James Buescher says a truck road course race is “long overdue”
It’s been 13 years since the Camping World Truck Series has left and right on a race track and the defending series champion says that a race on a road course is long overdue.
“I think it’s long over due for the truck series,” James Buescher commented. “You look at every NASCAR series – K&N, Cup, Nationwide, Canadian Tire Series, Mexico, Europe – every series was racing on the road courses except the trucks. I thought it was quite overdue.”
Buescher says the last time the trucks were on the road course, he was only 10, but looking at pictures, he’s excited.
“It seemed like it’d be a lot of fun to do in a truck,” he commented. “I think there should be a couple road courses on the truck schedule and I think it would help get our truck schedule back up to 25 races.”
With the added addition of it being in Canada this weekend, that only sweetens the pot in the eyes of this 23-year-old.
“I think it’s good that we’re back up here and having the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series here, I think we should be here,” he said. “There’s a lot of Canadian NASCAR fans. For the truck series to carry that banner this year, I think it’s pretty cool.”
As far as on track, Buescher is off to a solid start as he ranked 13th in the first practice with a lap of 84.343 seconds behind the wheel of his No. 31 Eliminator Chevrolet, 1.548 seconds off of the quick time set by Mike Skeen.
“Our Eliminator Chevy was decent off the truck – tight in the left handers, loose in the right handers and it’s hard to get used to talking about it in a way,” he said following the first practice. “It’s different for us, it’s different for the crew – it’s different for the truck series in general. So I felt like we had a pretty productive first practice. Gained some speed every time we went out and shows that we’re still learning the race track and road course racing in general.”
His words proved to be true in the fact that he was continuing to get better with more laps as he was then ninth in the second practice at lap of 82.839 seconds, 1.390 seconds off of Skeen’s quick time. Buescher knows that he has spots where he can continue to improve on to continue to get quicker.
“I know a lot of areas that I can improve – probably about half the corners,” he said. “So it’s just going to be gaining experience lap after lap and following some guys is always helpful. Going back and watching the video is helpful too, and working on breaking down the corners with my teammates and stuff is going to be helpful. I feel there is a lot more to gain, but I feel pretty good about we’ve learned and our chances this weekend.”
Buescher comes into the weekend with limited road course experience. He ran the Nationwide Series race at Road America earlier this year, finishing 14th. He also has experience from his seasons in the ARCA Racing Series. That’s one of the reasons why he decided to race in the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series race, which will be run on Sunday morning prior to the truck race.
“The biggest thing is the more laps,” he said. “Every lap I make, everytime I went out, I got faster every time. So I feel like the more laps I can get, the better prepared I will be for our race. we have a Canadian tire practice before the truck practice, we qualify the cars before the trucks and we race before the trucks so you kind of see how firsthand the races play out and where you will make your passes. You can only simulate so much in practice because once in race conditions, it changes a whole lot.”
Buescher says the key will be to learn how to make passes during the NCATs race so that can carry over to the truck race that afternoon. He will be running the NCATs race as a teammate to Scott Steckly; Steckly currently leads the NCATs points, four points over D.J. Kennington.
“I’ve never watched one of those races,” Buescher commented. “I went to his shop yesterday and sat in the car and made sure everything fit good and got to know some of his guys, but I don’t know anything about it. I don’t even know how many laps the race was.”
Buescher says beyond just running the race, having Steckly as someone to lean on for advice will be key.
“He’s got a lot more laps here than I do, for sure,” Buescher commented. “So anybody I can lean on that knows how to get around here will be helpful. In practice my last run, I actually followed Mike Skeen around here. I didn’t gain much time, but I saw a lot of things I was doing wrong so definately room for improvement on a lot of aspects of the track. So definitely more track time and surrounding myself with people that can be informative to myself and my team can’t hurt.”
It will be important for Buescher to have a good run as after some bad luck to start the year, Buescher has turned his season around and sits second in points, 49 points behind Matt Crafton.
“People say we’re back in the title hunt, but I don’t think we ever fell out,” he said. “We’re just closer to the top now and plenty of racing left to go; we’re just past halfway.”
That’s why well some are considering this race a wild card, Buescher doesn’t see it that way as he feels that if he can get enough experience, he could possibly gain points this weekend.
“The realistic goal of any race that you can’t win is to gain as many points as you can and get the best finish that you can,” he commented. “I’m not the best road racer in the world; I do okay at them. I feel our track record in the Natiownide Series as a organization has been pretty good. They’ve won several over the last couple of years and that carries over to the truck series. I feel we have some solid trucks.
“Miguel (Paludo) was faster than the rest of us in practice this morning and be able to lean on him a little bit and get caught up to speed and maybe have a shot at a win or a top five finish. I think we need to just have a solid day and come out with a solid finish.”
Mike Skeen leads second practice at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park
Mike Skeen would continue his quick ways, leading the second practice with a lap of 81.449 seconds. The lap is 1.346 seconds quicker than his quick time from the session before lunch. This weekend marks the CWTS debut for the World Challenge Series driver.
“I’m excited to make my NASCAR Camping World Truck Series debut with Sharp-Gallaher Racing,” Skeen said coming into the weekend. “SGR puts strong trucks on the track and I feel that with my road-course experience, we’ll be able to put the No. 6 Hawk Performance Chevrolet in contention for the win.”
The driver of the No. 6 Hawk Performance Chevrolet Silverado has experience at CTMP in the Pirelli World Challenge GT Series as he has claimed the pole position and won the last four consecutive races for the series at CTMP.
German Quiroga was once again second quickest, laying down a lap of 81.787 seconds, 0.338 seconds slower than Skeen.
