When the Ed Laboon Memorial streams live this weekend on FloRacing from Pittsburgh's PA Motor Speedway (PPMS) in Imperial, PA, one of the drivers to watch will be Bobby Whitling. 

Whitling's racing career began as a favor, but a racer cannot be around the track long without wanting to climb inside a car and feed the competitive need. 

"A buddy's mother (Elsie Colt) actually raced, and we were just helping her," said Whitling, a Seneca, PA, resident. "That's what drew me into racing, just going to the race track with her and my buddies and just being around it.

"We helped her, and it wasn't long after that, maybe a couple of years I decided that I wanted to have my own car built. So I had Bobby Blair from Titus build my first car for me."

That was in 1994, and Whitling got his first taste of PPMS four years later. 

"I'm two hours north of there so we don't get down there every weekend," he said. "We usually go down for the special events and try to support all of them. We've gone to a lot of the Penn Ohio events that they've held in the last couple of years also."

Whitling finished second in a Penn Ohio Pro Stock Car Series race last August and backed that up with a third in the Wee Willie White Memorial in October. 

As for the Ed Laboon Memorial, this will be his third time to race in what has become the most lucrative event of the series. 

"I raced in it last year with my car, and prior to that, I drove a friend's car," Whitling said. "Last year, we built another stock car to support the series and the race."

Measuring 5/8ths of a mile in length, PPMS is one of the longest tracks in the region. It has wide corners, which allows multiple grooves to develop during at race. That also contributes to the speed and competitive level.

"Pittsburgh is a real big track; it's a track of its own," Whitling said. "There's nothing really anything like it to compare it to in our area. It's a real tricky place to figure out. The race itself, the Ed Laboon race, [event organizer Vince Laboon] does a great job of running it and raising money for the event, and it's for a great cause. So anytime we can support an event like that we do it.

"I'm pretty comfortable there, a lot of it has to do with how good your car is," Whitling said. "I've been there before with really good cars and was real comfortable and I've been there before when the car wasn't so good and it makes it uncomfortable because it's so fast. But this year, I'm hoping we're real comfortable."

Ed Laboon Memorial Coverage
Vince Laboon Turned A One-Off Memorial Into A Tradition With The Ed Laboon
Ed Laboon Memorial Preview
Results, 2016

Where To Watch

Pittsburgh's PA Motor Speedway
170 Kelso Road
Imperial, PA, 15106

How To Watch

ON TV: Now available on Roku and Apple TV 4 -- download the FloSports app today!
STREAMING: Available only on FloRacing. A yearly FloPRO subscription provides access to ALL FloSports sites. SIGN UP HERE