David Reutimann has persevered to be the top rookie in the truck series.
By BRANT JAMES
Published August 6, 2004
INDIANAPOLIS - It was career over. Done. Back to the dirt tracks on Friday nights.
David Reutimann's NASCAR career had by all appearances ended with an anticlimactic thump, inaudible under the din of screaming engines in the spartan garage at Indianapolis Motor Speedway last August.
An ill-handling car prepared by an inexperienced Morgan-McClure team had just failed to qualify for the Brickyard 400, fourth-worst of 52 hopefuls and overheating after one lap. It was a disappointing setback for a team that would regroup to try again. As the crew began pushing the bright yellow Pontiac toward the team hauler for a limp out of the speedway, the despondent driver vanished in the bustle.
It was more than a setback for Reutimann, whose NASCAR prospects for the rest of the season and beyond were down to one Busch race. It was crushing. This first attempt to qualify for a race in NASCAR's top series could very well have been his last.
"I literally didn't have any prospects when it came right down to it," said Reutimann, who grew up in Zephyrhills. "I felt like making that Cup race would have been a big boost to my career, and when we didn't make it, man, we didn't know what direction we were gonna go in."
It could have been south to East Bay and the All-Pro circuit. It could have been to fabrication shops where he could stay close enough to racing to constantly remember how close he came. But in a few months his direction reversed back to the big time, and these days thoughts of Indianapolis don't hurt so much.
His career salvaged by a seized moment and a kind word, Reutimann enters the NASCAR truck series race tonight at Indianapolis Raceway Park 14th in points, and at age 34, the top rookie. He can't talk fast enough to express how lucky he considers himself.
"It's 180 degrees a different deal," Reutimann said of his status as the driver of Darrell Waltrip Racing's No. 17 Toyota. "When we were at Indy last time we did not have a full-time deal and that's not a good feeling to have or a good situation to be in. I knew I was going to keep racing, but I didn't know if I was going to be back running All-Pro cars or what. There were a lot of nights I didnt sleep well at all."
But he woke up and went to work in Joe Nemecheck's Busch Series shop at Nemco Motorsports, helped to build cars and hoped the team could expand on the seven-race Busch schedule he raced that summer. Some dim prospects were being worked on to get him a full-time ride with Nemco. His two top-fives and three top-10s helped, but his NASCAR career was in jeopardy of ending in the shop. Reutimann said he never considered quitting. He had no choice.
"I've never done anything else," said Reutimann, who grew up working on his cars with his father, "Buzzie," a legendary short-track racer. "I always raced for a living. There were a lot of things on my mind but quitting wasn't one of them. I thought we would have some more opportunities because I thought we ran too well in the Busch Series and maybe somebody would notice us. People were telling me to hang in there. But then again, when you're in that position, when people are talking, you're not always hearing."
Everyone heard Reutimann very clearly in October at a Memphis Busch Series race. Defending series champion Greg Biffle, who was running a full Cup and partial Busch schedule, had commitments with Roush Racing's No. 16 Ford at Martinsville and asked Reutimann to practice and qualify the Busch car. A potential sponsorship deal to put Reutimann into a Nemco car full time had just collapsed. Reutimann won the pole, and took advantage of a subsequent television interview to mention he did not have a full-time ride for the 2004 season.
"I think everyone thought I was under contract with Nemco for a full-time job," he said. "The next day, I was just hanging out because Biffle was going to race the car and three or four people from Busch teams came up and got my phone number and talked a little bit. I had some more interesting calls and it was that Tuesday when I got the call from Darrell Waltrip."
Waltrip, a three-time Winston Cup champion who was forming one of Toyota's first-year truck series teams, didn't know who Reutimann was until Waltrip's younger brother, Michael, a Cup driver and owner of a Busch team, suggested he take a look at this guy who had battled him hard several times that season.
"I didn't know Michael personally at all," Reutimann said, "so it kind of surprised me one time when he came up to me in a drivers' introduction and said, "You're looking good.' You never know when people are noticing you."
Reutimann put off Darrell Waltrip as he waited for Nemechek to pull a Busch deal together, even as Toyota pressed to name its driver lineup at the final race of the season in November at Homestead.
"We held off and held off because if they had something going in the Busch Series we didn't want to interfere," Darrell Waltrip said. "But when it fell through, man, it worked out just perfect."
Nemechek finally told his fellow Floridian he appreciated his loyalty but it was time to make a move.
"I was definitely disappointed," Nemechek said. "But David needed to race."
With two top-fives, six top-10s and the only pole by a Toyota driver, he has validated Waltrip's trust. Today during qualifying and the race, Reutimann won't be worried about finding a place but finding his way to a new level in his career.
"I'm with a good team and have a full-time deal and we've run good at times, but we're not happy," he said. "We need to get this rookie deal over with and get some races under our belt and get some momentum next year."
