former short-track patriots who want to help their friend topple the big-money teams.

“This is one of the best opportunities I’ve ever had from start to finish, having all the parts and pieces,” said Robbins, who spent time in NASCAR garages several years ago with KBM. “I’m definitely more grateful. But with what Ronnie’s doing and my family is doing, hopefully, we can keep making good decisions on and off the track.”

Everywhere Robbins races, Johanna Robbins (née Long) and the couple’s two children, 5-year-old daughter Rory and 1-year-old son Rhett, are close behind. Father and mother—the hometown product who in 2010, at 18, was the last Pensacola driver to win the Derby—have put an emphasis on instilling family values to their little ones.

Young Rhett and “Princess” Rory—as her father affectionally calls her—will be front and center this week as dear ol’ dad looks to hoist the Tom Dawson trophy come Sunday afternoon.

“The biggest thing we wanted was when we go to the races, we go together as a family,” Hunter Robbins said. “That’s how we each grew up doing it with our families, and we want to raise our kids that way.”

55th Annual Snowball Derby Times of Interest

Thursday

10 a.m.-4 p.m.: Snowball Derby, Snowflake 100 practice

6:45 p.m.: Pro Trucks, Sportsmen and Pure Stocks qualifying

7:45 p.m.: Pre-race festivities

8 p.m.: Pro Truck 50, Sportsmen 50, Pure Stock 35

Friday

1 p.m.: Snowball Practice

2 p.m.: Snowflake Practice

3 p.m.: Mod Qualifying (Lock 28)

6 p.m.: 55th Snowball Derby Qualifying

8 p.m.: Modifieds of Mayhem Championship 75

Saturday

8 a.m. Pits Open

1 p.m. SBD Practice

2 p.m.: Outlaw Qualifying (lock 28)

3 p.m.: SF Qualifying (lock top 30), SF Qualifier (50 Laps, transfer 4), SBD Qualifier (50 Laps, transfer 4), Outlaws B-Main (if necessary)

7 p.m.: Allen Turner Snowflake 100, Faith Chapel Outlaw 50

Sunday

10 a.m.: Worship Service

Noon: Engine Warmups/Cars to grid, Pre-race Festivities, 2022 SBD Class Photo, Driver Introductions

1 p.m.: Snowball Derby (300 Laps)

Chuck Corder is a freelance correspondent for the Pensacola News Journal.

This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Snowball Derby gets underway as Pensacola’s Robbins aims for immortality