It's time again for another Buckeroo Newsletter.  Now that the racing season
has begun, we will be working towards a monthly newsletter to keep you up to
date.  I'll be posting an on line version to the Autorace list among others
that have subscribed on-line.  

Background

The Buckley Race Team (Buckeroo Crew) is in its third year of competition on
the ARCA Super Car Series.  This newsletter, published monthly (bi-monthly
during the off season) covers the activities of the preparation and racing of
the Enterprise Technical Services sponsored Pontiac on the ARCA series.
Sponsor inquiries, team information, etc., can be acquired by contacting Mike
Buckley at:
                     Buckley Racing LC
                     424 Hollister
                     Ann Arbor, MI  48103
                     313-741-9605
                     E-mail:  Arcamike@AOL.com
                     Web Page:  http://www.fdt.net/~crest/buckley.htm

Team News

Jeff traveled with the Keselowski Supertruck team to Homestead for the truck
opener.  Bob was running well during the first half of the race and was up to
seventh place when the motor failed just before half-time.  Jeff and Mike
traveled out to the K-Automotive shop after their return and saw the motor.
A piston went through the side of the wall and broke out a big piece of the
lifter valley.
The team will be traveling to Pensacola, adding that race to our posted
schedule.  The speedway car will not be complete for Charlotte, so we are
trying to pick up all the available dates to keep us up in the ARCA points
battle.  There seem to be few teams running for series points this season.
The Pensacola race was moved from Friday to Saturday May 4th, which helps us
get all the way down there without missing too much work.
We are saddened to learn that ARCA president, Bob Loga, was fatally injured
at Talladega in a passenger car as he was leaving the speedway, Friday, April
26.  Many people do not realize how much Bob does at a Supercar race in the
way of organization and actual race coordination.   He has always been fair
and encouraged our team.  He will be missed.  Funeral services are scheduled
for May 1.

Shop News

March and most of April saw the preparation of the speedway car body as well
as engine and chassis preparation of the short track car for the first race
April 20.
The speedway car came back from Al Spitza during the first week of March.
The short track car was tightly covered as we went to work making lots of
bondo dust  in getting the speedway body ready for paint.  We needed to get
the body work done right away because the motor had not yet been returned for
the short track car.  We had to get the body work done and get the shop
cleaned up before motor building activities took place.  About two and a half
weeks later, and we had a good handle on the speedway body.  It is now in a
good coat of primer.

Late in March, we took the short track car to the Sandusky, OH mall for a
race car show.  It was supplied with a decal for the Toledo ARCA 150 and was
placed with the Toledo speedway display.


Our motor pieces came back from the machine shop during the first week of
April.  We needed a new block which was prepped for use with our rotating
assembly.  We then assembled the motor and installed in the short track car.
We then used a test session at the Flat Rock Speedway (about an hour from Ann
Arbor) to shake down the motor and chassis.  The motor ran fine, in fact the
best since we've owned it.  We were then ready to make the trip to Salem.

After the Salem event (see Salem Race report below), the car was in need of
major repair of the right side sheet metal.  The bondo crew was back in force
spreading that blasted powder all over the shop again.  The car is now been
repainted on the right side and is prepared for Pensacola.  A gallon of bondo
and a lot of man hours later, it again looks like a race car.

The speedway car has now been on hold since the 1st week of April due to lack
of time and funds.  We have now acquired all of the suspension parts
necessary for the chassis.  We are currently missing the fuel system (cell,
break, etc.), the fire system, and of course the motor.  Plans for a second
motor fell through after paying off the machine shop for the short track
motor pieces.  After the Louisville race in May, we should have some time to
get back to work on the speedway car.  We still intend on fielding the car at
the Michigan race.

The Salem Race Report - April 20

Well, our Salem adventure started off with an exciting trip to southern
Indiana during some thunderstorms that turned into high winds and tornadoes.
What was normally a seven hour trip took us nearly eleven.  Didn't think that
Salem was going to pull off the event after seeing the infield under water
and pit road flooded when we got up in the morning.  But the track crew went
to work and the sun came out.

Hoosier brought a new tire to Salem (the junk they ran at Winchester last
year) and it was apparent that nobody liked the new compound.  They weren't
real good new and then got very hard and slick as they wore.  Practice was
short.  We didn't want to burn down a set of tires in practice, our car was
slow and was pushing in the entry and loose off the exit.  Qualified 22 of
28.

At the start of the race the car was immediately loose to the point of dirt
tracking the corner exits.  Topping that off, it wouldn't get in either.  We
avoided the first caution for a car spinning in the back stretch.  When we
went to pit, Dave Simko's pit was on fire from spilled fuel.  It was put out,
but his car continued on the track and then caught fire while the fire crew
was busy in his pit.  We finally got to pit road, added gas and turned on the
wedge bar.  Our dry break stuck open during the fuel stop, but luckily didn't
hurt anything.

