7-1-2007 - Colin and Speed Secrets

Daytona: Colin Braun Grand Am Race Preview

Strapping into a Roush Fenway Racing stock car last week at the Caraway Speedway, North Carolina for just the second time in his fast-track motorsport career, 18-year-old racing sensation Colin Braun entered the test armed with a proven mental approach to his on-track activities applied and cultivated through a long-standing relationship with Speed Secrets, a leader in the field of coaching services for racing drivers.

Braun, who last month became the youngest driver to ever stand on the famed Le Mans 24 Hour podium in France following a second place finish in the GT2 class driving Krohn Racing’s Ferrari 430GT alongside team-owner Tracy Krohn and Nic Jönsson, first came into contact with the driver performance and coaching leaders while starting his career in karting.
“I first attended a mini-Speed Secrets camp when I was 11 and it really helped me out a lot as a young driver developing in go-karting,” reflected Braun following his third place finish at Mid-Ohio at the end of June driving the #75 Krohn Racing Pontiac Riley in the Grand American Rolex Sports Car Series. “I kept in touch with Ross Bentley (Speed Secrets founder) after that then I finally got the chance to attend their full-blown training camp as I was looking to move up into the Formula TR Series driving the Formula Renault cars. Speed Secrets training really helped me prepare for the transition moving up from karts into proper racing cars.”

He continued, “A lot of the techniques taught by Speed Secrets applied to both karting and the step up into car racing. Much of what I learned back then I’m still applying in my racing today, whether it’s competing in Grand-Am or preparing for my ARCA stock car debut later this year. The mental programming, for example, is still a technique I’m using every time I get in a race car. To be honest, there are so many things I use that Speed Secrets taught me that it’s now second nature - I’ve been doing it for so long. You never stop learning either, so every time I’m at a track and there’s a Speed Secrets coach there, I want to tap into them and take as much as I can and apply it.”

Colin proudly sports the Speed Secrets logo on his helmet, endorsing his relationship with the company. He has done so since that first camp. The logo has remained through his rise to prominence as he won back-to-back titles in Formula Renault 1600 and 2000; debuted in the Grand American Rolex Sports Car series with ‘Team 16’; made history with his victory in the Brumos 250 at Daytona (at the age of just 17 years, 9 months and seven days – making him the youngest-ever driver in North America to win a major league auto racing event); and achieved his most recent success at Le Mans.

Braun’s on-track accomplishments have not gone unnoticed and earlier in June he was signed to a driver development deal by no-less a racing organisation than Roush Fenway Racing, headed by NASCAR stalwart and multiple championship-winning team owner, Jack Roush.

‘I’m proud to carry the Speed Secrets logo on my helmet, I definitely consider myself part of their team and look forward to continuing that relationship over the next stage of my career,” Braun commented.

“I’m naturally very excited to have the opportunity to drive a stock car for someone like Jack Roush and Roush Fenway Racing. The opportunity really came about due to my successes in sports cars and the short time that I’ve been there. I definitely attribute a lot of that success to the foundation that Speed Secrets gave me. I think I’m going to enjoy stock car racing and I’ve got no doubt that I’m going to learn a lot, starting with my participation in the ARCA series. We’re definitely taking things one step at a time but I know I’m doing a full season of ARCA in 2008 with the plan being to follow that up with a full season in the NASCAR Busch Series in 2009.”

The challenge of stock car racing is definitely a change for Braun over the sports car endurance races where he’s made a name for himself in the past couple of seasons, notably with his most recent podium success in the 75th running of the Le Mans 24 Hour Race. Braun’s first taste of sports car racing came aged 16 when he formed part of ‘Team 16’ driving a Porsche 996 GT3 entry alongside two other 16-year-olds in the 2005 Rolex 24 at Daytona.

He backed up an impressive performance by becoming the youngest driver to compete in the Daytona Prototype class later that season. Braun went on to enjoy a breakout year in 2006, scoring two victories on his way to fifth in the Driver Standings despite missing three events due to tobacco advertising age restrictions.

Commenting on how Speed Secrets helped him prepare for the Le Mans 24 Hour race and the demands of sports car competition Braun said, “The guys at Speed Secrets have really helped me with the mental aspect of racing. In modern sports cars, with power steering and the help of cool suits and so on, the physical side of things is fairly easy to contend with now. It’s the mental side of distance racing that can drain you. Speed Secrets has worked with me on being mentally sharp for these races; you have to be in the zone for the whole of your stint, otherwise your performance will tail off. Speed Secrets help in this area in particular has probably been one of the keys to my success in sports cars.”

Admitting that the coaching services provided by Speed Secrets can give drivers an advantage over their rivals the Texan teenager joked, “I’ve been helped so much by my relationship with Speed Secrets I almost don’t want to recommend them to other drivers! The unique thing about them, though, is the way that they can adapt themselves to each driver they work with. It’s not the same coach for every driver. They can see what a driver needs and wants from their services and they tailor their package accordingly putting together the right coach for each driver.

“A good example is the ‘Team 16’ program I was involved with. Speed Secrets worked with all three guys on the team and we all had very different personalities and very different ways of doing the same job – driving the race car! They brought us all together and kept us focused on our objective. Even though we all did things differently I think we accomplished our goal of finishing the race. It would have been tough to have done that without the input of Speed Secrets working with us as individuals but keeping us concentrated as a team – in the end things worked out very well!”

With a talent already proven at the likes of Le Mans and Daytona and with a career path now targeting success at the very highest level of stock car racing, the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series, Speed Secrets looks forward to continuing its relationship with Colin Braun as he continues to utilize and maximize their strategies and techniques for on-track success.