Prelude Substitute: Reutimann the Owner

Since rain ruled over racing again on Wednesday to postpone Tony Stewart's Prelude to the Dream (no, really, I love four-hour road trips for nothing!) I figured a nice little story from my chat with David Reutimann last week would be something to tide over your dirt track racing cravings.

By now, you've probably heard of "Buzzie" Reutimann.

Whether you're a Florida short track aficionado that lives and breathes places like East Bay or you're still wondering how in the world David Reutimann snuck out a win in the Coca-Cola 600 two weeks ago, you've at least seen something about the elder Reutimann -- "Buzzie" -- as he was on hand for his son's first Sprint Cup victory.

Buzzie, of course, is frankly a legend in the local short track racing culture in America who, at one point, was estimated to have won over 1,200 feature races in his career. The Zephyrhills, Fla.-based family also many other members of the family in the racing world.

However, it seems that Buzzie at his ripe age of 68 has gained the most from his son's rise to NASCAR's top division.

"Everybody's like 'Hey David, your dad looks so excited for you,' and I'm like 'He's not excited for me, he's excited that we're going to have more money to spend on tires and race cars!'," joked the younger Reutimann, referring to his much-improved performance in the Sprint Cup Series.

But Buzzie's -- real name Emil -- excitement is all worth it to his only son.

"I like watching my daughter ride horses and I like going racing with my dad," Reutimann said. "There are few things ln life that make me happier than watching my dad go out there and compete and outrun guys that are a quarter of his age. He gets down in that race car and looks like he's 22 years old."

In fact, Buzzie has seen success as recently as February when he won a heat race on the one-third mile East Bay Raceway. And in the races he run recently, Buzzie hasn't torn up too many race cars.

"Since he's been driving my stuff he's only ever tore up one race car," said Reutimann, who himself was looking to get to the Prelude at Eldora Speedway because it felt like coming home. "His record is a whole lot better than mine."

That good record, though, seems to come with an escalating price.

"He's always complaining about not having enough of a budget," said Reutimann with a laugh. "But I don't think he knows what 'budget' means."