NHRA PRO STOCK CLASS’ ‘RETIRING’ STARS’ STILL WILL SHINE BRIGHTLY

by Susan Wade; Photos courtesy of Mike Burghardt, Robert Grice, Michael Hiner, Scott Woodruff    Tue, 2020-11-03 15:12

Bo Butner pressed his thumb and index finger together.

That signified what the 2017 Pro Stock champion – who raced last weekend in a Camaro decked out in the style of the Presidential airplane and dubbed “Bo Force One” – plans to do next year.

“Zero,” he said. “Zero plans. I have nothing planned whatsoever. Did this long enough to where I just want no schedule and I want to go where I want, when I want.

“I might be in the Pro Stock car every now and again. I might be in a Pro Mod car. Definitely bracket races. But right now, I have zero plans other than go home and enjoy life for a while,” Butner said

Chip Lofton and Mark Beaver have tried to gauge Butner’s interest in competing in their Pro Stock car for maybe as many as eight races. But Butner said, “I haven't told them no, but again, I have to really see if that fits in my schedule of doing nothing, if that makes sense.”

Maybe he won’t be doing anything in the Pro Stock class, but Butner has plenty to keep him busy, both in and out of drag racing.

“I opened up a couple more dealerships at home,” he said of his Jim Butner Auto property. “Really, they're all like in one line, like four blocks, so I'm concentrating on getting back into that because I enjoy it and we're blessed to have a great business, but it’s going to be better. Usually whatever we do, I jump in with two feet.”

He laughed at the notion his company will be like Starbucks, with a Jim Butner Auto on every corner. “We might – just in Clarksville, Indiana,” he said.

But as for concrete 2021 plans, he said, “Right now, zero plans.

“Don’t get me wrong. I’ve had fun. And again, I won the championship. I won plenty of races. I can't complain. I’m with the best team, KB Racing. Ken and Judy have been like family members to me. So they treat me like family. I have a lot of respect for those guys,” Butner said.

His teammate, three-time champion Jason Line, also bid good-bye to Pro Stock racing as the class’ year-long 50th birthday celebration closed at the Dodge National at Las Vegas last Sunday.

So did Jeg Coughlin Jr., winner of 65 Pro Stock races, 19 trophies in a total of seven different sportsman classes, five Pro Stock championships, and one Super Gas title.

“We’ve had a good time out here racing NHRA Pro Stock in particular. I’ve always enjoyed the challenges of the day, of the event, and of the year. To do as well as we have, win the races we have, win the championships we have has been nothing short of phenomenal. We’ll step away with pride. We’ve got a lot of great friends and fans out there.” 

Like Line, his career ended on a first-round holeshot loss.

But unlike Line, Coughlin said, “I’m sure we’ll tiptoe back in and out here and there.” (After all, he had called this season “a final hurrah in many respects.")

Line had predicted that: “I think he was late out of the gate – I announced my retirement first. I’m sure he'll be back. It's not a dig on him at all, but he's quit before.” Same for Butner.

Line is sure of something else: He, himself, won’t be back behind the wheel in NHRA competition.

Just to be clear, Line expressed it in no uncertain terms, in three ways:

“This is going to be my last ride in a Pro Stock car.”

“I won't miss driving a Pro Stock car.”

“I'm definitely not coming back.”

To prove he has dug his heels in and is satisfied completely with his decision, he said, “Tie me and a mule together – after three days the mule will give up.”

But he and Butner and KB Racing tuner (and fellow former Pro Stock racer) Dave Connolly are teaming to promote their own high-stakes Stock / Super Stock race, because “that's what we grew up doing, Stock and Super Stock,” Butner said).

While the NHRA Pro Stock class still will shine with the fresh faces of Troy Coughlin Jr., Kyle Koretsky, Mason McGaha, Aaron Stanfield, brothers Cristian and David Cuadra, Robert River, and Bruno Massel, the “retirees” are going to be busy and visible.

They’re hoping to host their independent race in “the middle of the year,” as early as May 2021. They haven’t settled on a venue yet. But they know the incentive will be attractive, Butner said: “I think it'll be big, like a couple $25,000-to-win per day for these Stock / Super Stock guys. Look how many are out here racing for $1500, and they're just not treated. But we want them to have a good time, know that we respect them. Hell, we are them. So we want to get that out and that's about 50/50 of happening right now, but I believe it's going to happen.”

He said, “The three of us are going to be racing. It’s just not going to be in Pro Stock. We're going to pay these guys like these big bracket races you see, because that's our people. We want to show that these old-school Stock and Super Stock guys that’s where I started, in a low class and worked my way up to the professional ranks. That's the way it used to be.

“We definitely want it to be all about the racer. We want to treat them good,” Butner said. “We're not doing it to make a penny. We're doing it to show them that there are other options, maybe [than the NHRA]. We're all three excited about that.”

They haven’t acquired a sponsor for the planned event. Butner said, “I think we're all going to do it ourselves – and we might lose money. We never know, but we don't care right now. We just want to know that we're not going away from racing, none of us.”

Butner said the NHRA has struggled during the past few years because it has lost sight of who its customers are and how to offer them value.

“NHRA in my eyes, have gotten into putting all their eggs in Top Fuel money. That's all anybody wants to see is nitro Funny Car. So if you push that, push that, push that, people believe that,” he said. “We have a lot of Pro Stock fans. The bikes have a lot of fans. People love Pro Mod. They come to see all of it, but we're losing our root customer.”

Referring to Richard Freeman’s remarks he shared through an industry magazine before the season finale, Butner said, “’They don't know their own customer.’ I've been stating that for four years. You have to know your customer as a fan or a racer and you need to treat your customer great. And I don't feel like they treated the racer maybe the way they should. The sponsors I know, from what I hear, it hasn't been the prettiest deal. But luckily, they popped up and got another sponsor. It's great.

“When you look at it, in my eyes, it's you get a lot for your money. I'd never known what it costs to have the whole deal [NHRA pro series sponsorship that Camping World signed on for last month]. When you think about that money and what they get, that’s cheap. I figured it’d be over $10 million and it wasn’t even half that. You get a lot for your money. But again, it doesn't matter if it's not handled right.”

Butner was quick to say he wasn’t interested in stepping in and sponsoring the NHRA pro series: “I don't want to lose money.”

He said, “If you get the right minds and you treated these people right . . . I have nothing to offer these people but say hi to them or show them my Trump stuff, but they all love it, and I try to talk to everyone, just like I do at my dealership. Everybody should be spoken to and treated right. Everybody has a product - you have to offer service.

“Right now, he said, “we have nothing to sell anybody. I mean, we're not on TV. If you’re on TV, you might be in the final for two and a half minutes. But we really have nothing to sell, other than the one-on-one with the fans. And unfortunately, big business wants to see themselves on TV. That’s going to have to change for this sport, in my eyes.

“People complain about the purse money and don't get me wrong, we're not here for that money, but it does help with your rooms, food, and all that stuff. They need to get a deal going,” Butner said. “They have no competition, so they have the opportunity to make it awesome.”

The NHRA has the chance to make its sport awesome, even without Bo Butner, Jeg Coughlin, and Jason Line in the line-up at every race.

 

 

 

 

 
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