Instincts Will Drive Racer’s Son on Sunday

Like famous fathers Mario Andretti and Al Unser, Gary Auberlen nurtured his son’s fever to race fast cars. But Bill Auberlen says his driving is pure instinct.

“The only thing I’ve ever had that comes natural to me is driving,” said the 26-year-old from Redondo Beach.

His skills will be tested at the Grand Prix of Long Beach, where Auberlen will drive an Indy-style car at the Player’s Ltd./Toyota Atlantic Series on Sunday.

Atlantic Series cars are lighter and have smaller motors than the Indy cars. The series gives drivers a chance to prove themselves to potential sponsors of the larger, faster cars.

From the start, racing has been a family activity. After he moved to this country from Germany, Gary Auberlen opened a speedometer repair shop in Redondo Beach and started racing motorcycles, Ferraris and Porsches.

Before he was big enough for his feet to touch the ground, 4-year-old Bill Auberlen rode motorcycles. His mother gave him a shove to get started and snatched him off the bike to stop him. For 14 years he raced motorcycles, entering nearly 300 races.

When he turned 18, Auberlen tried his hand at racing cars and placed second in his class in the endurance race, the 24 Hours of Daytona. Auberlen assembled a team consisting of his father and some high school buddies, and hit the circuit with a modified Mazda RX7.

About six years ago, he landed Yokohama Tire Corp. as a sponsor. Through Yokohama he got a chance this winter to drive the open-wheeled, Indy-style cars. In his first race at Miami last month, he finished second.

Auberlen said studying videotapes of the other drivers helped him win at Miami. He researched their strategies and was ready.

“The only guy who I didn’t have much film of was the guy that beat me,” Auberlen said.