FLORENCE, SC :: For Tyler Howell, racing at Daytona will be a dream come true. With his dad owning Ronnie Howell Motorsports, Tyler has grown up around racecars and racetracks. For the youngster out of Florence, Howell has grown up around racing his entire life and dreamed of racing at Daytona.
“If you would have told me I would get the chance to race at Daytona this early in life, I would have said you’re crazy,” Howell said. “To think, of all the greatest that have raced around Daytona, and now I’m going to get the chance is just unreal.”
While Tyler will be one of few guys from the state of South Carolina to make the haul for the UNOH Battle at the Beach next week, he isn’t shying away from competing with the likes of Lee Pulliam, Nate Monteith, CE Falk, Jake Crum and others.
“There’s going to be a lot of competition down there, but we’ve prepared a car that I think we can take down there and contend for a top ten finish,” Howell stated. “Who knows if the cards fall the right way, we might come out of there even better.”
While this will be Howell’s first race at Daytona, he’s had experience in races similar to this one. Making starts in the 2011 Myrtle Beach 400 and also making the field for the 2012 race before it was rained out, Howell has experience in long distance races and might be a sleeper come race time.
Howell will be taking a straight-rail chassis prepared by his father Ronnie with a Chevy built engine.
“We’re running the straight-rail because the Late Model is already set up to run the Myrtle Beach 400 so we’re going to leave that and run the straight-rail at Daytona,” Howell mentioned.
“With the rules the way they are for this race, why wouldn’t you want a strictly race built car,” said Ronnie Howell, Tyler’s dad.
Tyler has experience behind a straight-rail chassis. In 2012, Howell raced on the PASS Super Limited Tour a handful of times running in the top five every time out at tracks like Dillon, Hickory and the likes where it takes car and throttle control to be quick.
Tyler Howell doesn’t expect one style of car to have a distinct advantage over the others. He enters Daytona with modest expectations and high hopes.
“I think it’s going to be fairly level because the track’s new and different and everybody doesn’t know what it’s going to be like,” Howell explained. “I don’t think people with experience on flat tracks will have any kind of advantage. All we’ve seen are pictures of it and stuff. My expectation to go down there… first is just to make it in to the race. It might be the only time they have it down there. When I get in, I’ll just run as hard as I can.”
Last year, Howell found out he had vision problems – problems he now says have subsided and won’t prevent him from racing this year. He’s ready to strap back in the saddle and race at Daytona.
“I found out last year that I wasn’t able to see because my parents thought there was something wrong and I couldn’t see so I saw a doctor,” Howell said. “I’m ready to go now. I’m ready to see what it’s going to be like to circle part of the track were legends have raced at.”
Howell’s effort is being sponsored by Ronnie Howell Motorsports, Ocean Lakes in Myrtle Beach, Hampton Inn Daytona, Perry Morris Motor Company, Sellers Septic Tank and Carolina Batteries.
RACE22.com’s Chris Owens and Andy Marquis contributed to this report.
RACE22.com will continue to provide coverage leading up to the UNOH Battle at the Beach at Daytona, which will be run on February 18th, with driver interviews and preview stories. So, stick with RACE22.com, the Short Track Authority, as we continue to countdown to Daytona.