Shortly after the restart, a car blew a motor down the front stretch going
into turn one.  Eric Smith hit the oil and couldn't turn the car at the
corner slamming hard into the outside wall.  Several other cars behind him
were spinning in the oil.  I was then at the start line and began to slow up
and hit the brakes.  The rear end began to turn in the oil and clipped the
wall sending the right side of the car into the wall.  I flattened the right
side sheet metal into the tires and we had to change right side tires.  The
toe was not right and the rear end had been knocked out of alignment, but we
continued.  We hadn't planned on changing tires until 1/2 way. The wreck was
around lap 55 of a 200 lap race.  The right side we put on had the practice
laps on them and they didn't last long before they were hockey pucks. To make
matters worse, Hoosier was now out of tires and we bought the last one on the
truck and had to mount up a used tire from Tim Steel's car for a right rear.

Our next pit stops were a comedy of errors.  The car almost came off the jack
because as I was holding in the clutch, the slave cylinder began to bleed
down and the car began to move.  The right side tires were being changed and
the tire changer  (Scott S.)was having problems with the gun.  The gas man
(Lee) was late getting the can into the car and when the tire changer was
done the jack man (Scott M.)let down, however the gas man was still in the
nozzle.  I took off, the gas can now dragging down pit road knocking Lee
down.  Only got about three pit stalls away before everyone on pit road was
screaming, and Lee yelling "stop" over the radio.  The can was removed and we
continued.  We need to work on our communication setup.  Not everyone has a
radio and we hadn't worked on full fledged pit stops before this point.
Considering our inexperience and all the equipment problems we were having,
our pit crew did a fine job.  

We continued on, slow compared to leaders and raced with who we could and
lapped others that were slower than us.  Got rapped in the tail pretty hard
by the eventual race winner and was sandwiched by two cars late in the race
which finished off the right side sheet metal.  The car was pretty horrible
the last twenty laps, but we finished.  Fifteenth, eighteen laps down.

Sponsorship News

As were are now working on our second race of the new season, we have decided
to advertise our sponsorship services on a race by race basis as we continue
to look for a primary sponsor for 1996 and begin planning for 1997.

Races upcoming in May are located at Pensacola on the 4th, Louisville on the
11th,  and Kil-Kare on the 31st.  The first day of June will bring us back to
the Flat Rock Speedway.  Associate sponsorship packages for any of these
dates begin at $200 per race.  Primary sponsorships are available and are
priced to cover our expenses for each race and range between $6600 for
Pensacola to $2900 for Flat Rock.  Please contact us if you at all
interested.

The Buckeroo Crew

Member
Member Role
Occupation

Mike Buckley 
Driver / Team Owner
Electrical Control Engineer

Julie Buckley 
Team owner / Official ARCA Car Owner
Software Development Engineer

Lee Mohr 
Crew Chief / Gas Man
Info. Systems Manager, Edwards Brothers

Jeff Keller 
Team Manager / Spotter
Press Operator, Edwards Brothers

Scott Spears 
Tire Changer
Maintenance Mechanic, Edwards Brothers

Scott Mowrey 
Jack Man
Salesman, ABC Supply Company

Howard Perkins 
Tire Changer 
Development Engineer, GM Tech Center

Ross Kuba 
Tire Carrier
Student, Washtenaw Community College

Christy Borton       
Team Scorer
Nurse,  Toledo Hospital

Table 1 .  ARCA Schedule (# - indicates Buckley Racing Scheduled events)

Date 
Facility
Length
Laps or Kilometers

5-3
Five Flags Speedway, Pennsacola, FL
.5 mile
200 L

5-11 #
Louisville Motor Speedway
.4375 mile
200 L

5-18 
Charlotte Motor Speedway
1.5 miles
100M

5-22 
Charlotte Motor Speedway
1.5 miles
400K

5-31 #
Kil Kare Speedway, Xenia, OH
.375 mile
150 L

6-1  #
Flat Rock Speedway, Flat Rock, MI
.250 mile
150 L

6-15
Pocono Int'l, Long Pond, PA
2.5 miles
400K

6-22 #
Michigan Int'l, Brooklyn MI
2.0 miles
200 M

7-6  #
Flat Rock Speedway
.250 mile
150 L

7-7  #
Toledo Speedway, Toledo, OH
.5 mile
150L

7-14 #
Syracuse GP, Syracuse, NY
1.8 mile RC
200 K

7-20
Pocono Int'l, Long Pond, PA
2.5 miles
400K

7-27 #
Michigan Int'l, Brooklyn MI
2.0 miles
200M

7-31 #
Indianapolis Fairgrounds, Indy
1.0 mile dirt
100M

8-3  #
Flag City Speedway, Findlay, OH
.5 mile dirt
150 L

8-10 #
Shady Bowl Speedway, DeGraff, OH
.375 mile
150 L

8-18 #
Illinois State Fairgrounds, Springfield, IL
1.0 mile dirt
100M

9-1  #
DuQuoin State Fairgrounds, DuQuoin, IL
1.0 mile dirt
250 K

9-6  #
Kil Kare Speedway, Xenia, OH
.375 mile
150 L

9-22 #
Salem Speedway, Salem, IN
.5 mile
200 L

9-28 #
Winchester Speedway, Winchester, IN
.5 mile
200 L

10-2
Charlotte Motor Speedway, Charlotte
1.5 miles
400 K

11-9 #
Atlanta Motor Speedway, Hampton,GA 
1.5 miles
500 K


Mike Buckley
ARCA #48
http://www.fdt.net/~crest/buckley.htm





Buckeroo News  -  Jan/Feb 1996





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