CARQUEST Champions for Charities Driver Spotlight: Doug Coby
Stafford Springs, CT — Stafford Motor Speedway has again lined up an impressive field of current and former open wheel champions for its CARQUEST Champions For Charities Event as part of CARQUEST Super Saturday on June 30th. During the coming weeks, SMS will offer a profile on each of its championship winning drivers and the charity they will be racing for and this week’s CARQUEST Champions For Charities spotlight falls on defending NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour champion Doug Coby, who will be racing to help support The Ovarian Cancer Research Fund.
As a result of winning the 2012 Whelen Modified Tour championship, Coby had a host of functions to attend during NASCAR Champions Week in Charlotte and that is where he met NASCAR Whelen All-American Series National Champion Lee Pulliam and his girlfriend, Carrie Hendrick. When Coby met up again with Pulliam and Hendrick at Daytona for the UNOH Battle at the Beach, Coby learned that Hendrick had been diagnosed as having early stages of ovarian cancer, which is what propelled him to choose the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund as his charity of choice.
“I met Lee at a photoshoot during Champions Week as soon as we landed in Charlotte,” said Coby. “We introduced ourselves right away and when you see the same people at the same places during the course of the week, you get to chatting and you learn more about what they do inside and outside of racing. With Lee battling with Keith Rocco all year for the national championship, he was definitely someone that I wanted to meet. My sister Kelly went down to the banquet with me, and she and Carrie got to do some ladies only things together, and they bonded pretty quickly. I heard from Carrie about her cancer diagnosis right before the Daytona race. I think they caught it early, so there’s a good chance for recovery. Carrie is still pretty young and she has her whole life ahead of her, but now she has to fight the cancer and go through chemo, so there’s a lot of uncertainty there. Her situation made me think of all of the important women who support drivers at our tracks, and I know every driver has wives, girlfriends, sisters, and mothers who support them in the shop and at the track. I asked her if it would be ok to use her name to help support and bring awareness to that type of cancer research. While the money won’t be directly helping her, any money that we can raise for Ovarian Cancer Research is a big help.”
While Coby’s fundraising mission has just gotten started, he is working on several ideas of how he can go about raising money and reaching his goal of $5,215 dollars.
“I have the donation page setup and I’m still figuring out some other things we can do for fundraising,” said Coby. “I’m hoping to start with that people will go to the donation page and even if they only give $5 or $10, it will all add up. I chose $5,215 as my goal, which is my Tour and SK numbers, and we’ll try our hardest to reach that goal.”
Coby grew up racing quarter midgets, so stepping into a Senior Outlaw Wild Thing Kart will be a new experience, as will racing around the Stafford Mini-Mile. But those facts haven’t dampened Coby’s enthusiasm or competitive drive as he looks forward to the CARQUEST Champions For Charities feature race.
“I ran quarter midgets growing up, and I ran a go kart race at MX Karting for the Champions Week,” said Coby. “I don’t have experience in the Senior Outlaws, but a go kart is a go kart. I have several people who have run at Stafford that I can ask for advice and I’m sure the guys who have ran the race before will have a little bit of an advantage. I’ve seen clips of the previous races, and it looks pretty competitive. The only time I’ve been on the mini-mile at Stafford is pulling into victory lane, but that’s about it. But anyone who knows me knows that I’m very competitive when it comes to go kart racing. I’m out there to win at all times and you never want to lose to guys no matter what you’re racing from a go kart to a soap box derby car, to a modified.”
Coby will have a busy start to the 2013 season at Stafford as he will pull double duty competing in both the SK Modifeid® and the Whelen Modified Tour feature events.
“It’s going to be fun to be out there this weekend with both cars and hopefully they’re both fast,” said Coby. “We were pretty quick in practice with the SK, hopefully we can continue that with the combination we found, and hopefully the Tour car will be as quick as it was last year. Two fast cars will make the weekend that much more fun. I am hoping we can keep both cars in one piece and have a shot at winning both races.”
The starting lineups for the CARQUEST Champions For Charities 15-lap feature will be determined by how much money each driver raises for their selected charity. The starting grid will be set with the drivers who have raised the most money starting up front. Fans are encouraged to get involved in the event by donating to their favorite driver or favorite charity. To make a donation to The Ovarian Cancer Research Fund on behalf of Doug Coby, and for more information on the event, please refer to the CARQUEST Champions for Charities donation page located at www.staffordspeedway.com. Stay tuned to www.staffordspeedway.com for more driver spotlights and exciting information regarding the CARQUEST Champions for Charities event, which will take place on Friday, June 28.
For more information, contact the Stafford Motor Speedway track office at 860-684-2783 or visit us on the web at www.staffordspeedway.com.
Sources: Scott Running/Stafford Motor Speedway PR