Oh, Brothers! Younger Groff, Robbie, Moves Up to Indy Cars, Joins Mike in Long Beach in the Latest Chapter of Family’s Racing Passion

For 23 years, the Groff brothers of Northridge, Mike and Robbie, have been racing and winning in a variety of vehicles, but they have never raced one another.

“Mike is (almost) four years older than Robbie, so when they were little, they were racing in different classes and we purposely kept them apart,” said Howard Groff, their father.

“We felt it would be time enough when they got to Indy cars. Now it’s here.”

Mike, 31, and Robbie, 28, are entered in the 20th Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach and will be on the track today for qualifying. The 165-mile race through the seaside streets will be run Sunday.

It will be Robbie’s first Indy car race. After four years of racing Indy Lights, the younger Groff found enough sponsorship to run two races on the major league circuit, Long Beach and Portland.

Curiously, it was the Northridge earthquake that led to his finding financial support from the Calavar Corp. in Waco, Tex.

“Our family businesses (Northwest Excavating and Northridge Equipment) were both hit hard by the quake, but as far as I’m concerned personally, I guess the quake proves the old adage about every cloud having a silver lining,” Robbie said. “All of the equipment we own was rented for the clean-up so we had a meeting with the Calavar people--they manufacture all sorts of booms and lifts--about purchasing some additional equipment.

“Somehow the conversation turned to racing and the next thing I knew, I had some sponsorship money for Long Beach and Portland. I suppose it’s fair to say that I wouldn’t be racing this week in an Indy car if it weren’t for the Northridge quake.”

Robbie will be driving a 1993 Penske-Ilmor, which he calls “the best year-old car around,” for Tony Bettenhausen. It is the same car that Paul Tracy drove for Roger Penske in winning at Laguna Seca last year.

“I’m really happy for Robbie,” said Mike, a veteran of 39 Indy car races over the last four seasons. “He earned his chance, and Long Beach will be a good place for him to get his feet wet. We’ve both led a lot of laps there (in supporting races), although we’ve never won.”

Robbie finished second twice at Long Beach, once in a Super Vee and once in an Indy Light. Mike has three seconds, twice in Super Vees and in 1989 in Indy Lights, the year he won the series championship.

Mike, who spent last season testing the new Honda Indy car engine for the Rahal-Hogan team, will drive a 1994 Lola powered by a turbocharged V8 developed by Honda Performance Development, Inc., in Santa Clarita. He finished eighth in the season opener in Australia and was sixth last Sunday in Phoenix--his best Indy car finish.

“The Honda engine passed its oval test (at Phoenix) in good shape, but at the moment, I think it is better suited for a street circuit like Long Beach,” Mike said.

He was chosen as No. 2 driver by Bobby Rahal, three-time Indy car champion.

“Mike is an ideal team player,” Rahal said. “I watched him for several years before we signed him. I was impressed for several reasons. He stays out of trouble and he does a good job in pressure situations. It was a tough job we asked him to do last year, testing the new engine, and he did everything we asked with no complaints.”

To be closer to the team, Mike and his wife, Pamela, moved to Columbus, Ohio. This will be his first full-time Indy car season after a checkered career driving for Dick Simon, Euromotosport, A.J. Foyt and Derrick Walker.

Groff, driving for Walker in 1992, received praise for qualifying a car for the Indy 500, then turning it over to Scott Goodyear, the team’s contract driver, after Goodyear had been bumped from the field. Goodyear finished second to Al Unser Jr. in the closest Indy 500 finish.

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Mike was 10 and Robbie 6 when they were introduced to racing by their father, who had been a hot-rodder at the old San Fernando drag strip.

“Dad always told us that he had the hottest car in the valley when he was in high school,” Robbie recalled. “I can’t remember when we weren’t racing or working on our cars. Nights, when he got home from work, Mike and I would go out in the garage and help him with the mechanical work. Weekends, we’d go racing.

“There was a track in Northridge right near where we lived. We’d go over there the way Little Leaguers go to the ballpark. Summers, we’d pack up and head out for the Grand Nationals. We went all over the country. Sometimes Mike and I would be in as many as six classes in the same event.”

Robbie won eight state and national quarter-midget championships. Mike branched out to full midgets at Ascot Park, where he was voted rookie of the year in 1981 and most improved driver in 1982.

All of the brothers’ early racing was a family operation. Their father was chief mechanic and their mother, Susan, was a timer and scorer and served as president of the Quarter-Midget Club in the early days.

“I worked a lot of hours building up my business, and I wanted the rest of the time to be with the family,” Howard Groff said. “I loved cars, and right from the start it was easy to see that the boys loved them, too, so racing became our passion . . . and we never had to worry about where the boys were.”

Howard is proud that his racing sons have moved up to Indy cars, but he has one reservation about their success.

“Up until last year, I did all the mechanical work on the quarter-midgets, go-karts, Formula Fords, midgets and Super Vees, whatever they were driving,” he said. “Then last year, both of them were on teams with professional mechanics and there was nothing for me to do. Frankly, I’m bored.”

Sunday, the senior Groff will be back as part of the Bettenhausen team. He’ll be handling the pit board for Robbie.

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Technically, the Long Beach Grand Prix will be the first time Mike and Robbie have met in the same race, but 18 years ago they were on the track in Northridge at the same time.

“I was 10 and Mike 14 and when there weren’t enough karts for two races, the officials combined the field,” Robbie said. “Of course, Mike was in a heavier class, but late in the race I was leading (in class) and had another guy right on my tailpipe. I came up behind Mike and decided to lap him. I knew I shouldn’t do it--it was a risky move--but I knew it was my brother and he wouldn’t wreck me, so I dove under him.

“I won, but as soon as we finished, Mike grabbed me by the shirt collar and said, ‘Don’t you ever do that to me again. If you try it again, I’ll kill you.’ ”

Mike only smiled when reminded of it.

“He has the bragging rights, I guess,” he said. “But don’t forget that with 20 horsepower engines, weight makes a big difference and we were in different weight classes.”