Up and coming ... Brad COLEMAN

COLEMAN

Houston native Brad Coleman, 18, appears to have been programmed to be a race-car driver from the start.

At age 12, he was discovered at an indoor karting center by sports-car driving coach Price Cobb and eventually moved to Virginia to live with Cobb's family and travel with them to races.

Last year, he raced in the Rolex 24 at Daytona, and this year, he's driving for Brewco Motorsports, a NASCAR Busch Series team. He recently got his first superspeedway victory, coming from two laps down to win the July 8 ARCA race at Kentucky Speedway. He recently spoke with Rick Minter of Cox News Service.

Q: How did you get such a varied rsum at such a young age?

A: Our plan from the beginning was COLEMAN could with cross-training in open-wheel cars, sports cars, the prototypes and Late Model Stock cars, so that no matter what opportunity I had, I'd be prepared.

Q: You seem almost programmed to race. Did you miss out on being a normal kid?

A: There was definitely a little give and take with it. I had to leave my home in Houston at the age of 15 to go live in Virginia, and I can't always hang out with my friends on the weekends because I'm always at races and I'm always working out. So it does take away some of my time, but it's definitely worth it.

Q: How important has it been to have proven talent like Price Cobb and [NASCAR veteran mechanic] Shawn Parker coaching you?

A: We definitely have a great team assembled. Price Cobb started my career, and Shawn has been such a great crew chief this year, helping me learn what the car does and how it's affected by changes. It's a great opportunity.

Q: How big was the ARCA win?

A: It's a huge milestone. It's tied with the 24 Hours of Daytona for one of the greatest moments of my career.

Q: What are your plans for the future?

A: We plan on doing some more ARCA races - Gateway, Nashville and Michigan - and we're going to do a couple more Busch races this year. Next year, we're planning on doing the full Busch schedule. I'm fully committed to doing NASCAR. I've always watched NASCAR growing up. Being in it is a dream come true.

Q: Have you gotten calls from other NASCAR owners since your win at Kentucky?

A: I don't get any calls. All I do is the racing. I have managers and people like that to handle those calls, which is very nice.

Q: What do you do for fun away from the track?

A: I love playing on my simulator, doing simulation race weekends. And I try to be a normal teenager whenever I can.