7-21-2007 - Birmingham paper features Colin

The life of an 18-year-old is full of tough decisions, but for Colin Braun this decision was so big that few his age had ever encountered it.

The defending champion of the Porsche 250 at Barber Motorsports Park spent much of this racing season deciding not what girl to date or what college to attend but what major racing team and racing series will get his services.

Braun returns to Barber Motorsport Park Sunday for the Porsche 250. The Texas native first raced here two years ago when the ink on his first driver's license was barely dry. Last year at the tender age of 17 he out-dueled some of the world's top drivers for his second Daytona Prototype win in a month.

On Sunday he comes to Barber's knowing he may never be back.

Braun decided earlier this year that at season's end he will step away from the Rolex Daytona Prototype Series where he has found so much success. Next season he'll roll the dice as a developmental driver for Roush/Fenway Racing in the ARCA/Remax Series.

"The Grand Am Series is a fantastic series," Braun said from inside his hauler in the paddock at Barber's Friday. "It has been great at my age to race against people like (Max) Papis, (Scott) Pruett and (Max) Angelelli and learn from them.

"But NASCAR is American racing in its most popular form. Fourteen races a year aren't enough races for me. I'm looking forward to racing 36 races a year or whatever it is."

First Braun would like to get his Daytona Prototype program back on track and he believes Barber Motorsports Park just might be the place to do it.

With just five races remaining in the season Braun and his team have failed to win a race. A third-place finish at Daytona earlier this month was encouraging and he was all smiles after practice Friday.

"We switched from Roush/Yates engines to Pontiac engines this year," he said. "I have a new engineer, a new co-driver, a new crew chief, a new car chief and a new data guy this season. That's a lot of changes.

"I'll have another new co-driver, Nick Johnson, here Sunday.

"We tested here and did really well and we've been the fastest car in every practice here so far so I really feel like this is the place that we'll turn things around."

Braun's leaving the Daytona Prototype Series at year's end for ARCA has some strange roots. The move can be traced back to an agreement between the U.S. government and major tobacco companies several years back.

"I got to know Jack Roush a little while we were using their engines," he said. "But earlier this year I was not able to race at Watkins Glen because of the tobacco agreement that prohibits anyone 18 and under from participating in any tobacco-sponsored event.

"Boris Said filled in for me there and we got to be good friends. He pretty much put together the whole deal with Jack Roush."

Braun has already tested three times in an ARCA car. He will get an introduction to ARCA racing in August at Gateway and will race again in September at Chicagoland. Those will be his only two races until he runs the full ARCA schedule next season.

"It's quite different," Braun said of the cars in the two racing series. "The ARCA cars are so aero-dependent. You can pull up beside somebody and the car gets a little loose. That's going to take awhile to get used to."