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Doug Coby (Photo: Getty Images for NASCAR)

When NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour team owner Mike Smeriglio III announced in November that he was retiring and shutting down his championship operation, there was a piece of the team that driver Doug Coby wanted to keep for himself.

Of the three cars Smeriglio had in his stable, there was one that was Coby’s favorite, and the six-time series champion made it clear to Smeriglio he wanted to buy it to be able to possess a nostalgic remembrance of the team’s dominating run capturing five series titles in six years.

“I’ve done a lot in my career from Quarter Midgets until now and I don’t have any of my old cars,” Coby told RaceDayCT. “I have no championship memories. I have no old car under a tarp somewhere at my dad’s house. We always sold everything to get to the next level. I’m finally in a position to at least have one car. … I probably would have bought the car and just put it in my garage.”

That car won’t be under a tarp in a garage though. Instead it will be the cornerstone piece of equipment for a new team coming to the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour in 2020, with a familiar face leading that new organization as team owner.

Coby confirmed exclusively to RaceDayCT Friday that his new team – Doug Coby Racing – will make its debut at the Whelen Modified Tour season opening event on March 21 at South Boston (Va.) Speedway. Coby said he is committed to running full-time and defending his 2019 championship and as also emphasized: “Maintaining the level of success we’ve had.”

The 40-year old Coby, who is heading into his 19th year competing on the Whelen Modified Tour, has commitments from longtime crew chief Phil Moran and the rest of his former Mike Smeriglio Racing crew. He also has commitments from his primary sponsor Mayhew Tools, associate sponsors Reynold’s Auto Wrecking, Modzelewski’s Towing, and additional sponsors to be announced.

“It’s exciting but it’s also nerve-wracking,” Coby said. “I know what it takes to the run the [Whelen Modified] Tour and without the sponsors that I have it certainly would have never happened.

“We built so much and we have such a great base and foundation of sponsors, crew help and fans and product sponsors. I feel like the foundation is really strong to begin with. Now we can go out and build on that and see where we can go.”

Coby emphasized that the organization will be a work in progress coming out of the gate as he tries to boost sponsorship for the team to put them in a position to continue a legacy patterned after the dynasty Smeriglio created.

After Smeriglio announced his retirement the hope within the organization was that Coby and Moran could facilitate a deal for a new owner to buy the entirety of the championship team. When that did not happen Coby began taking steps to secure his own future with the series.

“Everybody was banking on that we would sell the whole team to somebody and obviously that didn’t happen,” Coby said. “I certainly didn’t have the ability to buy the entire team, but what I was able to do was buy the winningest car that we have. My favorite car that we win at Stafford [Motor Speedway] with all the time, and kind of start from there.

“This is a good thing going forward. Becoming a driver/owner wasn’t necessarily what I expected to have happen. But the fact that I see how it’s unfolding makes me really excited for the team’s potential and what we’re able to provide for the sponsors that will help us out.”

Coby’s push to start his own program was intensified recently when Smeriglio committed to selling a pair of cars to the family of upstate New York based Modified driver Tyler Rypkema and selling the team hauler to Kevin Stuart Motorsports.

“My first concern was the people, and my crew guys will tell you that I was on them to give me some time to figure some things out,” Coby said. “The equipment always seemed like it was always going to kind of stay. So I was like I just have to worry about making sure that the people stay and they don’t go anywhere. Then when the equipment started going away, I had gotten the commitment from the people to stay, and then the equipment started getting sold. So I was like ‘Hey, I’ve got to figure out what I can possibly do with some of this equipment.’”

Coby’s rise through the ranks of short track racing went from Quarter Midgets to the Late Model division at Stafford Speedway, where he won a track title in 1998. He followed that up with a Pro Stock division championship at Stafford in 2000. He made his first Whelen Modified Tour start in 2002 at age 22. After spending 10 years as a series journeyman driving for a multitude of teams and owners, Coby won his first series title in 2012 driving for team owner Wayne Darling. He replaced Todd Szegedy at Mike Smeriglio Racing before the start of the 2014 series and has won all but one series title since then. He finished third in the standings in 2018.

Asked if he ever thought he’d be a team owner Coby said: “No, but I also never thought I’d be a six-time [Whelen Modified] Tour champion.”

“I feel like my career has always been around No. 1 surrounding myself with good people and No. 2 surrounding myself with good sponsors and I have great commitments from people now, and sponsors like Mayhew Tools. It’s always been about figuring it out.

“It’s funny because you go from the Quarter Midget to the Late Model to the Pro Stock the SK Modified to the [Whelen Modified] Tour, none of it was ever planned, it just got figured out. I spent a ton of effort from the middle of December until [mid-February] trying to make the right deal happen and I thought I had the right deal in place before and for one reason or another it just didn’t work out. But you just can’t give up. You have to start coming up with new ideas and use what you learned from the first one to get to the next one. I feel like that’s kind of what landed me here.”

Coby has made 236 Whelen Modified Tour starts dating back to 2002 with 28 career victories, 30 poles and 141 top-10 finishes. His first career victory came in the 2006 NAPA Spring Sizzler at Stafford Speedway driving for team owner Curt Chase. He had one victory in 2011 driving for a split ownership operation of Darling and George Bierce. Darling’s first full-time effort with the series resulted in a five-victory championship season with Coby in 2012. The team finished second in the standings in 2013 with a pair of victories before Coby went to the Mike Smeriglio operation in 2014. Coby had 19 victories over six season with Smeriglio including four victories in 2019. Twenty-six of his 30 career poles came with the Smeriglio operation, including eight in 2019.

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