Eventful Homecoming to Peach State Speedway

JEFFERSON, GA (April 10, 2006) – Brett Butler and Ken Butler III were excited about the return of the USAR Hooters Pro Cup Series to their home track. It had been nearly a year since KBIII had made a start on the half-mile, high-banked track and the first time ever for Brett.

Then came the rain.

A wet weekend was forecast for much of the southeast on Saturday, including Jefferson, GA, where Peach State Speedway is located. In the end, the race was able to get underway, but the drivers were faced with a shortened practice and a “green” racetrack.

The rain did not deter either of the Butler Brothers during qualifying, as both of the Aaron’s Dream Machines started in the top 20 of the field, including KBIII’s impressive eighth-place qualifying run in the #00. However, the 250-lap race had 16 cautions and did not end up being the homecoming that either Butler had hoped for. Brett led the way with a respectable 22nd-place finish. KBIII finished just a couple of spots behind in 24th.

The race started good for both KBIII and Brett. Soon after, the lack of practice time to adjust the car began to take its toll as KBIII was faced with an ill-handling car and he was forced to bring the #00 Aaron’s Dream Machine to the pits on lap 27 for an adjustment.

The team continued to work on the car and was beginning to work their way up toward the front when, on lap 116, KBIII was involved in an on-track incident with the #30 of Bill Manfull.

“Everything that could’ve gone wrong did go wrong,” said KBIII. “I had a left-rear tire go down and the whole car was just chattering early in the race. Then, late in the race, Brett was running with a pack of other cars and somebody shot up right by me and we all stacked up and Brett and I spun out. It was just one of those nights.”

Brett’s race started off in a similar fashion as his brother’s.

“What put us down was when we got spun out around lap 30 or so and they didn’t bring out the caution,” said Brett. “We had a fast racecar and we worked back up, but things just went downhill from there.

“We had a pretty fast racecar; I just think that this team deserves a better finish than that. The #99 Aaron’s Dream Machine was running good all night. I swear it seems like everyone’s out to get us out there. Maybe they don’t know how to pass, I don’t know. Every week we get spun out and I’m getting sick of it. But you’ll have that in auto racing.”

While neither of the Butler brothers brought home the finishes that the Aaron’s Dream Machines were capable of, the weekend proved to be a good learning experience for both. In a night filled with 16 cautions, even more important was the fact that cars were brought home in one piece.

KBIII will be in action next on April 22nd at Lonesome Pine International Raceway with the USAR Hooters Pro Cup Northern Division. Brett Butler will be back to racing when the USAR Hooters Pro Cup Series Southern Division comes to Concord Motorsport Park on April 29th.