Justin Finkle has a second chance to fulfill his race car driver dreams.
The 30-year-old Delmar resident is one of 33 finalists for a sponsored ride in the Skip Barber Regional Racing Series. All he has to do is be the top driver at the Skip Barber Racing School IndyCar Academy Jan. 25-27 at Sebring International Raceway in Florida.
“This is considered to be one of the premier racing series in America,” said Finkle. “If you do well there, you can be picked up to race in a bigger series.”
Finkle had the opportunity to join the Barber racing series 10 years ago when he participated in a pair of schools, but he passed on it because he had to pay his way – an expense that he said could have been as much as $5,000 per weekend.
“I was in college, and it basically wasn’t going to happen because it was something where I’d have to pay to race each week, and you shouldn’t have to pay to race,” said Finkle. “My whole thing is I wanted to be picked because of my ability, not because of my wallet.”
Instead or continuing on a track which could have led to racing in IndyCar or NASCAR, Finkle graduated college and went into his father Marty’s business working at Harold Finkle Jewelers on Central Avenue in Colonie. He didn’t race any cars over the past decade except for a couple of autocross events with a local Porsche club.
“I tossed myself into the family business and really didn’t have much time to do anything else,” said Finkle.
Finkle changed his mind last summer when he saw an ad for Barber’s IndyCar Academy. With encouragement from his fiancee, Rachael Shatsoff, he went to Limerock Raceway in Connecticut in November to attend a three-day class.
“I’m the one who persuaded him to do it because this is the time when he can do it,” said Shatsoff.
Finkle said it didn’t take him long to regain the form he had when he gained the invite to join the Barber racing series from his instructors 10 years earlier.
“Within a couple of laps, I was back to normal,” said Finkle.
Finkle impressed his new instructors and was selected as one of 84 racers nationwide to earn consideration for the IndyCar Academy. From that list, Finkle was chosen by a national committee of Barber Racing School instructors to be one of the 33 finalists.
Many of the other drivers going to Florida for Barber’s IndyCar Academy are in their 20s, including Olympic swimmer Tyler Clary.
“Hopefully, he doesn’t drive as fast as he swims,” Finkle said of Clary.
Fortunately for Finkle, the winner of the IndyCar Academy will be decided on the track and not by the age of the driver. The drivers will be divided into three groups of 11, and their times on the track and how cleanly they race will determine where they start on the final day of the Academy, when everyone will race for the sponsored ride.
“From what I know, this is going to be a points-based system,” said Finkle. “If I do something like spin out on the track, they’ll deduct points for that.”
Finkle got into racing cars through his father, who started when he was 12 years old.
“There was a little store on the corner of Lexington Avenue and Central Avenue called Lexington Go-Kart,” said Marty Finkle. “I got to meet a fellow by the name of Benny Rosenburg, and next thing you know I started go-kart racing.”
Marty Finkle graduated from go-kart racing to driving in three series – the Sports Vintage Racing Association, the Historic Sportscar Association and the local Porsche Club. He also became a national instructor at the Porsche Club’s driver education events at tracks across the Northeast including Limerock and Watkins Glen.
When he was old enough to drive, Justin Finkle began tagging along with his father to the Porsche Club events and fell in love with racing. Marty said he could tell right away that his son had a natural ability to drive race cars.
“What you have to do is know your limits and the limits of your car, and Justin knows both,” said Marty.
Justin’s mother, Paula Finkle, said watching him drive go-karts in his teens was a lot like watching her husband on the track, which made it easier for her to let Justin pursue his dream.
“I’ve seen Justin out there before, and I wasn’t nervous because I’d seen my husband out there before,” said Paula, who has also driven in Porsche Club autocrosses.
Justin eventually took his talents to the Skip Barber Racing School, where he did so well that he earned an invitation to a two-day advanced class. It was there he was encouraged to join the regional racing series, but he said he wasn’t going to ask his parents for the money to do it.
“I was only going to do it if I paid my own way, and there was no way I could do that,” said Finkle.
Now, Justin Finkle has a second chance to pursue his racing dreams, and his family is hoping he can take the next step toward being a professional driver such as Skip Barber graduates Michael and Marco Andretti, Jeff Gordon and Tony Kanaan.
“I’m not nervous,” said Shatsoff. “Not a lot makes me nervous. I know he’s a talented driver, and I have 100 percent confidence he can do it.”
“A lot of the guys that make it this far, it’s because they paid their way through,” said Marty Finkle. “It’s very rare when raw talent makes it to that level, and Justin has the raw talent to do it.”