June 9, 2007

Matthews, NC

Bad Day…But a Good Reminder

Hello all, this is Chris Butler…Josh’s Dad (and spotter) and I thought I would give you this weeks recap in my own words because there are a lot of people to thank. Before I get to that, let me start by saying that the Butler Motorsports team headed to Orange County Speedway on Saturday coming off our best run of the year, a second at Peach State Speedway, and optimistic about another good run. This is the first time the Allison Legacy Series has been to Orange County Speedway since the series went to a new tire a few weeks back…that, along with very high temperatures, seemed to slow the cars down a lot and left everyone scratching their heads. In Josh’s first practice, it took one lap at speed to tell that Josh’s car was WAY too tight and he quickly asked Crew Chief Blake Harris for changes to his Horizon Technologies, Summitt Communications, Conterra Ultra Broadband Monte Carlo.

In the second practice Josh said the car was much better…and the times showed that…but he still wanted one more change before practice ended. Unfortunately, a major crash just as Josh got to the pits cut the session short and we would head to qualifying feeling good about the car but wishing that we could have tested the last change that Blake made. Josh took the track 20th out of the 23 cars that qualified for the race and we were all excited when he moved to the top of the speed chart and ended up getting his first pole of the 2007 season…his third in the Allison Legacy Series.

That was the high for the day…things went downhill from there. At the start of the race Josh got bumped in the left rear coming off of turn four on the first lap and went for a spin. We couldn’t believe that we were going to the rear of the field before we even got a lap in…but we were…and we settled in to come from the back as we have done several times this year. On lap four, there was a three car wreck going into turn one and even though Josh got slowed down, and seemed to have the accident missed, the car running at the back of the pack wasn’t paying attention to the caution and ran full speed into the back of Josh. There was HEAVY damage to the #11 and we all thought for sure we were done when Josh informed Blake and I that the car wouldn’t move. Our spirits sunk even lower when the tow truck drug (and I honestly mean drug…nothing seemed to be rolling) the car into our pit. Just then, the sky opened up and heavy rains hit the speedway…track officials continued to say that the rain would pass and that they would get the race in but it didn’t look good.

Just as the rain started I got the reminder that I talk about earlier…and this is where the thanking people comes in. See, one of the things that you have to love about Blake is his “never say die” attitude and he decided with the rain coming he could get the car fixed enough to finish the race after the track dried. With both ends of the car badly damaged, the odds of getting it fixed at the track seemed very slim…but when I got back from getting the first load of parts that’s when I saw two other teams helping Blake…in a driving rain…working on the car. It wasn’t just any teams by the way…we sit 3rd in points…and the two teams that were busting their butts were the teams who sit 4th and 5th in the points. The teams of Ryan Glenski and Brandon McReyonlds were soaking wet and elbow deep in the mess that was Josh’s car…and they had the most to gain from Josh having a bad finish. The Glenski team got the front shock put together and realized that there were more bodies than room and moved on…but we couldn’t have raced without their help. As for the McReyonlds team…they spent the better part of two hours putting our car back together in a driving rain. They brought their crash cart...their parts…their manpower, all of this and they knew that every point we got that night was one that might come back to haunt them at the end of the year. I’d like to say there was some happy ending…that we came back and had a great run but we didn’t. We did however, gain about six positions...finishing 16th and we were able to stay in third place in the standings. Blake and the guys put that car back together well enough that, had we not lost a lap due to working on the car under the red flag, we would have driven back up near the top ten.

I was reminded on Saturday night that good sportsmanship is not a thing of the past, if you think it is…go racing…almost every team came by to ask if they could help. I know that Larry and Linda McReynolds are often proud of what their team has done in the car and on the track. Saturday night, they should be proud of what happened outside the car and off the track.

A big thank you to all the teams who helped…and offered to help!

Chris Butler

Butler Motorsports