Looking for an innovative way to market your business in 2012? Look no further than partnering with Budzo Racing during the 2012 race season!

Our racing team can offer much more for your business than just a sticker slapped on our IMCA northern sportmod. Our team is focused on maximizing the possible exposure for our marketing partners in 2012 and beyond.

The team is very active on the top 3 social media outlets (Facebook, YouTube and Twitter), as well as keeping the fans updated through our website, www.budzoracing.com.

The addition of a GoPro HD Motorsports Hero camera allowed for a unique perspective during the 2011 season, as fans were able to “ride along” with Chris in his races, while he was able to re-live those races and take notes to better his ability on the track. Our videos have tallied over 6,400 views 7 months!

Additional media exposure also surrounded the team the past few years. Starting in 2010, our car won the “Best Appearing” award in the sportmod division at Luxemburg Speedway‘s annual car show. The car was also featured in IMCA‘s national publication, Inside IMCA, as one of the best appearing cars in the country.

Chris was also featured in the local Green Bay Press-Gazette, with a half page article detailing how he got into racing, and what his goals were in the future. In 2011, the car was picked to appear in QA1 Motorsports‘s 2012 Circle Track product catalog.

Our plan in 2012 is to race a full season at Luxemburg Speedway, with stops at Thunderhill Raceway, Seymour Speedway and 141 Speedway along the way. The team also plans on making their debut at Shawano Speedway, when the WoO Late Models return on August 1st.

Please review our proposal and see how we can help promote your business in 2012. Remember to visit us on the web at budzoracing.com, on Facebook at facebook.com/budzoracing, on YouTube at youtube.com/budzoracing and on Twitter at twitter.com/budzoracing.

Want a new and innovative way to market your business in 2012? Our team is looking for a sponsor to market their business through the use of our GoPro HD in-car videos.

What’s All Included?

Your business’s logo will be overlaid onto all of our in-car videos in 2012 (as shown above). The logo will remain overlaid for the entire duration of the video.

Your logo will also be featured on our website, driver autograph cards, stickers and any other promotional items our team has available. You will also receive DVD copies featuring all of the 2012 videos at the conclusion of the season.

So far our videos have totaled over 6,000 user views from May through October of this year. That’s just over 1,000 video views per month!

What’s the Cost?

We are seeking $300 for this particular advertising opportunity. The money received will be used to upgrade our current GoPro HD Motorsports Hero camera to the all-new GoPro HD Hero2: Motorsports Edition camera.

The HD Hero2 camera features a lens that is 2X sharper than the original, improved low-light recording and the ability to stream video through Wi-Fi.

We hope to be able to give a dual-camera perspective to the fans as well, using both the new HD Hero2 camera as well as the original HD Motorsports Hero model.

If you or your business is interested in this unique marketing opportunity, please contact Chris Budzban by phone at (920) 366-0381 or by E-mail at chris@budzodesigns.com. To check out all of our videos from the 2011 season, click on the Videos link on the website or visit youtube.com/budzoracing. You can also follow Budzo Racing on Facebook at facebook.com/budzoracing and on Twitter at twitter.com/budzoracing.

If you would like to inquire about sponsoring our race team, please contact Chris Budzban at (920) 366-0381 or by e-mail at chris@budzodesigns.com.

In what would prove to be our final race of the 2011 season, we headed out to Seymour Speedway for their Fall Classic special. The track was pretty much locked down from the opening heat races, taking on rubber and becoming a one lane track on the bottom.

The track conditions made for some pretty uneventful races, but we wanted to see how the car would react on the dryslick having struggled the final few weeks of the season. We left our heat race setup in the car, and while it wasn’t terrible, I didn’t quite have enough traction to hang on the outside. I dropped to 6th with a few laps remaining, and narrowly missed recapturing 5th at the checkers.

That finish would put me on the pole for the semi-feature, and I took the early lead off the start. However, a caution would force a complete restart, and this time Jake Solin got the jump to the head of the field. I settled into 2nd place, and after a few more caution flags flew, I found myself sitting in the 3rd position. It seemed like forever racing single file on the bottom of the track, and finally the checkers flew and I transferred into the feature.

Starting 18th in the feature, I was waiting for the bottom groove to open up to make my move, but was unfortunately in the wrong place at the wrong time as Joey Taycher suffered mechanical issues right in front of me.

After finally getting around Taycher, I was back about a full straightaway from the rest of the field. It only took me about 3 laps to rejoin the pack, which made me very happy with how the car was working on a surface we had been struggling with. I did get caught up in the only wreck of the race, and did have a little bit of front end issues from it. At the checkers I was fighting to grab the 15th spot, but Russel Franks broke coming off of turn 4, so I had to check up and ended up 17th.

