Josh Collins
Josh Collins has been a top Dirt Late Model contender on race tracks around east Tennessee for several years now and 2015 has proven to be no different. The 31-year-old who had won multiple track championships at the 411 Motor Speedway added a season title at the Tazewell Speedway this year to his trophy collection. But this most recent success didn’t come without a few trials and tribulations along the way.
“We started out the year kind of doing a deal with somebody else then around June or so we bought our own car and kind of put everything back together where I left off a couple of years ago,” Collins explained in an interview with InsideDirtRacing.com. “In 2014, with some stuff that was going on, I almost decided to quit. But then I hooked up with the Gregory bunch and raced their car a little bit and we won a handful of races. This year we’ve run good pretty much everywhere we’ve been. It hasn’t been one of those twenty win seasons like we’d like, but I think we’ve won seven or eight races and we got that points deal up at Tazewell so it’s been a pretty good year.”
After a couple of seasons in which the racer bounced from ride to ride, Collins now feels more comfortable being back in his own equipment and in control of his own destiny. But that comfort has come with assistance from others.
“It took me a year of more to get back to a place where I could do my own deal again,” Collins pointed out. “But I really feel like with the sponsors I’ve got and the support of the people around me that I’m in a better position than I’ve ever been in. I’ve got a handful of people around me that want to see me do good and like to watch me race.”
Collins won this season track championship at Tazewell
The championship winning driver admits that his ever changing status of the past couple of seasons did bring about a bit of rust. However, that was something readily cured by finding the right situation.
“Like Scott Sexton told me before he passed away, it’s almost like riding a bike,” Collins recalled. “He could be out of a car for a while then go climb in one and win. When you get into good equipment you’re going to do good. I’ve been in it a long time and I’ve raced a lot and you can get a little rusty at times. But I feel like I’m as smart of a racer as I’ve ever been. That can hurt you sometimes because you won’t take the risks, but right now, I’m as confident and comfortable in a car as I’ve ever been.”
Collins plans to enter the $5,050-to-win Fall Brawl Steelhead Late Model race at Tazewell this Saturday night. He would like nothing better than to cap off his season by driving his Warrior Race Car into Victory Lane at the end of the night on the high-banked track.
“That would be cool. That’s huge for steelhead racing. I feel like I’ve got as good of a chance as anybody to win it.”
Collins and crew celebrating one of their wins from this season
