About Us

   Rocket Dog Racing was started by Mary and Jason VanOchten in Feb. 2005. Jason has always had a passion for cars and racing, something he inherited from his father Sonny VanOchten. In early 2005, Jason sold his Mustang street car and purchased a 1973 Ford Torino racecar from Larry Triana. The car was in rough shape but all the pieces were there to make it a winner again.  With the help of his dad, Jason worked hard and got the car back to racing form. The car was ready and so was the trailer but the team needed a name. Mary and Jason thought hard about what the name would be. Then without warning their Jack Russell Terrier, Rocky, took off on one of his crazy runs through the house. They referred to his craziness as his "rocket run" do to the high speed he traveled at. Mary and Jason looked at each other and knew what the name would be. Thence Rocket Dog Racing was born. At first it was a single car team but Sonny got the urge to return to the track and purchased a 1970 Mustang racecar. Early in the 2006 season, Jason met Daniel Naumann, who was just starting his first year of racing. Jason tried to help him as much as he could but his 1984 Chrysler New Yorker just wasn't holding up to the stress of racing. Half way through the season Jason and Sonny convinced Daniel to abandon the Chrysler and build a Ford Maverick racer. Daniel then became the third member of Rocket Dog Racing. Around the same time Daniel joined up Jason met another fledgling racer named Joe Pallitto. Jason was practicing for the 50 lap race when a broken axle put his car on the trailer. Disappointed, he was ready to head home but Joe offered to let Jason drive his car in the race. Joe had injured his arm in a spin in practice and was unable to steer the car. Jason drove Joe's 1974 Camaro to an 11th place finish in the race. They quickly became good friends and Joe was now the fourth member of Rocket Dog Racing. The team went through some changes for the 2007 season. Jason took over the #99 streetstock from Sonny and parked the #97 purestock. 2008 brought more changes to the team. Daniel took a break from racing to go to college and Joe sold his car and left the team. Jason continued to drive the #99 streetstock and returned the #97 purestock back to action. Late in the season Jason welcomed Jimmy Ross to the team as the driver of the #97 car in the v-8 rookie division.