INTERVIEW
KENNY COOLBETH
P80
if it was the beginning of the end
for the 37-year-old dirt tracker
from Connecticut.
Not so fast.
A revived Coolbeth hit the
ground running in 2014 with his
new team, Zanotti Racing, win-
ning two races so far this year
– one of the two Daytona Short
Tracks and the Knoxville Half
Mile. And while Baker got the fac-
tory ride, Coolbeth got the Ather-
tons – tuner Dave Atherton and
former racer Kevin Atherton.
"Yeah, it's good," Coolbeth
said about the new year and the
new team. "I came on board with
Zanotti Racing with Dave Ather-
ton building all my bikes. Anybody
that knows Dave Atherton knows
what he's accomplished. So it
was an honor to get the call and
to work with him. It's just good
to have good equipment and to
have fun doing it. That's the big-
gest thing me - having fun. Just
doing my thing and wanting to go
to the races on Saturday. Me and
the team, being like a family."
Could it also be a case of suc-
cess breeding success?
"Yeah, you've got to surround
yourself with good people and
you usually do well," Coolbeth
said. "I've done that in the past,
with Harley-Davidson. It's just… I
was there for quite awhile. It just
got stale. I'm happy now."
And in racing a stale environ-
ment is not a good environment.
State of mind is important in rac-
ing and a happy racer tends to
lead to good results. Were there
other changes besides the team?
Training or race preparation?
"It's pretty much all the
same," Coolbeth said. "I haven't
changed much. Just do my thing
and go to the races on Saturday.
And be there to win. I'm here to
win and no matter what the track
is, no matter how the weather is,
I'm here to win. That's why I go to
the races."
So Coolbeth's a happy camp-
er and quite at home at Zanotti
Racing. And although he doesn't
have the factory gig anymore,
Coolbeth said he still just has to
show up to the races. In fact he
said it's actually a little bit easier
on him this year.
"Not much has changed," said
Coolbeth. "Pretty much I just have
to show up at the racetracks. It's
actually a little easier because I
don't have to take care of my 450
program, which I did mostly all
of that. I built everything. Now I
don't. So I can fly to pretty much
Coolbeth has found
a happy home at
Zanotti Racing and
has been back to
his winning ways.
