 By: Tom Luttermoser Image Via: howiedisavinio.com I had my very first sit down interview with 21 year old Virginia native Howie DiSavino III on Wednesday. For those of you who don't know that name off the top of your heads, Howie split the Alpha Prime Racing 44/45 Chevrolet Camaros in the Xfinity Series with a few others in the organization. He has run part time schedules in ARCA, Trucks and now Xfinity since 2019 running for teams such as Alpha Prime and Jordan Anderson Racing with an eye on going full time as soon as possible. I was blown away by how humble and down to earth Howie is. Growing up in the same place as future NASCAR Hall of Famer Denny Hamlin in Chesterfield, VA. Howie and his family moved when he was 4 years old to a 90 acre farm and grew up farming pretty much his whole life driving tractors and ATVs. Around age 8, he fell in love with racing and wanted to try it out, "After 4 years of begging my parents to get into a race car, I finally got into a race car." Calling himself a good ol' country boy from Virginia. In his own words, Howie took the same steps into racing as Denny growing up, he did not get started in go-karts like many others. Howie started late when he was 13 in Arena Racing and moved straight to late models. Asking about the drivers he looks up to, he immediately name dropped Denny Hamlin as the duo are from Chesterfield... and with 48 Cup wins to his name, that's not a bad influence to have. Howie's first entry into a NASCAR National Series was the 2021 Richmond race in the #3 Jordan Anderson Racing Chevrolet Silverado where he finished P.34. Fielding the #3 for 5 races in '21 Howie had a best finish of 22nd at Pocono. in 2022 he partnered up with Alpha Prime Racing in the Xfinity Series where he DNQ'd at Richmond but moved on to Martinsville, he qualified P.22 out qualifying Hall of Fame driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. Howie even sat P.1 in qualifying for quite some time locking himself into the show, but a broken driveshaft on lap 37 took them out early on. A few weeks later at New Hampshire Howie held on to a career best top-20 finish at 19th, but with 2 disqualifications ahead of him, the 44 team slid up the pilon to 17th. One of the topics I asked Howie about was his sponsor for both Talladega and this weekend's Martinsville race, The Travis Mills Foundation. Per their mission statement, "The Travis Mills Foundation supports recalibrated veterans and their families through various programs that help these heroic men and women overcome physical and emotional obstacles, strengthen their families, and provide well-deserved rest and relaxation." As a lifelong supporter of our vets, I have always tried to support foundations like this and the Travis Mills Foundation will be no different. So if you have the time or means to do so, go check them out at travismillsfoundation.org/ I want to thank once again Taylor Kitchen for setting up this interview between myself and Howie. Howie, it was great chatting with you and I wish you luck this weekend at the Dead on Tools 250 at Martinsville. Here is the full interview.
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