While many competitors in Pro Late Model racing have aspirations of moving up to NASCAR’s elite ranks, 2016 Southern National Motorsports Park Pro Late Model champion Colt James is just happy to race.
James, 33, is originally from Buda, Texas but now resides in Newton, North Carolina. The veteran racer has competed in the Pro All Stars Series and other pavement Late Model races across the country, but the 2016 season was a dream season. He racked up five consecutive wins in the final five races of the season to score the Pro Late Model championship.
“We had a really good end of the year, won five in a row,” James remarked. “Just had a dream season there, the kind of season drivers dream about. Just huge support from my family and friends. This is a small team but we aligned ourselves with really good people and just always try to take something new away from every experience at a track and put it towards the next one.”
The Pro Late Model division had a unique prize for the champion, Colt James. That prize was a brand new LFR Chassis racecar, which James called “one of the coolest contingency gifts I’ve ever gotten for winning a championship”.
As exciting as that was, James is part of a dying breed in asphalt racing. He’s at the track to have fun, not to move up to NASCAR or ARCA.
“I’m 34 years old so I’m not going anywhere,” James remarked. “I’m just out here to have fun, try to win races and just making memories with my family and my son. That’s what it’s all about, just being able to say I’m a champion. We moved up here from Texas to race and I’m still living my dream. It’s not as big as I was hoping it was going to be but I’m still getting to do this every Saturday night.”
With 2016 in the rear-view mirror, James is now looking ahead to the 2017 season where he plans to compete again at Southern National Motorsports Park in the Pro Late Model division while also venturing out elsewhere as well.
“I’m just extremely excited,” James stated. “God’s blessed me a lot.”
