Ramin Abdolvahabi, a longtime competitor in IMSA Michelin Pilot Problem, died on September 23 after a battle with pancreatic most cancers.
Abdolvahabi was a co-driver with Rob Ecklin, Jr. within the No. 9 Stoner Automotive Care Aston Martin. He and Ecklin had simply achieved their collection objective – the Bronze class victory on the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring weekend – when Abdolvahabi was identified.
A nationally acknowledged neurosurgeon, Abdolvahabi was based mostly in Wellington, FL. He graduated from the Medical Faculty of Virginia, interned and accomplished his residency at Wayne State College in Detroit, and arrange apply within the Palm Seaside space of Florida.
Whereas he was happy with his {many professional} accomplishments, and the various lives that he helped to enhance alongside the way in which, it was on the racetrack that Abdolvahabi discovered his ardour. He notably cherished his house monitor, Sebring Raceway, with its historical past as a former World Conflict II airbase.
“You possibly can drive Sebring for years and by no means get bored,” mentioned Abdolvahabi again in 2022. “And it has such a legacy, with its historical past earlier than it was a racetrack – what it went via, the way it was modified. There’s no monitor prefer it on this planet, and after 80 years, nobody needs to vary it.”
Abdolvahabi competed in a number of Trans-Am races however targeted totally on the IMSA Michelin Pilot Problem, racing within the collection since 2014. In 2017, he discovered a house with Orlando-based Automated Racing, run by longtime staff supervisor David Russell.
“I really like racing with Automated,” Abdolvahabi mentioned at Daytona in 2022. “It’s actually a staff of like-minded individuals, crew and drivers, so there’s actually no ego or concern about asking for assist. The Stoner and Invisible Glass liveries are so recognizable, and you may’t say that about that many different vehicles, in order that brings a really pleasurable factor to this system.”
The partnership with Ecklin clicked on and off the monitor as effectively, with the duo complementing one another’s racing talents and retaining the ambiance within the staff truck gentle and enjoyable.
“Ramin would do something you requested of him,” remembered Russell. “He was at all times there to select me up when issues weren’t essentially going as deliberate. I at all times stay up for our dinners collectively the place we might cube up our entrees and share with one another – that was a typical theme. Most dinners we might snicker so onerous till we cried. He actually cherished the staff and regarded it a part of his personal, I used to be blessed to know him and be a small a part of his journey.”
“I loved lots of good racing years with my racemate Ramin,” mentioned Ecklin. “It was very satisfying to select up some Bronze victories with him within the final couple of seasons, together with different podiums.”
The staff will assist Lustgarten pancreatic most cancers analysis basis. Donations could be made in Ramin’s identify right here.
