Name: William Cox III
Hometown: Raleigh, NC
Birthday: June 4 | Age 15
Team: JR Motorsports
William started racing karts when he was twelve years old. In October 2017 he competed in his first kart race at GoPro Motorplex in Mooresville North Carolina. At first William thought this would be a fun hobby but it soon turned into his passion. He spent countless weekends at the kart track being coached by Ashley Rogero helping him learn the track lines and improving his times. He started working with Carlos Salum of Salum International to learn how to mentally train and process everything on track. In 2018 William ran the local karting series at GoPro Motorplex and also national events for The World Karting Association, United States Pro Karting Series, ROK, SKUSA, and the Canadian Karting Series. William was traveling around the US and Canada every weekend honing his skills and gaining more experience with every race.
In March 2019 William decided to close the chapter on kart racing and began testing in a Formula 4 car with Kaizan Autosport and a Mazda Miata with coach Tom Long and Panic Motorsports at Virginia International Raceway in Alton Virginia. Even though William didn’t have much experience in car racing at 13 years old, he competed in two races at VIR and one at Road Atlanta in the Mazda Miata. He won the respect of the other racers being the youngest in his class, and recieved his SCCA license.
However, in May of 2019, Lorin Ranier with Ranier Racing Development opened up a door up to him to do a type of racing he hadn’t yet experienced, OVAL. Up to this point William had only done road course racing. But the first time he got in a US Legend car and hit the track he loved it! It was something totally new that he had never experienced and was determined to make a name for himself. The summer of 2019 William turned 14 and he spent every weekend racing in his Legend car in the Young Lions division with Ryan Farbo of Farbo Motorsports. He spent the summer racing at Anderson Motor Speedway in Anderson South Carolina, Charlotte Motorspeedway, Atlanta Motorspeedway, and Carteret County Motorspeedway. William quickly learned how to pick up the driving lines at each track and had great results.
In October 2019 the US Legend Nationals were held at Carteret County Speedway. Even though William had only raced there once and had only been in a legend car for four months he was determined to go out there and win the Nationals in the 30 car field. And that is exactly what he did. William led every lap of the race to bring home the US Legends Young Lion National title at 14 years old! After this his racing went to a whole new level. He placed third in the World Road Course Finals at Atlanta Motorsports Park in November 2019. To conclude the year William was the champion for the Atlanta Fall Five series. For William’s 2020 Legend car season he was going for first in National points in the young lions division. He started the year off strong dominating the Cookout Winter Heat at Charlotte Motorspeedway in January. February William went to Florida for the US Legends Winter Nationals.
After one day of testing they made the decision to move William up to the Pro Division. This proved to be a good decision as he took home third place overall in the Pro Division against many experienced drivers. William was enjoying the new division as it challenged him to be a better driver. However in March COVID-19 hit and racing came to a halt. William had to rely on his simulator and iRacing to keep him racing. In April 2020, William was presented with the opportunity to begin testing in a Late Model Stock Car. This was very different from the Legend Car. But as different as it was William excelled in it. He soon decided to leave Legend Cars behind. In June William turned 15 and started racing a late model in the Carolina Pro Late Model Series with DLP Motorsports and a Limited Late Model with Dexter Canipe of 3D Motorsports. He took his first win in the Limited Late Model at Tri-County Speedway in July! He then decided to move up and start racing a Late Model Stock with 3D Motorsports. Since then he has been racing the Late Models at Hickory Motorspeedway against some of the best drivers in the country and gaining more experience with every race. William may be one of the younger competitors on track but he races like he has been doing it for years. William is currently racing in the CARS Tour this year with JR Motorsports in the #88 car.
2021 Pro Late Model and Late Model Stock Stats
Pro Late Model
Three Top 3 finishes
Two Top 5 finishes
Late Model Stock
One Top 3 finish
One Top 5 finish
Two Top 10 finishes
Two Top 20 finishes
2020 Accomplishments
INEX Cookout Winter Heat Champion
INEX Winter Nationals 3rd Place Champion
Limited Late Model Win at Tri-County
INEX Summer Shootout Round 2 Winner in Pro Division
2020 Carolina Pro Late Model, Limited Late Model, and Late Model Stock Divisions
Carolina Pro Late Model
2 Top 3
Limited Late Model
1 Win
2 Top 3
1 Top 5
1 Top 10
Late Model Stock
2 Top 3
3 Top 5
11 Top 10
2019 Accomplishments
INEX Asphalt Nationals Champion
INEX Atlanta Fall Series Champion
Placed 3rd in World Road Course Championship
INEX Legend Results (3 wins, 17 top-fives, 19 top-tens in 26 starts)
Fun Facts
Favorite Movie:
Need for Speed
Favorite Musician:
Need To Breathe
Favorite Food:
Organic fruit smoothies and bowls
Color:
Black
Dream Car:
Ford GT /
Porsche 918 Spyder
Favorite Subject:
The Bible
Favorite Track:
Road Course: VIR
Oval: Hickory Motor Speedway
Video Game:
iRacing
Sports Team:
Pittsburgh Steelers
Things people may not know: Will is a certified scuba diver, he enjoys playing chess; he has 3 pets (one cat and two dogs); and he goes to school online at Liberty University. His ideal vacation spot is the Bahamas.