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Colby "The Kid" 17th In 2017 Season Debut At Myrtle Beach
MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. - Colby Howard's 2017 season began at Myrtle Beach Speedway in last weekend's Icebreaker event for NASCAR-style late model stock cars, but it didn't quite start as they had hoped it would.
Battling issues with the car throughout the day, Colby fought to a 17th place finish.
"it was just a tough weekend," Colby explained. "We were a top ten car in practice both Friday and Saturday, but we just could never get the car as tight as we wanted it up off the corners. Every time we'd adjust for it, the car would go the opposite way."
The popular 15-year-old qualified seventh, giving the team a bit of hope for the feature event.
"We got up to fourth for a bit there," he said of the race. "The car was actually pretty good early and I think we could have gotten to the lead, but our strategy was to ride and save our stuff for the end because Myrtle Beach takes so much out of your tires in a longer race."
Eventually, the yellow flags started flying and the handling on the No. 16 began to deteriorate progressively.
"It got worse and worse on the restarts and we started falling further and further back. We had a bit of a close call when BJ Mackey came down in front of me and took himself out, but we got through. I just had to ride it out. I feel bad for our team and our fans because we had high hopes going into the race and it looked like we might be OK in the early part, but we'll keep our heads up and get ready for the CARS Tour race at Concord (Motor Speedway) in March.
The team did welcome Prestone Anti-Freeze to their family of corporate supporters for 2017, which also includes The Odorless, Southern Utilities and Eubanks Oil.
"I really appreciate all of those companies getting behind us for the year," Colby said. "I am looking forward to taking them all along with our team to victory lane real soon."
He then added, "We're planning to run the whole CARS Tour this year as long as things fall into place the way we want them to. We still have room for some additional corporate partners if anyone would like us to help market their company to tens of thousands of potential new customers in the Southeast market!"
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About Colby Howard
Colby Howard is a 15-year-old, third generation stock car racer who lives in Simpsonville, South Carolina.
His career began in dirt bikes, where he scored
11 wins in two seasons and a Total of 27 top threes and a championship in motor cross and also won a championship in the Mid East Hare Scramble Series.
He switched over to cars, and to the mini stock division at
Anderson motor speedway where he had four top fives in year one and six top fives in year two before moving up late in 2015 to the limited late model division.
2016 was his first full year in the limited late model division, competing at tracks throughout the Carolinas region, including his home track
Greenville-Pickens Speedway
and the Southeast Limited Late Model Series.
He notched seven wins and finished second in Southeast Limited Late Model Series Pro division points last season.
For 2017, Colby steps up into the NASCAR Late Model Stock division to compete with the CARS Tour and at other select major events throughout the year.
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MEDIA CONTACT
Tom Baker
980-444-2265
Colby Howard
Colby at speed in his
late model
Tom Baker Photos
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