SHELLEY, Idaho – A driver with track and state championships to his credit last year can already give you an approximate date for the highlight of his 2017 season.
Cody Malcom won seven Karl Chevrolet Northern SportMod features on the way to capturing Atomic Motor Raceway track and Allstar Performance Idaho State titles in 2016.
From Shelly, he’ll return to the IMCA Modified division this spring, racing regularly at Atomic and Idaho Falls Raceway and when his schedule allows at Wyoming’s Sweetwater Speedway.
More of the specifics will take shape in May, after Malcom and girlfriend Ashley Grass become parents of a son, who joins Jayden, almost five, Abyree, three, and Rylan, two years old.
“It’s exciting,” said Malcom. “It will be a whole new adventure.”
Malcom’s on-track adventures last season came over the course of 21 starts, all at Idaho Falls and Atomic. He won five of his last eight outings while sealing the Atomic track and Idaho state titles.
“I had taken a couple years off before I started racing again in 2014, on asphalt,” Malcom explained. “In 2016 we got a couple sponsors lined up, converted my asphalt Modified and went back to dirt.
“It was a pretty good year,” he added. “There were some people who doubted an asphalt car would work on dirt. It took a couple races before I remembered what I was doing.”
Malcom started racing in the pure stock class at Atomic in 2005, earning street stock rookie of the year honors in 2006 and the track championship in the same class the next season. He had just begun his junior year in high school before racing to 2008 IMCA Modified state championship honors.
“My dad (Cory) raced IMCA and he’s helped me a lot. He’s a lot better welder than I am so it’s worked out pretty good,” Malcom said. “I’m a truck driver who plays with metal.”
Malcom returns to the Modified division in a 2010 Shaw Chassis purchased from Richard Mueller. While again campaigning in a car with the green cerebral palsy awareness ribbon, he looks to end the season at Las Vegas Motor Speedway’s Duel In The Desert.
Along with his father and girlfriend, Malcom’s crew includes his brother Michael and Ashley’s father Gary Grass.
A & B Transmission of Shelley has helped sponsor Malcom since he started racing. He’s also backed by LP Propane and Nathan Lott Trucking, both of Idaho Falls.