Thanks to our fans, we were able to secure victory in the contest, thus having our car picture along with a write-up printed in the next monthly IMCA publication, Inside IMCA, which is distributed to all IMCA racers. In addition, we will receive a special mini-door from the contest sponsor, Sybesma Graphics of Sanborn, Iowa.

The electronic version of the write-up can be found on IMCA’s website at https://imca.com/budzbans-karl-chevrolet-northern-sportmod-collects-non-fendered-sybesma-prize-for-may/.

I received a call from Dave Seay of DirtCast.com last week, and we recorded an interview over the phone for the website. We discussed how I got into racing, the competition I face weekly in northeast Wisconsin, our work with social media and much more. I would like to thank Dave & DirtCast.com for the opportunity.

The full recorded interview can be found at http://www.dirtcast.com/fUJQd/sound-off-chris-budzban-imca-northern-sportmods-051412/ and also can be played on our website, budzoracing.com.

Remember you can find Budzo Racing 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.

Photo by Bill Schmidt (www.widirtracin.com)

After a successful night last Saturday at 141 Speedway, we looked to build upon what we learned from that night to help our setup at Luxemburg Speedway. Last week our setup was way too tight for the track conditions, so we hoped our changes would help free up the car and be able to drive more smoothly down the straightaways.

I started on the pole in the first of three heat races, and quickly jumped out front of the field. Our changes to the car helped considerably, as I maintained about a straightaway lead on the rest of the field. The race would go caution-free and I went on to pick up my first heat race win of the 2012 season.

Due to my point average being low after my finish on opening night, I would also start on the pole for the feature. A rut had formed in turn 4 during the course of the night, and after a few laps of running through it, I decided to jump up to the outside of the racing surface to try my luck. I held on to 5th place for quite some time, but the car started to lose traction as the outside line slicked up. I did my best to keep the car in the top 10, coming home with a 9th place finish.

On Saturday night we had family plans, so we did not race at 141 Speedway. Sunday night we didn’t hit the track either, deciding to spectate the races at Seymour Speedway instead.

We will be back out at Luxemburg Speedway on Friday night, and our plans for the rest of the weekend will likely hinge on the results from Friday’s races. Remember you can check out Budzo Racing 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.

Our weekend of racing began with opening night at our hometown track of Luxemburg Speedway, where things got off to a good start as I drew a pretty decent number out of the draw bucket.

The track condition, however, was not good news to all drivers. Heavy rain during the week forced the officials to grade the entire track to offer a better racing surface. For the most part, it wasn’t in the worst of shape, but the bumps and ruts combined with the heavy track made passing almost non-existent.

I started 3rd in my heat race, and battled for the lead at the drop of the green, but that start would be waved off. We set up again, and this time I didn’t get a great jump like the previous start. The car was set up too tight for the conditions, and when I was pushed to the outside lane, I couldn’t keep the car on the racing surface.

After falling off the backstretch, I recovered to pass a car to salvage a 7th place finish. I would start in the 4th row for the semi-feature, with the top 5 making the feature event. Again, the track did not allow for much passing, and I chose to pull off and save my car for Saturday night.

On Saturday at 141 Speedway, I started on the outside pole of the heat race, with the top 4 making the feature. We had a total of 42 sportmods sign in, so a high finish was really important. I took off and grabbed the early lead, pulling away from the rest of the field. Lapped traffic would play a huge factor in the race on lap 4, as I had to make a choice on where to try and pass the 2 cars in front of me.

The first car was down low, and the 2nd car was up high, so I tried to pass the first car up high. That proved to be the wrong choice, as that car darted to the outside of the track, right into my path. That would allow Eric Mahlik by me for the lead, and I had to do all I could to keep a transfer spot. More lapped traffic came into play on the white flag lap, but I hung onto the final transfer spot, finishing 4th.

Starting 16th on the grid for the feature, I wasn’t sure what to expect as this was my 1st feature at the track since I raced my old car in 2010. Cars were flying around, banking off the wall and off each other in the early stages, but I found my way out of trouble and into the top 10 during the middle of the race. I slipped up coming into turn 2, having to make a little detour through the infield and back onto the track, and ended up losing 2 positions to Andy Kleczka and Brandon Long.

I did manage to post an 11th place finish when the checkers flew, and in all honesty it could have ended a lot worse for us on multiple occasions. We’ll be back on the track next Friday night at Luxemburg Speedway, but we will not be back at 141 on Saturday due to family obligations.

Remember you can find Budzo Racing 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.