With the 2011 season concluding for us, we will be tearing the car down and prepping for next season. The chassis needs a little TLC from the early wreck in June, but other than that we will be checking over suspension parts and getting everything cleaned up for 2012. Thanks to my 2011 sponsors for your support this season, and to all the fans who congratulated me on a very successful 2nd season in the IMCA sportmod division. See you at the track in 2012!

This past weekend was the Fall Classic at Luxemburg Speedway, which was a 2-day event on Friday and Saturday night. I drew right in the middle for my heat race starting position, and we didn’t hit the track until after 9pm for our heat race. By then, most of the track surface had dried out. I started 5th in the heat race, and tangled a bit with Brandon Long, clashing front rims and sending me towards the tail of the field.

I fell back to 8th, and then decided to try my luck on the outside of the track. It took a few laps to find the right line I wanted to run, but from then on the car was hooked. I tracked down Long, Chad Kaminski, Ryan LeMieux and finally Mark Joski to vault myself back into a 4th place finishing position.

Unfortunately for me, they were taking the top 3 cars to the feature on Saturday night, so that meant a last chance qualifier race was in order early Saturday night. Because of my heat race finish, I started on the pole for the last chance race. I immediately knew the bottom groove didn’t have much bite left, and set sail for the high side much like the previous night. I was running comfortably in 2nd position, when a yellow flag flew, putting me back on the bottom for the restart. I was able to find my way back up top and settled into the 4th place position on the restart, and that’s where I ended up finishing.

With that finish, I would start 19th of 22 in the feature. We experimented with our setup once again, figuring it would either work great or not work at all. Much to my dismay, it was the latter of the two outcomes, as I couldn’t get the car to go forward anywhere on the racing surface. I could see the leaders closing in on me in the next few laps, so I decided to head to the pits and end my night.

That wraps up the season at Luxemburg Speedway, where I picked up 2 heat race wins along with a semi-feature win in 2011. I picked up two top-10 feature finishes, one of which was a top-4 finish. All-in-all it was a very good season at the track, and I look forward to next season with a full year of driving this car under my belt.

Our final race of the season will be at Seymour Speedway on October 1st. After that, the car will be disassembled for maintenance checks and cleaning, then we’ll get it ready for the 2012 season.

You can find the suit at the following link, all you have to do is click on the “Like” button to vote! Vote for Budzo’s Driver Suit

Thanks to all who vote, and you’ll all be entered to win a FREE T-shirt or DVD of my in-car videos after all the votes are tallied.

It was another up and down weekend for us (or down and up, however you look at it) this holiday weekend on the racetrack. With Friday night’s action at Luxemburg Speedway canceled due to rain showers, our plans changed and we headed up to Thunderhill Raceway on Saturday night.

I started outside pole for my heat race, and quickly took the lead over Keith Peterson on lap 1. The track was very heavy with the on and off rain showers that persisted throughout the early evening hours falling on the surface. We set the car up to dig as much into the track as it could, and it was paying off. I bounced through the ruts in turns 3 & 4 and lost some of my lead over Brad Lautenbach, and he was able to reel me in on lap 6. I went on to finish 2nd, giving me a 2nd row starting spot in the feature.

When the green flag dropped for our feature, I got the short end of the stick, as the outside polesitter did not get on the gas in the early going. I tried to make the pass to his outside, but couldn’t make the move quickly enough and watched 6 cars go past to my inside. By the time I actually got back into the racing groove, it would have taken a valiant effort to get back into the top 5, putting a lot of abuse on my equipment. I chose to head to the pits about 5 laps in, which might have saved me from being involved in a melee about 3 laps after I pulled in.

Mother Nature didn’t want to play nice on Sunday afternoon as well, as we made the trip to Seymour Speedway for the 3rd time this season. The show was paying extra money, and brought in a boatload of cars (158 at final count). We waited out the rain showers, and had to pack the racing surface back in for about an hour. The end result was a very fast track for all the heat races, and that carried into the features as well.

I drew a 12 out of the bucket, putting me on the pole for the 3rd heat race of 4. I got off to a shaky start, as I started too low in turn 4 in a patch of clay that was still slimy. I recovered from that early mishap to finish 3rd, transferring me to the feature.

My redraw chip put me on the outside pole for the feature, and it took us three tries to get a lap in. All three starts I took the lead on the outside groove, and pulled out to a nice lead in the early going. A caution bunched up the field, and I lost the lead on lap 9 to Eric Mahlik. I kept my car near the top groove throughout the race, but the track started to slick up just enough to make my car a little bit loose through the corners. One more restart put me on the inside, and I was able to secure an 8th place finish, which is my highest feature finish at the track.

