| 7-26-2007 | |||||
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7-26-2007 - Autoweek features Colin
Colin
Braun rides up on a bicycle in the Daytona International
Speedway paddock. The thought briefly comes and goes: This kid,
who started racing quartet-midgets at age five, looks as if he
belongs on a bicycle more than in the cockpit of a Grand-Am
Daytona Prototype.
Braun is 18 but appears younger, all gangly arms and legs and a lopsided grin. Later this evening, in the green Pontiac Riley he drives for Krohn Racing and shares with 37-year-old Max Papis, Braun will be the fastest driver on the track. He and Papis won’t win the Brumos 250—Alex Gurney and Jon Fogarty take their third-straight victory—but the team’s third-place finish isn’t bad. Braun and Papis are fourth in team points and tied for fifth in drivers’ points, after nine of the season’s 14 races. (This story was written before the July 22 race at Barber Motorsports Park.) They’ve had two second-place finishes and two thirds. Braun won this race a year ago. After teammate Jorg Berg-meister won the drivers’ championship last year, there were lots of off-season changes at Krohn. For one, Bergmeister bolted to a Porsche-backed ride with Alex Job Racing. “I think a lot of people expected more out of us this year than we’ve been delivering so far,” Braun says. “But we’ve changed engines, crew chief, co-driver, engineers—it’s like a brand-new team. So it’s taking us some time to build and grow.” This is Braun’s second and presumably final year with Grand-Am. He moves to stock cars next season, running a full-time ARCA schedule for Roush Fenway Racing (he’ll run two ARCA races this year), the eventual goal being NASCAR Nextel Cup. Was money a factor? Of course. But, Braun says, “For me, it wasn’t so much the money as the opportunity to race against what I feel are some of the best drivers in America. I want to race against the best, and I want to race all the time, and in a high-profile series, and I think that’s what NASCAR is.” He did consider returning to open-wheel racing; in 2003, he won the Fran-Am 1600 pro series championship. “But it goes back to the opportunities. You talk to a Champ Car team, or an IRL team, or an Atlantic team, and it’s, ‘Yeah, we’d love to have you come drive. How much money can you bring?’” He will finish out the season with Krohn and hopes for some sports-car racing next season, as time, and Jack Roush, will allow. Braun has earned respect in his brief Grand-Am tenure. “He does a good job on the track,” says David Donohue, co-driver of the Red Bull Brumos Porsche. “He gets good equipment, and he runs well with it. If he was bad, it would show.” Braun grew up in a racing family. His father, Jeff, has been his crew chief for 12 years. “But I don’t want to be one of those guys who hangs around after my time has passed,” Braun says. “I want to get in there, do a good job, win a bunch of championships, and that’ll be that.” View a scanned version of the print article by clicking here - 2mb pdf file
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