Josh Putnam
Josh Putnam has spent much of his racing life as a touring series driver. However, that somewhat changed in 2015 due to some unforeseen twists and turns for the Florence, Ala. native and his family owned team. The former Southern Regional Racing Series champion used his talents as a weekly competitor at the Duck River Raceway Park throughout most of the season and earned the track championship at that Wheel, Tenn. facility as a result.
According to the 32-year-old driver, circumstances sometimes dictate what a racer might do despite the best laid plans.
“We had planned to start with to run Southern All Stars and then their first few races got rained out. Then everything started conflicting in the interest of other plans,” Putnam explained in an interview with InsideDirtRacing.com. “I guess Clarksville was our first place this year and we ran pretty good there but then everything kind of fell apart at the beginning of the year. Sometimes you get signs and get pushed into something whether that was your plan or not. We just kind of fell back to here(Duck River) because this is one of the closest tracks to home for us.”
Putnam believes that concentrating on one track this year may have helped his team in terms of finding the right setup. Further, a little help from a friend and racing so often on a track at which he has a great deal of experience was even more helpful.
“Randle Chupp has been helping us a lot and we’ve come on board with his Wolfpack deal,” Putnam said. “We kind of studied right here because I have a lot of history here and I knew what the car ought to feel like. We would like to do some testing but we can’t afford to rent the racetrack so we have to do it on Saturday nights when we might pick up a little change also.”
While there have been positives to racing at the same place throughout most of the season, Putnam is a traveler at heart.
“It’s been good,” the driver of the No. 212 machine insists. “A lot of time at home and less time on the road. It’s different. I do love going on the road and going to different race tracks. I think that makes you better in the long run if you can keep your nerve and can afford to do it. And a lot of it’s about help also.”
Putnam’s No. 212 Pierce Race Car
But in terms of home life, not being on the road so often has served the Putnam family well.
“I’ve made several more ball games this year than what I had before,” he declared. “It’s better because my wife is back working and it’s helped get everybody in a routine. But it’s been good and I kind of needed a break. I’ve run a travelling series for six years or so, but when you work a full-time job and do this also, it’s tough. It takes a toll on you, but now I’ve gotten excited about racing again.”
In terms of next season, Putnam hasn’t quite decided what he will do. But the driver will be racing somewhere in his Cornett powered Pierce Race Car.
“We’re just playing it by ear,” he said. “I’ve kind of enjoyed picking my shows out and picking my battles this year. I think it’s been good for us looking back at the money aspect of it. At the end of this year we’re a whole better off than we have been at the end of the last couple.”
