"One Team- One Fight!"
Rafa Famania has been racing a long time now, not always in a SFWD Honda but once that bug bit him he has gone all out to reach his goals. Through the good times and the bad times the Natty Racing team has shown up and competed at more events than most the last few years.
Rafa's story in the Honda sport starts with his EG Hatch. He transformed this car a few times before the final version you see in the beginning of this video as Rafa wins Pan American Nationals in 2019. This car had come a long way and the Natty Racing team learned a lot over the previous years. The Pan Am Win was huge and just the momentum any race team would want leading up to the biggest event of the season World Cup Finals.
World Cup Finals being considered the best conditions to run in all year, racers were not just looking to win, they wanted that record! Rafa was almost too dialed in running 8.07 passes multiple times in a row. On the third 8.07 pass in a row Rafa had an unfortunate accident at over 187mph, the car darted across the track into the wall and nearly clips the competitors car. It was a very scary moment but we are grateful Rafa walked away basically unscratched.
Rafa was not done, this did not rattle Rafa. If anything- I think it fired him up! Within a few days Rafa had completed a deal with Shawn Ramey to take ownership of his SFWD EK Civic Coupe . This car was very well known, it shocked the whole community honestly!
Rafa unveiled his new car at OSW at the end of 2019, by March of 2020 he had completed his goal of running a seven second pass during a TNT at Cecil County Dragway. In August of 2020 he returned to Maryland International for iRev, this was his first time back on this track since the accident. He won! He then went back to MIR for The Redemption event and won that too! Between all of this he ran at FL2k, The Reunion, Cecil TNT 3 times, Orlando TNT once, All in he had made over 70 passes on the car from November 2019- when he got it, to October 2020. That is a lot of racing! He rolled into The Hail Mary Derby 2020 at Maryland International Raceway one year to the date of his accident with a big goal in his vision.
7.88 - Yup, Literally .002 away from the record which is held by his teammate and good friend Chapulin Performance. The only racer to run back to back seven second passes. That is what Rafa did!! He didn't just redeem himself from the 2019 accident, he proved how much hard work and passion it takes to reach your goals. Rafa has never given up, Natalia and Rafa are a combo you can only be inspired by. With the help of his right hand man Abraham Alba on the keyboard and Shawn Ramey still supplying him with mechanical support as well as handling his engine program. Rafa has only one more goal in mind: The overall Class Legal record in XFWD and SFWD. I think he would also like to claim a World Cup Finals trophy too!
This car has a personal history with us here at The Sauce Spot. Believe it or not we have never missed capturing a moment this car has gone down a drag strip. In its Ramey Racing form or its Natty Racing form. We have formed a close bond over the years to both The Ramey Team and The Natty Racing team- I personally have been welcomed in both of their winners circle photos and I just have to add in how honored I am to be welcomed by these great teams. Thank you Rafa and Natty for more than the support, the irreplaceable friendship and watching your story and family grow has been an amazing experience.
This video is long and honestly is only maybe half of his passes from the 2019-2020 action we captured. A lot of testing and patience goes into completing what Rafa did in that short time period. He also had a daughter this year as I am sure you can tell from the Cecil TNT to the Redemption Winners circle. Big shout out to his two sons Jayden and Julius who are also at every event! This is a great team and asset to the sport we all love, looking forward to many more years of covering the Natty Racing family!
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