Baboolall still going strong after 27 years

Jul 26, 2008 Sports

With over 27 years in the business of motor racing, Trinidad and Tobago’s most popular race car driver Tanko Baboolall shows no sign of slowing down too soon as evident by the improvements he’s made to his Third Generation Mazda RX7 and his general demeanour heading into tomorrow’s Meeting, at the South Dakota Circuit.

The short and chunky Trinidadian has been a constant feature at races in Guyana which started in 1986 when he along with a few of his countrymen were invited by Ray Rahaman to come and race in here.

“Ray came to T&T and asked my brother Dr. Baboolall to encourage us to come to Guyana to race at a time when the sport was not doing so well,” Baboolall told Kaieteur Sport.

“The rest is history, I choose this country because I love it and have a lot of friends here and the hospitality is great,” he added.”

He said that in his opinion, Ray was chiefly responsible for the revitalisation of the sport here and must be given the credit for that. Touching on his preparation for tomorrow’s Meeting, Baboolall informed that the car is performing excellently and he expects to do well.

The 2003, 05 champion driver, disclosed that he is treating this event with utmost seriousness hence his early arrival to get in adequate seat time and get the machine fully ready to throw down the gauntlet on his rivals in the Group 3 category.

“I’ve been doing low 39 seconds and if all goes well look for me at the front, Baboolall confidently stated.
Someone, who has been intimately attached to motor racing in Guyana, having played a role in the careers of many of the local drivers including the late Gavin Narine and two of our most prominent performers in Ryan Ramahan and Kemal Rahaman, the little Trinidadian speed ace said that his love for the sport is unrivalled and many times because of lack of sponsorship he has to make huge sacrifices to keep in the sport.

He has now teamed up with local mechanic Imran Hassan of Eccles and together they’ve become a formidable force in the sport.

He has also brought along with him fellow Trinidadian Moonirajh Balram, who will compete in the Group 2B category.

Baboolall extended thanks to his new sponsor NP Ultra Synthetic out of Trinidad and Tobago who he intends to make proud through his performances.