Jeremy Colangelo - The Past Sets Up Bright Future
Young Star Set to Take On Tough Super Late Model World
In the fast-paced world of stock car racing, there are only a handful of “household names.” Certain drivers excel on the track and win plenty of races to the point that their legions of fans are wearing the driver’s t-shirts, the media always goes to the driver for a good quote and the sponsors are eager to use their names and images to sell products, giving the drivers instant recognition wherever they go.
At just 22-years-old, Jeremy Colangelo is already well on his way to being the next NASCAR “household name,” and that is where his sights are set. To win races and championships in everything that he wheels is not only Colangelo’s goal, but it’s something that he’s already been doing plenty of over the years.
The DeLand, Florida native has teamed
up with NASCAR star Mark Martin and his
Mark Martin Performance development
team for a second season. A full assault on the Super Late Model world is the works for 2009. They hope to add to their two wins in 2008. The partnership between Martin and Colangelo should prove to be an even greater extension of the on-track success that Colangelo has been used to ever since he first piloted a Quarter Midget in 1999.
A slew of strong runs in Quarter Midgets
put Colangelo on the map, but his move
to the ultra-competitive Legends Car world
in 2003 is where the young racer really
began to succeed. The wins and accolades piled in thereafter, including four overall victories and 15 top-fives in his first full Legends Car season in 2004, finishing just four points out of the Legends Semi-Pro title at his home track Orlando SpeedWorld. That year, Colangelo was also named runner-up in Florida state Semi-Pro points.
In 2005, Colangelo racked up seven wins and plenty of strong finishes to earn the Florida state Pro Division Championship. Colangelo traveled across the Southeast with his RE/MAX-backed Legends Car over the years, including placing inside the top-10 frequently in the toughest Legends Car series in the country, the televised Summer Shootout Series at Lowe’s Motor Speedway in North Carolina.
The Legends Car triumphs led Colangelo to take the next big step in his racing career. In 2006, the young gun jumped into a full-sized stock car in the tough Limited Late Model ranks in Florida. Out of nine starts in his rookie Late Model season, Colangelo earned four top-five finishes and six top-10’s, plus the recognition as the highest finishing rookie in two of those events.
Then in 2007, serving not only as the team’s driver, but also as the team manager and the crew chief, Colangelo earned even more top-five’s and top-10’s in his limited schedule.
All of the success and the hard work and determination that Colangelo put in over the years did not go unnoticed, as Colangelo was tabbed by Martin to be a development driver in the Mark Martin Performance program. With a full schedule of Super Late Model and Limited Late Model events on tap for 2009, Colangelo will continue progressing this year and into the future to one day become one of the sport’s next household names.
Mark Martin on Colangelo
"He’s just a great driver and a fine young man. We are really happy to have him, he gets everything he can get out of the racecar and doesn’t bring it in on the hook very much. That’s a good thing too, you can keep building and making things better if you are not fixing wrecks all the time."
