© 2006 Dwight Drum
Story and photos by Dwight Drum
Web work by Gary Larsen

Event: NASCAR Busch Series and Craftsman Truck Champion Conference
Place: Disney World
Time: December, 2006

DAVID REUTIMANN

"You're going to have a lot more bad days than you're going to have good."

Motorsports should come natural to David Reutimann. His family has been racing for over seven decades and dad, Buzzie Reutimann, a short-track legend from Zephyrhills, Fla., has been racing for about five decades. It's that family history that helped productive David to get a chance to race for former Lakeland resident Joe Nemechek beyond Florida short tracks. But his skills, character and history are what drew Darrell Waltrip to hire him for the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series and for Michael Waltrip to choose him for his new NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series Toyota team.

Reutimann will become the full-time driver of the No. 00 Toyota Camry co-sponsored by Burger King Corporation and Domino's Pizza in 2007.

David and Buzzie Reutimann raced countless Saturday nights at East Bay Raceway Park in Tampa, Fla., which makes both welcome neighbors to Zoomster.com based in Clearwater and Brandon. The No. 00 car originated when Buzzie's dad joked about his modified stock car as being double nothing. Next year double nothing could become something big in NNCS. The neighborhood is smiling.

David Reutimann:

Dwight Drum asked David Reutimann:

What's it feel like to be the first East Bay graduate to make to NASCAR?

"I don't know. We'll have to see how far we get first, but East Bay is still one of my favorite places on the earth to race any day. It's definitely one of my favorite racetracks. It was where I got my start. It was dirt racing at East Bay and Florida State Fair grounds and places like that. It's pretty cool to be able to come from a place like that because I'm able to back there and race with some of the same guys I raced coming up through the ranks."

Can you compare present challenges to the past challenges of getting here?

"The challenges that I had coming up were just trying to get to the next race. My main focus was just trying to get to the next event. Not having really any financial backing we relied on winning races to get me to the next race. Those were challenges trying to find a guy to pay the tire bill or pay for the fuel or money to get your guys in the pit gate, stuff like that. That had its own set of challenges. Now the challenges are much more in the forefront. I wouldn't say there are any more. It's still the same amount of challenges. It's just different. So the challenges are always there, the priorities just kind of change a little bit. So now I don't worry about getting into the pit gate as I do trying to finish and win races."

Focus is important; did you acquire that or bring it with you?

"I think focus is something that you have, but I think you refine it as you go. As a teenager, looking back I'd have to say I was very focused. I never did anything but race. I've never been to a high school football game or anything like that because I was always racing. That's all I did and that's all I cared about. As you do more you kind of refine your focus or become more focused on what you are trying to do. I think it's something you have to be born with the ability to put things out of your mind and focus on one thing. I think as you move through your career the more you do it, the better you become at it. I think it can be learned as well."

Do race car drivers ever stop learning?

"No. never. I think that's one thing that keeps us coming back is the fact that you learn something every lap. You learn something every racetrack you go to. I think that's one thing that keeps the show up about racing is that when you're out there on the track you're learning things about the car, things about yourself, things about the racetrack. You learn about guys around you that you thought you knew. It's ever evolving and never ceases to change. It's a constant learning process from the time you set behind the wheel for the first time till the time you finally step out of it and don't do it again."

Do NASCAR champions and motorsports champions have common traits and abilities, and if so could you identify a few?

"Number one, I think they have the undying desire to do it, because you're going to have a lot more bad days than you're going to have good. You have to the burning desire to just never give up and just keep your head down and work hard and do without a lot of things to get to the point where you are quote, unquote made it or whatever they call it. Any champion I think can look back behind him at the sacrifices that people made for them to race. The sacrifices that they have made to lead a certain life and to do a certain thing which is racing, because it consumes all your time.

"I just think you have to be just completely dedicated to doing one thing and do it well."

What are the best ways to handle success?

"Success is a relative term. One person may have many views of success and to a lot of people it may not. The deal is you just have to be able to adjust and roll with the changes that come to you and see if there is any hype involved and not let it affect anything you do. Hype is all just words. At the end of the day you just have to produce and just do the things you are supposed to do. That's what makes us perform. I feel like I've been blessed. I don't feel like I've really done anything extraordinary. I've been in the right place at the right time. I've been surrounded by good people. I've never once considered giving up and doing anything different.

"That's where we are right now and we still got a long way to go. Hopefully in a couple years you talk to me and we'll talk about some real success."

What does the horizon look like to David Reutiman?

"I don't know. It's funny. I've been so blessed. When I originally got my truck deal I remember people coming up and say, well Cup is probably out of the realm of things that could happen for you because of your age. You're not 18-years old. I'm like, well a few years ago this seemed out of the realm of things that could happen, to get into the Truck Series.

"So I hope I'm with Michael Waltrip Racing for a long time. I hope I'm involved with Toyota for a long time. I feel like if we get in the right situation with the right people around us, we can win races and run well. That's really what I hope. I don't want to be here for a year and gone. I want to be here for a long time. That's easier said than done. We've got to work our work cut out for us. That's what I would like to see happen."