The International Motor Contest Association (IMCA) sanctioning body is holding a monthly contest in which fans vote for a “fan favorite” out of 5 selected cars for both fendered and non-fendered divisions.

This month, Chris Budzban’s IMCA northern sportmod has been chosen as one of the 5 finalists. “We’re thrilled that our car has been chosen to be a part of the contest voting,” said Budzban. “It’s a little different than past years, and it’s an interactive way to involve the racing fans through their votes.”

Voting will run through May 8^th, and is done through IMCA Racing’s Facebook page. “We’re trying to get the word out as much as possible to boost our vote total, of course the goal is to win the contest.”

Fellow northeast Wisconsin IMCA stock car driver Shawn Havel of Algoma has been selected for the fendered voting as well. “It would be great if our fans vote us both as winners for the month, we both have pretty sharp looking cars.”

The prize for winning the contest is a mini-door from Sybesma Graphics of Sanborn, Iowa. “If we win the contest, more than likely we’ll be giving away the mini-door to one of our fans,” said Budzban. “That’s one way we can show our appreciation for all the fans who to took the time to vote for us.”

Fans can visit IMCA Racing’s Facebook page at facebook.com/raceimca or access the ballot directly to cast their vote at facebook.com/questions/423230211023587.

Budzo Racing can be found 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.

On Friday night, we stopped at Luxemburg Speedway for their practice session. All the drivers and crews were getting acclimated to the new pit area, which is now located in turns 1 & 2 instead of 3 & 4. Overall, the car felt very good, which was a positive sign after all the work put in to repair the car from racing at 141 Speedway last Saturday.

I only went out for one session, feeling confident enough that the car would be alright for Saturday night at 141. However, cold and damp weather cancelled the scheduled races so we decided to make the tow to Seymour Speedway on Sunday evening.

We expected a higher car count than their opening night of 18 cars, and there ended up being 28 cars signed in to hit the track. We were the very first heat race to hit the track, and I would start in last place (10th). The car handled great, as I made my way up to 7th about midway through the race. I battled for 6th on the final lap, but fell just inches shy of securing that spot at the checkers.

That finish would set me up with a 4th place starting spot in the semi-feature, where the top 5 would transfer to the feature event. Early on the car felt good, as multiple cautions flew restarting the race. I didn’t quite have as much traction as I would have liked, but was able to hang on to 5th place at the end.

Starting 20th on the grid for the feature, we made an adjustment to the car we hadn’t tried before, and it seemed to work alright. I didn’t advance many positions in the feature, coming home with a 17th place finish on the night.

This coming weekend we plan on racing at Luxemburg Speedway on Friday night for their season opener, and then heading back to 141 Speedway on Saturday night.

Remember you can find Budzo Racing 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.

This past Saturday, we towed back to 141 Speedway for their 2^nd night of racing for the 2012 season. The show was a special for the Bumper to Bumper IRA outlaw sprint car series, and also included street stocks and sport 4s on the card.

Things didn’t last very long or end very well at all for us, as we only made it 1 lap around the speedway before the leader, Tyler Hackett, spun in front of me and the entire field. I was left with no place to go, and crashed the right front of my car into his driver side, then was clobbered in the left rear of the car.

The damage we sustained was far too much to continue for the heat race or for the rest of the night. The entire right side of the body was destroyed, and we also suffered a bent and cracked tail section, along with a bent front frame to add insult to injury.

We spent all Sunday morning and afternoon stripping the body and bending the welding the car back to where everything is supposed to be. Our plan now is to be back out on Friday for practice at Luxemburg Speedway, and possibly be back in action on Saturday at 141 Speedway.

Remember you can find Budzo Racing 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.

With the 2012 season underway, IMCA northern sportmod driver Chris Budzban decided to spruce up his race team’s website, featuring the colors and paint scheme of this year’s car.

“Aside from making sure our car is ready for action every weekend, we work just as hard to keep our website and social media accounts fresh and up to date,“ said Budzban. “A lot of race teams have phased out their websites over the past few years with the explosion of Facebook and Twitter’s popularity and features, but websites still serve a great purpose in promoting a race driver or team.”

This year’s design features an easier navigation system, while building upon a strong foundation from the previous design.

“There really wasn’t anything ‘broken’ about our website last year,” said Budzban. “Other than updating the website with this year’s car photos & scheme, the only thing changed up is how visitors can access our news releases. Now when you logon to the website you see a handful of the latest news releases, and it’s easy to dig through our older news as well.”