Series rookie Ryan Blaney was third quickest, 0.736 seconds off of Skeen’s quick time. Blaney got some road course laps under his belt prior to the weekend as he ran the ARCA race at Road America, finishing fifth.
“I can’t wait to get on the road course and see what we’ve got,” Blaney said coming into the weekend. “I know we’ll be fast. This team has been on a tear of late. I’m confident our Cooper Standard team will have a shot at winning Sunday afternoon which will put us right back in the championship hunt.”
Miguel Paludo was fourth quickest, followed by Ty Dillon. Dillon ran the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series race in May, finishing seventh. He also run the NCATS race this weekend for Fitzpatrick Motorsports once again.
“I’m excited to race the trucks on a road course,” Dillon said. “I’ve raced at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park earlier this season in the (NASCAR) Canadian Tire Series. It was a lot of fun, and I really learned how to get around there in a car. I think it’ll help having that extra experience for this weekend’s race.”
Chase Elliott and Joey Coulter, who both have road course experience virtue of the ARCA Series, were sixth and seventh respectively. Road course ace Max Papis was eighth, followed by James Buescher and Johnny Sauter.
Points leader Matt Crafton was 16th at the end of the second session.
There was one incident during the session when John Wes Townley backed his truck into the tire barriers. He will be going to a back-up.
The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series will have two more practice sessions tomorrow before qualifying. They will then run the Chevrolet Silverado 250 on Sunday at 2pm EST.
NASCAR BTS: Children’s Dream Racer More Than Labor of Love
This week’s NASCAR Behind the Scenes spotlights the work of Mark ‘Smitty’ Smith, a 71 year old former fabricator whose labor of love is building kid-sized race cars for use in various children’s hospitals throughout the country.
These race cars, which are mini-version of NASCAR stock cars complete with corporate logos and race car seats as well as oxygen bottle holders and IV poles, are called Dream Racers and they do indeed make dreams of so many children in need come true.
So how did Smitty come up with this novel and innovative idea? Well actually the notion took hold after a failed attempt at building a kid sized race car for the McDonald’s food chain.
“I worked for race teams early on and had my own fab shop for twenty plus years,” Smitty said. “I got an occasion to redo some McDonald’s stores and part of what they wanted was a little car with a car hop tray so kids could have their Happy Meal in it.”
“We did that and when we finally got it to them, they decided it was too big and took up too much floor space,” Smith continued. “So, we brought the car back home and it collected dust for a few years.”
“One day, we were slow in the fab shop and I told the boys to re-body it and make it more like a real NASCAR body,” Smitty said. “My girlfriend suggested the oxygen bottle holder and IV pole.”
“I was still thinking restaurants but one thing led to another and we started trying to market them to children’s hospitals,” Smitty continued. “David Reutimann bought one and we were off and running.”
The first Dream Racer went to All Children’s Hospital in St. Petersburg, Florida. And initially Smitty did not quite get the reaction for which he had hoped with that first delivery.
“To be honest, the first reaction was that they stopped me at the door,” Smitty said. “The biochemical engineer told me it had to go through a biomedical exam before it could come into the hospital.”
“So, I thought that was going to be the end of this,” Smith continued. “He said that it had to score a 92 out of a 100 and they took it in and had it for half hour or so.”
“He came out with a smile and said it scored 152,” Smitty said. “So, they were glad to have it.”
Smitty has learned quite a bit along the way, modifying the Dream Racer based on the feedback he has received from doctors and even parents.
“The first Dream Racer had full sides and so the kids had to climb in and out of it,” Smitty said. ”My doctor came by the shop and said that I needed to leave the side off so sick and handicapped kids could get in and out.”
“So, that’s what we started to do,” Smitty continued. “And we also had a cloth material, upholstered seat and he said we needed to get rid of that too.”
“So, we put a vinyl or leather seat in so it’s washable.”
Each Dream Racer, hand built one at a time, costs $9,500. The child-sized race car includes a safety harness, spoiler, splitter and a Play Station and television monitor that will play everything from the NASCAR racing game to Sponge Bob Square Pants.
Smitty admits that although people purchase a Dream Racer for many different reasons, the effects they have on the lives of children is unsurpassed.
“People buy them for different reasons,” Smith said. “The Leonard Bus Company in New York bought one for Arnold Palmer’s Children’s Hospital in St. Petersburg because 21 years ago their son was born premature and it was pretty touch and go.”
“They saved that baby’s life and the commemorated his 21st birthday at the hospital with a Dream Racer.”
“I’ll tell you a story,” Smitty said. ”A little girl came into the hospital kicking and screaming because she had to have a kidney biopsy.”
“She played in the Dream Racer and not only went through the biopsy but told her mother she would be glad to come back if she could play in that Dream Racer.”
“And an ESPN camera man when we presented four cars donated by Rick Hendrick and the Dream Catchers Society was wrapping up his cords and he told me that a lady and a little boy came to the hospital,” Smitty said. “The lady told him that her child wouldn’t speak to him because he had autism and was an expressionless child, showing no emotions.”
“He got into the Dream Racer and pretty soon he was smiling and whispering to his mother,” Smitty continued. “And that’s the first time she ever saw his teeth unless she was brushing them.”
Although there are 756 children’s hospitals throughout the country, Smith has built 35 cars to date, with one international placement of a Dream Racer to the Children’s Hospital in Toronto, Canada.
“My goal is to get a Dream Racer in every children’s hospital,” Smith said passionately. “But it’s more than that because each hospital needs more than one Dream Racer.”
“So, every day is a new deal and a new challenge,” Smitty continued. “And we just keep building them.”
“This is a blessing that the Lord has made.”
For more information about the Children’s Dream Racer program visit their website at www.childrensdreamracer.com.
