While running 10th in the feature at Butler Motor Speedway, a car spun ahead of Robert Payseno. It forced another car high on track, which came down into the beloved street stock, Scarlet.
“It was like a PIT maneuver — I got turned straight for the wall,” Robert, of Union City, Michigan, said. “The right front got caught on the cutout below the flag stand and over we went.”
The crash didn’t hurt Payseno, but getting out of the car did.
“It was a bad crash, but I was able to climb out of the passenger side of the car,” Robert said. “Then, I jumped to the ground, rolled and sprained my wrist.”
Inside the street stock, Robert sat in a ButlerBuilt full-containment seat with Simpson belts. He wore a Simpson Bandit helmet with a Simpson collar.
Because Robert’s wreck brought out the red, Scarlet’s car owner, Owen Reincke didn’t see it as he was racing another street stock, leading the feature. With 7 laps to go, a wheel stud broke on the car Owen raced, sending him into the infield where Scarlet then rested.
“I saw the Scarlet sitting in a heap on the infield,” Owen, of Tekonsha, Michigan, said. “My first thought was, ‘Where was Robert?’ I was focused on the race and did not know how bad the wreck was.”
An ambulance had transported Robert to the pits, where paramedics examined him and released him.
Owen started racing street stocks with Scarlet in 2023. This season, Scarlet became his backup car, with Owen offering Robert the opportunity of driving Scarlet.
The crash marked the end of the fan favorite car that many also referred to as the McDonald’s car due to its red-and-yellow colors. Owen has already picked up another street stock to serve as his spare that Robert Payseno will race. And Owen plans to auction the body panels off Scarlet on Facebook.
“Fans may want a remembrance of one of the worst wrecks ever at Butler Motor Speedway,” Owen said. “But I won’t part with the roof. That’s going to hang in the shop.”
Mike Adaskaveg has written hundreds of stories since the website’s inception. This year marks his 54th year of covering auto racing. Adaskaveg got his start working for track photographer Lloyd Burnham at Connecticut’s Stafford Motor Speedway in 1970. Since then, he’s been a columnist, writer, and photographer, in racing and in mainstream media, for several outlets, including the Journal Inquirer, Boston Herald, Stock Car Racing, and Speedway Illustrated. Among Adaskaveg’s many awards are the 1992 Eastern Motorsport Press Association (EMPA) Ace Lane Photographer of the Year and the 2019 National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA) George Cunningham Writer of the Year.
