Mini stock driver Zach Budleski appeared determined to finish the race. How determined? When his Saturn lost power in turn three, he pushed it across the finish line himself. This example of racer grit occurred last Thursday at State Park Speedway in Wausau, Wisconsin.
“All I could say to myself when my car stopped was, ‘Are you kidding me?’” said Budleski, of Wausau, Wisconsin. “I immediately knew I wasn’t going to give up finishing this race without a fight. I told the push truck [driver] to tell the tower I was going to push my car to the finish line. They didn’t believe me at first, but I said, ‘Yes, really!’”
Budleski did just that.
“I was out of breath, sweating like crazy, and I actually stumbled across the finish line, but I got it there,” Budleski said. “I could see everyone cheering, clapping and waving in the stands. When the [car’s] transponder crossed the line, I finished the race in 13th position.”
Back in the pits, Budleski and his crew found the problem that stopped his car.
“I could tell something was wrong during the feature — the car sounded horrible,” said Budleski. “The ignition module and a coil pack burned up on my Saturn’s 1.9L engine. The exhaust manifold separated from the engine, causing it to melt and burn.”
Budleski’s never-say-die attitude earned him a fourth-place in the final point standings. He beat out his nearest competitor by a scant three points. Overall, he’s happy with his season’s performance, which includes a win at Marshfield Motor Speedway in Wisconsin. The third-year driver’s exploits proved he’s got the heart of a racer — and that meant a lot to him as well as the crowd.
“I have to admit, tears were rolling when I saw and heard the crowd cheering for me as I pushed my car across the line,” Budleski said. “It was a better feeling than winning.”
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.
