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| Keith Butler Takes Second and Amanda Ferguson Gets Her Second Top 5 of the Year |
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JUNE 13, 2009 --- This weekend the KJ Motorsports Team continued their asphalt season by competing in a Checkered Flag Sprint Series sanctioned race at Charlotte County Motorsports Park in Punta Gorda, FL. After last week's crash, at New Smyrna Speedway, cost Keith his primary asphalt car, something had to be done before this week's race at Charlotte County. There were many options tossed around, but Keith felt it best and quickest to bring back a chassis that has been good to him and his family. This chassis, called "Foxie", has been stored at Keith's house for a number of years. The chassis can easily be called a "Classic", it was built in 1978 (Yes, 31 years ago). It was originally built by Lloyd Shores and was known as the Genesee Beer Wagon and driven by Tom Bigelow. This car was built the same year that Bigelow won the USAC Sprint Car Championship. Over the years many teams have owned this chassis and many drivers have driven it to victory lane. The driver's winning in this chassis include Tom Bigelow, Robert Smith, Hardy Maddox, Larry Rice, Stan Butler (Keith's Father), Shane Butler (Keith's Brother) and Keith has also taken it to victory lane. This car has set records at Winchester and Salem speedways and has also run numerous times in the "Little 500" in Anderson, Indiana. Sunday morning, after the New Smyrna race, Keith was pulling "Foxie" out of storage and bringing it to the race shop for a check over and a fresh coat of paint. Team driver, Amanda Ferguson, her family and the rest of KJ Motorsports were also helping in this effort to get this car built and running in a week. A parallel process was under way where one group was stripping usable parts off of the wrecked car and another group was painting, fixing and laying out pieces to build "Foxie". This process continued, all week, as everyone had time to come down to the shop. Work was finished up 3:30am Friday night into Saturday morning, but that was not where the effort stopped. Only 4 hours later, the team was already traveling to Charlotte County Motorsports Park. Charlotte County Motorsports Park allows teams to show up early on race weekend and utilize the morning and early afternoon time for open practice. This is exactly what Keith and the team needed. Keith was able to go out for 3 practices. After coming in Keith reported, "If we are off at all, we are not off by much." This was a great sign for a car that had not seen the track in 5+ years and was reassembled in a week. A total of 14 cars showed up for the Checkered Flag Sprint Series event. The 14 cars were broken up into 2 heat races. Keith was in the first heat and started 6th. The heat was started with Ric Voisey on the pole. After the heat was underway, Keith was able to get by most of the field early in the 8 lap heat and was able to finish 2nd. Amanda was in the second heat and started on the pole. Amanda had been scheduled to start 3rd, but the pole sitter was unable to make the heat, so that placed Amanda on the pole. As the green flag flew, Amanda set sail. She could roll smoothly through the corners and pull away from the field. If she took another line through the corner, the field would catch up to her. Late in the heat race, Mark Gimmler and Scotty Adema came up to challenge Amanda for the lead, but she was able to hold then off and win the heat race. This was Amanda's third heat race win of the year. Between the heat and the feature, the KJ Motorsports crew worked on both cars to get them ready for the feature. Keith's car needed a spring change, stagger adjustment and weight adjustment. Amanda's car needed only an air pressure adjustment. After these changes were complete, the cars were ready to roll out for a quick autograph session on the frontstretch before the feature. All 14 cars were able to make it out for the start of the 30 lap feature race. As the cars lined up, Geoff Styner and Ric Voisey made up the front row. Keith started the race in 10th and Amanda started 5th. The green flag flew and an accident happened before the cars completed one lap. Gary Gimmler and another car came together between turns one and two. This sent Gary spinning and coming to rest up against the wall. The field then lined up for a complete restart. After the field got started again, the race was clean and caution free. Amanda moved from fifth to second and was able to hold second for about the first 8 laps. Amanda's car began to get tight and this did not allow her to get on the gas as soon as the cars running around her. Keith was picking his way through the field. He was held up a little, while some cars were racing side-by-side, but after getting by them he made his way to 2nd place. Gary Gimmler was back in the lead and Keith was running out of laps and brakes as well. For the second week, Keith's brakes were fading late in an event. Keith was not able to make up any more ground on Gary and was left to settle for second. Amanda had drifted back to seventh late in the event, but coming out of turn 4, on the last lap, Amanda passed Brian Maddox and Dustin Henderson on the high side as they were having trouble negotiating some lap traffic. In the final standings, Gary Gimmler won the event; Keith was second, Scott Adema, Mark Gimmler and Amanda Ferguson rounds out the top five. Keith is still the Checkered Flag Sprint Series point's leader. Amanda is currently sixth in points, but is making ground on fifth place. KJ Motorsports next race is with the Top Gun Sprint Car Series at the North Florida Speedway in Lake City, FL. This will be the team's second appearance with the TGSCS. Both Keith and Amanda will be in action. KJ Motorsports will next compete on asphalt, with the Checkered Flag Sprint Series race on July 4th, back at the Charlotte County Motorsports Park. Media Kits, Head shots and Car Shots are all available on request. Please Email Jenn at KJMotorsports@aol.com Also Check out KJ Motorsports at our web site: Keithbulter.homestead.com Based in Riverview, FL, KJ Motorsports fields the No. 19 Chevrolet Sprint Car. With Sponsorship from JB Banta Enterprises, Eagle Jet International, Gulf American Contracting, Four Star Products, Maverick Concrete Cutting and Core Drilling and Ram Engineering, the team will run a select schedule in Florida and the Southeast and and compete in national sprint car events. The program now in its 9th year utilizes racecars developed in-house and in conjunction with Shaw Racing Products. |
