‏By Bill Green, From Behind The MIC
Tampa Tribune Correspondent
Photos by Jean-Marie Strickland

Buzzie Reutimann had every fan on their feet Saturday night at East Bay Raceway Park. Starting eighth, outside row four, the local racing legend drove to the front with a renewed sense of enjoyment normally seen in a much younger competitors eyes.

Climbing out of the car in victory lane the very fit 66 year old Reutimann, ever the jokester said with a huge smile, "Was that a hundred laps?" Pause, breath... "It sure felt like it!" The crowd laughed with him.

Winning his second race of only three he has been able to run in the young season, seems to have put a new-found spring in his step and a fresh twinkle in his eyes.

"I tell you what, there is a lot of competition here at East Bay in this class." said Reutimann, father of NASCAR racer David Reutimann. "The car was really working on the bottom and I knew a lot of the guys like the 27 (John Bradley) and the 22 (Dale Kelly) were going to have to run the top side, (laughing) so I figured the shortest way around was the bottom."

Reutimann's crew chief Terry Peters enjoyed this win as much as any other.

"He bent the right front wheel in the heat race, but the only one we had to replace it with was bigger in diameter. Buzzie and I talked and we really wanted to keep the front stagger the same. So we decided to leave the bent wheel on." said crew chief Terry Peters. "It worked!"

When asked about his rising popularity this late in his racing career, Buzzie was very modest.

"It's quiet an honor for the Reutimann family, all our lives we have raced because that's what we enjoyed doing," said Buzzie "I raced all those years and really you don't think about how many people's lives you've touched. Like when I was injured at a race in New York and broke my back. All the notes, letters and well wishes you get from fans that have never come down out of the grandstands to see you. I mean, I was sure I'd met every fan I'd ever had, more than once (he laughed), but in the last couple years it has been a great compliment to feel the admiration and have them still recognize me for what I have done in racing."

As we talked about son David's struggles in NASCAR's top ranks, Buzzie was proud of the fact that there was some opportunities to give back.

"With him (David) being in the "Big Leagues" so to speak, it has given our whole family a chance to give back to racing and our community," he said. "David's charity golf tournament and auction raised over $100,000 last month. But, if I‘m at the track, I'm usually helping someone with a question here and an idea there."

Longtime rival, bobbie Dixon stops by to talk about his car with Buzzie

His only frustration of the 2008 season was the fact that David had to leave the #00 for the #44.

"One of my biggest disappointments was that he had to give up the double-zero and David wasn't happy about having to give up his points either. He and I talked about it and the opportunity to go with UPS was a great one." Buzzie continued. "He's already got the car back into the top 35, but no one really realizes how much pressure those driver's are under to make the show. When you have a corporate sponsor like UPS, it's unbelievable. You can walk from the Nationwide garage into the Cup garage and feel the tension rise."

Spending time with Buzzie, his sister Joy and the extended family that has become Reutimann Racing, you're reminded that there's still fun to be found in the pits on a Saturday night.

Buzzie consults with sister Joy about lap times and tire pressure
Buzzie closed the night with one last attempt to make you laugh, while sneaking in a sales pitch for his son, "Don't forget we've got David Reutimann, UPS shirts for sale at the trailer, too!"

A young fan gets an autograph from short track legend Buzzie Reutimann

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