User blog:Ajaxcupseries/A Requiem for The Homie Rob

By: Garrett Appleton - February 2022

After an absolutely disastrous two year tenure at Dexter Andrews Motorsports, many people have been quick to call Rob Buddy “damaged goods” and an “ASCA bust” even at the relatively young age of 27. Never mind the fact that a Dexter Andrews Motorsports car has not finished higher in points than 17th during that time span, but I digress.

When you look at the raw statistics for The Homie Rob during that time span, lets not sugarcoat it, they are ABYSMAL.

Two top 10 finishes in his last 32 starts, a combined 14 DNF’s, and a highest points finish of 21st. Those are numbers you’d expect to see out of a pay driver and known career back marker such as a Grant Von Duvedel or Hunter Bradley, not a driver with a realistic long term Ajax Cup future.

When you look at the Denver native’s Craftsman Series resumé, its not necessarily overly impressive either. A former ASCA Next Class member, while Buddy was the runner up in the series in 2019 to teammate Henry Brady, he only has one career win to date in Ford Development Program equipment. He was far from lighting the series on fire, as shown by the fact that the FDP promoted Brady to the No. 12 in 2020 over him.

In most cases, a driver like this WOULD be completely written off by this point. They’d be most likely looking for work in the MDR or SFCS rather than getting a second chance in the ASCA.

This poses the question that many fans have been asking since the announcement was made - why exactly did Ronnie Woods of all people sign Buddy to a developmental contract for 2022?

If you’re new to the ASCA, Ronnie Woods has easily one of the greatest eyes for talent this sport has ever seen. When a driver development prospect is signed to his team, people take notice.

Randle Woods, Jimmy Hood, Brynn Rennerd, and Todd Kidd are just a few examples of drivers that Ronnie Woods discovered and developed into Ajax Cup veterans with five career wins or more each. In Randle Woods and Hood’s case, they’ve each become multi time champions and all time greats in the sport’s 17 season history.

While he has had some notable massive flops such as Doug Bowden and James Walton, even still in these cases Woods has given these drivers three plus years to figure things out before pulling the plug.

So what did Woods see in The Homie Rob that seemingly nobody else had?

Lets be realistic here: Rob Buddy has NOT had a real shot in the Ajax Cup Series to date. Buddy was set up to fail from day one with Dexter Andrews Motorsports, it was just a matter of time before that relationship became toxic.

Think about it - Ryan Braun falls off a significant amount between his decent 2018 campaign in 2019, so Dexter Andrews’ response coming back for his final season and from a serious head injury is too…..add a brand new team to the fold with a rookie driver?

In what world does this make sense?

Buddy doesn’t completely escape blame for this either, because if he wasn’t so impatient to get to Cup he would’ve turned down the offer and stuck with the Ford Development Program. But let’s not act like he had any chance to succeed with DAM to begin with.

I think its also safe to say that The Homie Rob has talent. While doubters of his will be quick to point out he lost to his teammate Henry Brady in the 2018 Craftsman Rookie of the Year race and in the 2019 Craftsman championship fight, you can’t just “luck” into a Craftsman victory in this day and age winning the pole and leading every lap like he did during the 2019 Axalta 100 at Blu-Ray.

This man KNOWS how to wheel a car.

Either way, what’s left of Rob Buddy’s ASCA career will all come down to five Craftsman starts in 2022. If he scores a few top 5’s and maybe steals the No. 5 team their first win in a half decade, he could find himself on the short list of candidates to drive the No. 24 in 2023 if Doug Bowden is indeed sent packing.

If the Colorado native embarrasses himself however…..expect to hear about him in the MDR or collecting an unemployment check in the near future.