Budzo Racing’s website can be reached by logging on to budzoracing.com. You can also find Budzo Racing on Facebook at facebook.com/budzoracing, on YouTube at youtube.com/budzoracing and on Twitter at twitter.com/budzoracing.

The next race on Budzo Racing’s schedule is at 141 Speedway in Francis Creek, WI on Saturday, April 21^st. Racing gets underway at 6pm and will also feature the Bumper to Bumper IRA Outlaw Sprint Cars as a headlining division. Street stocks and sport 4s are also on the card.

The 2012 maiden voyage for our race team didn’t end exactly as planned, but it was a decent beginning nonetheless. A total of 41 IMCA northern sportmods signed in at 141 Speedway on Saturday night to do battle, with only 20 transferring to the feature.

On a track where passing is at a premium, the luck of the draw on opening night was the ticket to success in all the heat races. I drew a 3 out of the bucket for feature position, but unfortunately drew a high number for heat race position.

Our draw set us up with a starting spot outside of row 3 for the heat race, and it was hard to make up ground in the early going. I was pinned behind Jarred VanLaanen and on the outside of Ryan LeMieux for most of the contest, finally getting by VanLaanen at the end to finish in 7^th.

I would start in the same position for the semi-feature, which got off to a rocky start. Most of the field was not ready for the start of the race, as notice on the Raceceiver was at the last minute while we were at a slow pace on the backstretch. Even though I was several car lengths back of my starting spot, I was able to run a good line around the outside to secure a 4^th place finish.

That finish would not be good enough to transfer to the feature, as only the top 2 out of each semi-feature would transfer. On the plus side, the car handled very well during the semi-feature, and we left the track without any repairs to make for next weekend.

Right now our plan is to run at 141 Speedway this coming Saturday, with a possibility of heading out to Seymour Speedway for their regular season opener as well. As always, remember to check out Budzo Racing on the web at www.budzoracing.com, on Facebook at facebook.com/budzoracing, on YouTube at youtube.com/budzoracing and on Twitter at twitter.com/budzoracing.

On Saturday afternoon, we finally had the car ready to hit an area track. We decided to take advantage of 141 Speedway’s open practice session, making sure all the nuts and bolts were fastened and to see how the car handled with our changes in the offseason.

We took to the track on three separate occasions, with the first session being on ideal heat race track conditions. We were very satisfied with the results, flying around the 1/3 mile dirt oval with good traction and great handling.

By the time of our second session, the track had some slick areas beginning to show on the surface, but still we were happy with the car’s handling and grip.

Our third and final session saw a track that had just about dried up, where throttle control was key and traction was at a premium. Not having raced on the track since 2010, we feel pretty confident heading into the season opener next Saturday night.

Our HOTSHOTS racing cards are in and will be available in the pits after the races. We may be ordering t-shirts this season again, so watch for an update on those in the near future.

Racing will get underway at 141 Speedway on Saturday at 6pm, and we hope there’s a big crowd on hand to see some of the best drivers in the nation hit the track. Remember to check back here at budzoracing.com for updates during the 2012 season, and don’t forget to find us on Facebook at facebook.com/budzoracing, on YouTube at youtube.com/budzoracing and on Twitter at twitter.com/budzoracing.

Shoppers and racing fans will be treated to a public display of Chris Budzban’s IMCA northern sportmod at University Avenue Market in Green Bay, WI.

Budzban’s car will be on display in front of the store from 10am to noon on March 31^st. “We’re really excited and appreciate University Avenue Market being on board with our race team again in 2012,” said Budzban. “We have a few sponsors who help us out with fabrication, shock service and storage, but it’s always nice to have a little financial backing from a sponsor as well. Paul and University Avenue Market are supplying that for us again, and we’re very thankful for their support.”

Budzban will be entering his 3^rd season in the IMCA northern sportmod division, racing weekly on Friday nights at Luxemburg Speedway in Luxemburg, WI. Budzban also plans on racing at 141 Speedway in Francis Creek, WI and Seymour Speedway in Seymour, WI.

“2011 was a very good year for us, and we’re hoping 2012 is even better,” said Budzban. “We have the same car from a year ago, so we’re hoping to make minor adjustments here and there to improve our performance on the track.”

University Avenue Market is located at 2080 University Ave. in Green Bay, WI. Weekly sale items and employment opportunities are available on their website at www.avenuemarkets.com. University Avenue Market is also on Twitter at twitter.com/AvenueMarketsGB.

Budzo Racing can be found on the web at www.budzoracing.com, on Facebook at facebook.com/budzoracing, on YouTube at youtube.com/budzoracing and on Twitter at twitter.com/budzoracing.