Troy Buff's official opening Top Fuel pass of the season Thursday certainly looked outstanding on paper. It put him and the Bill Miller Engineering/Okuma Dragster fourth in the provisional order at 3.950 seconds and 286.01 mph. He clicked off the engine early, though, saying Friday, “I knew something was wrong. It showed it has power. But things just break.” By the time he pulled up to the starting line Friday afternoon, Buff was 12th. He stayed there after turning in a 4.108-second run at 223.73 mph.
 
For the unassuming Texan from the Houston-area city of Spring, driving Miller's Don Long-built rail is a bit non-traditional. He said Miller told him in the beginning of their three-year agreement, “This is a test vehicle. We test my rods and pistons. We're never going to win a championship.”

Troy Buff's official opening Top Fuel pass of the season Thursday certainly looked outstanding on paper. It put him and the Bill Miller Engineering/Okuma Dragster fourth in the provisional order at 3.950 seconds and 286.01 mph. He clicked off the engine early, though, saying Friday, “I knew something was wrong. It showed it has power. But things just break.” By the time he pulled up to the starting line Friday afternoon, Buff was 12th. He stayed there after turning in a 4.108-second run at 223.73 mph.
 
For the unassuming Texan from the Houston-area city of Spring, driving Miller's Don Long-built rail is a bit non-traditional. He said Miller told him in the beginning of their three-year agreement, “This is a test vehicle. We test my rods and pistons. We're never going to win a championship.”
 
However, Buff said, “Bill does want to win. Deep down, he wants to win.” Proof, he said, was the team's semifinal appearance at Seattle's Pacific Raceways. The fuel line broke, allowing Tony Schumacher to hobble around him in the wounded U.S. Army Dragster and advance to the final round.
 
Buff takes it all in stride, saying, “I'm so grateful to be here, running 13 races.”
 
He also rolls with the punches, even when a tiny grade-school girl delivers them.
 
At one race, Buff said, he was accommodating a line of fans who were waiting to get his autograph. The small girl let him take his hero card to sign, and as he was doing so, she burst into tears. Buff, startled, tried to figure out what he did to make her cry. Finally she blurted out, pointing at him, “He took my picture!”

Kneeling to speak with her, Buff promised he was planning to give it back after he autographed it. She told him, "I don't want your autograph!" I want the driver's autograph!" He tried to assure her that he indeed was the driver, but she was having none of it. She looked at the picture, then at him, and did that a few times before she convinced herself that Buff really was the driver. She wiped away her tears and smiled happily -- leaving Buff was the one who felt a bit bad, especially with his crew members taunting him for making a little girl cry.