We will be taking the upcoming weekend off from racing, and returning to action on September 16th & 17th for Luxemburg’s Fall Classic special. After that, we will finish out the 2011 season at Seymour on October 1st.

This past Friday night I was on my own at Luxemburg Speedway for the 2nd to last points night of the season. I started my heat race on the outside pole, and clearly the inside line was the place to be. The hotlaps from the late models had packed in a nice groove on the inside, making it very fast. I tried to get around race leader Chris Christensen, but was unable to find a way around him in the early going. A caution flag flew, and I was stuck on the outside once again, and fell back to a 6th place finish.

The top 3 in the semi-feature would make the show, and unfortunately my race featured 3 feature winners (Eric Arneson, Tyler Hackett and Eric Mahlik) making it that much more difficult to find my way to the front. I could tell I was lacking a little bit of bite, as my rear tires are probably past due for a change. I came away with a 6th place finish, putting an early end to my night.

Though I did not make the feature, it was another night of being able to load the car on the trailer without having to fix broken parts during the upcoming week. We will be back at Luxemburg next Friday night for the final points night of the season, and then our plans are to head out to Seymour Speedway on Sunday night for their final leg of the Summer Holiday Classic.

This past weekend of racing featured both the highs and lows of racing once again. On Friday night at Luxemburg Speedway, I started on the inside of row 2 for my heat race, but was moved up to the front row after polesitter Jason Cornelius had lost a spring. On the restart, I was able to clear Jessi Ness into turn 1, and then set my sights on the high side of the track as I did the week prior.

I started to pull away, but a caution bunched the field back up. Jesse Brey tried to get by me on the inside, but my momentum on top was too much, and I went on to victory for the 2nd week in a row.

I would start the feature on the outside pole, and from the drop of the green I knew I was in trouble. My tires started to spin and I was battling a car that was tight on entry and loose on the throttle. I was hanging on as long as I could to a top 10 spot, but got caught in the middle and fell back to a 15th place finish. We can attribute that to a setup adjustment that was not successful.

On Saturday night we decided to head up to Thunderhill Raceway in Sturgeon Bay. Since I haven’t been there in a few weeks, I had to start at the rear of the field for the heat race. The track was sloppy and had a lot of bite, making it difficult to make a pass. I moved up 2 spots to finish 8th.

I would start 15th of 17 on the grid for the feature, and had a car that was working very well on the bottom. With the track conditions the way they were, it was hard to make a move because it was hard to hold a line around the track from the middle to the top of the track. I would have been happy to finish without incident, but Steve Georgenson spun in turn 2 and I smashed the right front of my car into him. He stayed in the throttle and jumped over my tire onto the side of my hood.

Luckily the caution flag flew, and I was able to go down pit lane to get a new wheel on the right front. With the impact, my car was massively toed out, making corner entry a real difficulty. I was able to get by a few cars after returning to the track, coming home with a 9th place finish on the night.

Next week we’ll be back at Luxemburg Speedway, and as it stands right now that will be our only night of racing next weekend.

In other news, my photo was selected to be in the 2012 product catalogs for QA1 Motorsports! I had received word on Monday that my photo was picked, and so were the photos of fellow WI drivers Nate Michonski and Kurt Moeller. Thank you to all who voted!

This past Friday night (8/12) at Luxemburg Speedway was a night to remember for all the right reasons. Things got off on the right foot as I took off from my front row starting spot in the heat race and led every lap on my way to victory. The win was my very 1st heat race victory of my career, as I had picked up a semi-feature win earlier in the season.

We took some notes during the past few weeks on how to get faster in the feature, and that time spent definitely paid off. With the adjustments we made, I ran right with race leader Tyler Hackett for the first half of the feature. Hackett ran the high line, while I was running right through the middle of the track. I had a close call when I nearly spun myself out coming off of turn 4, but quickly regathered myself to continue running 2nd.

I held my line throughout the race, and with about 5 laps to go Troy Jerovetz was able to use the bottom groove to get past me. Then with 2 laps remaining, Eric Arneson also got by on the inside lane to snatch 3rd place away from me. When the checkers flew, I found myself in the claim area for the first time in my career, finishing in 4th place.

I decided to take the rest of the weekend off, but my dad jumped into Ben Kroll’s IMCA stock car and raced at 141 Speedway on Saturday night. He had a pretty good night, starting 9th in the heat race and finishing 5th. Then in the feature, he started 10th and finished 9th.

We will be back at Luxemburg Speedway next Friday night, and we will see how it goes from there. Only 3 weeks left of weekly racing, and then we’re onto the end-of-year specials. The season has gone by way too fast!