The Scoop
Tim Buhler

McKeefry & Sons Inc.

Posted on: Sunday September 27, 2020

As the 2020 season comes to a close, Greenbush, Wisconsin dirt late model veteran Tim Buhler is just two feature wins shy of hitting 100 career victories.

2021 will mark Buhler’s 30th year of wheeling race cars. Read more about Tim’s career!

When the 2021 racing season rolls around Tim Buhler will be closing in a pair of milestones in his stock car racing career.

As of mid-September, 2020 the Greenbush dirt late model ace is just two feature wins shy of hitting the century mark with 100 total career feature wins. ’21 will also mark the 30th year of stock car racing for the 58-year-old electrical service technician.

The racing bug bit Buhler in the early 1990’s. “I worked for Faith Technologies for 33 years,” Buhler explained. “Two of my co-workers, George Sweere and George Pagel, built a grand national car and Sweere raced it at Chilton. We’d go watch those guys and they put on a really good show at Chilton and I loved the class.”

Pagel encouraged Buhler to join the fun and build his own race car. “Pagel told me you could build one of these race cars for $1,600,” Buhler recalled. “Well it was more than $1,600 when I finished putting it together and we were off racing.”

Buhler had a penchant for being a top qualifier at the tight, quarter-mile dirt bullring located at the Calumet County Fairgrounds. “We did pretty well there at Chilton,” Buhler said. “We got some fast times and almost won the track championship one year. I do remember we broke the track record a few times too. Racing at Chilton is where I got hooked on the sport big time.”

Tim Buhler standing next to his #7 dirt late model
Greenbush’s Tim Buhler is inching closer to a pair of milestones in 2021. The veteran dirt late model racer has 98 career feature wins at the end of September. ’21 will mark Buhler’s 30th season wheeling race cars.

Another draw with the grand national class in its infancy in the early ‘90’s was the pay ratio was excellent compared to what most drivers had stuck in their race cars back then. “I remember one of those Dirt Devil series races the Vercauteren brothers put on there,” Buhler said. “We finished fourth and walked out of there with $1,700. It was a great payout.”

After a couple of years of making left hand turns on Chilton’s oval Buhler opted to run a track only nine miles from his house – Plymouth Dirt Track at the Sheboygan County Fairgrounds. “We ran the sportsman class there in the mid-90’s,” Buhler said. “Looking back on it now the rules didn’t make a lot of sense back then. The cars had a stock stub and ten-inch tires. The cars were on an island big time, but the track was so close and convenient for me back then.”

After a few years of playing in the dirt close to home Buhler spread his wings and built a WISSOTA late model. But the tracks that ran that class were all quite the distance from his home of Greenbush. “For many years we did that three-night-a-week-grind,” Buhler recalled. “Friday night would start out at Antigo at the Langlade County Fairgrounds. Shawano was Saturday nights and we’d finish it up with the Seymour Tri-Oval in Sunday nights.”

One of the awards Buhler snagged was capturing the WISSOTA national rookie-of-the-year crown in 1997.

While it didn’t make sense to drive back home each night Buhler’s would leave their Sheboygan County home on Friday afternoons and not return home ‘til late Sunday night. “It was many years of working on the race car in the parking lot of the fairgrounds,” Buhler said. “We basically lived behind the grandstands. I remember one year when Oshkosh ran Tuesday nights, we’d even run there so it would be four nights a week. Not sure how we were able to pull it off back then but somehow we did.”

Not only did Buhler and his family camp overnight Fridays and Saturdays but they had a loyal trio of brothers who brought their own tent and stayed in it chipping in on Buhler’s pit crew. “Scott, Brett and Cory Bruckner were very loyal crew members who helped us out for a couple of years,” Buhler said. “They’d even come out and help at the shop during the week.”

On a few occasions Buhler took advantage of the WISSOTA sanctioning and instead of going to Mexico or the Bahamas on vacation, Buhler would load the family up and go racing in North Dakota and South Dakota and some WISSOTA sanctioned events. “That was always fun to travel and I do remember winning at Huron, South Dakota one time,” Buhler said. “We did the northern swing for a lot of years and met some great people. We really loved Antigo. The track was so good as were the facilities and the people up there. At it’s peak we’d have 18 to 20 late models some nights.”

Seymour’s Tri-Oval proved to be a tricky one for Buhler to master, as it did for many a driver. “I remember one night we blew a motor Saturday night at Shawano,” Buhler said. “We weren’t gonna run Seymour Sunday night. But that year we were running for WISSOTA national rookie of the year. Pete Parker came up to me and offered me his spare car to race. So the next morning at 10 o clock I went to Pete’s shop and got fitted in his car. I don’t know what Pete had in that thing but when you’d hit that hairpin that thing just launched onto the front straightaway like a rocket! Looking back, I wish I could have taken (the car) home and scaled it!”

Buhler being an electrician by trade helped the track out at Seymour on more than one occasion when the track lights went out. “I remember helping them fix those lights a couple of times,” Buhler said. Antigo and Seymour were tracks Buhler won track championships at. “We won the late model title at Seymour the last year it was the Tri-Oval then won the first year when they reconfigured the track to a regular third-mile. I never got a title at Shawano though.”

As the years went on though the track at Antigo stopped hosting weekly races and Seymour dropped the late models due to sagging car counts. What’s left now on the eastern half of the state are just two tracks that host dirt track racing weekly – Plymouth Dirt Track and Shawano Speedway. The kicker being both tracks host races on the same night – Saturday. “We returned to Plymouth a while back and it’s much better now than it used to be,” Buhler explained. “It’s just too convenient. It used to be pretty rough but what you’d spending fixing from wrecking at Plymouth would be about the same as what you’d spend on diesel fuel traveling north to race. So it was a wash. Throw in the Dirt Kings deal and we still get to some different tracks. I don’t make all of the Dirt Kings shows though. I can’t see driving my semi four and a half hours for a race and then I’ve gotta work on the car too. Some shows are just too far away for me.”

These days Buhler’s short on pit help compared to years ago. “My son Ryan Buhler has his own family now so it’s tough for him to get away and I get that,” Buhler admitted. “My nephew Travis Sanders and Jason “Tiny” Mrotek help me out. Those guys are a big help.”

Buhler switched employers after 33 years at Faith Technologies. “Next Electric of Waukesha is who I work for now and they’ve been great and they are also one of my biggest sponsors,” Buhler explained. “I’ve been able to get more money than I’ve gotten before and they are great to work for. They are located in Waukesha.” Other sponsors who help with Buhler’s racing effort include Lucas Oil, Waldo Hempworks of Plymouth, Nennig Enterprises and P.M.F. Landscaping of West Bend.

While the cost of racing in general continues to soar, Buhler offers suggestions for keeping the late model division strong. “A lot of people are gonna wanna shoot me for saying this, but I honestly think we should embrace that 525-crate motor,” Buhler suggested. “What we’re spending on motors to go late model racing now is beyond crazy. Guys are spending $10,000 just to refresh their open motors. It’s insane. The other thing that would really help would be putting us on a harder tire. That would take that big motor out of it right away. The shocks are expensive too. If you went to that crate deal as an option people would dump these open motors. Most of the tracks are dry all the time anyways. That’s my take anyways.”

At 58, Buhler says if he does continue racing after he hits his 100th career feature win it will likely not be in a late model. “These late models are just too expensive,” Buhler admitted. “I’d have to run a different class. But this sport gets in your blood. I’ve had some friends who’ve passed away, so I feel blessed to be able to keep doing this. I have no regrets, but I’ve sure pissed away a lot of money over the years on racing.”

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