Shanon Buckingham
Getting a new Dirt Late Model team up and running is not a particularly easy thing to do. Getting a team ready to race eleven times over the course of fourteen days in a region covering four states is not a particularly easy thing to do either. Shanon Buckingham, of Morristwon, Tenn., is in the process of trying to do both of those things at the same time.
Buckingham drives for the relatively new Double Down Motorsports operation owned by east Tennessee businessman and drag racer Roger Sellers. That team was just formed during the late winter and early spring of this year with former John Blankenship crew chief Tom Buckingham(Shanon’s father) serving in that same capacity for both his son and Maryville, Tenn. racer Robby Moses.
Both Buckingham and Moses plan to run the Ray Cook promoted Southern Nationals mini-series that is set to kick off its two week campaign this Saturday night(July 16) at the Wythe Raceway in Rural Retreat, VA. The 43-year-old driver plans to spend the week prior to that fourteen day stretch getting everything ready to roll out of their Morristown shop on that initial race day.
“We’re going to go through all of our maintenance, try to get prepared, try to have a few extra doors and a few extra quarter panels and all the extra things like suspension parts we need,” Buckingham explained in an interview with InsideDirtRacing.com. “It’s just the little things when you get out there on the road. You don’t want to forget some of those things you may not always have with you when you’re just running one race a weekend. You’ve really got to be prepared for anything whereas with the way we’ve been running we always get to escape and run back to the shop. There’s a whole lot we’ve got to be ready for.”
After a successful run in Dirt Late Model racing throughout the much of the past decade, Buckingham stepped away from the driving side of the sport for a while. That time away may have allowed the racer to regroup and recharge his mental batteries, but at the same time, he may have gotten a bit out of the groove in terms of all that would go into preparation for a series such as the Southern Nationals.
“And with me being off for a couple of years, there’s a few things you forget about, right down to having ice for your cooler to having a spare motor and everything in between,” he pointed out. “This is going to be a tough week making sure we’ve got everything ready to go. The good thing is that we go to Wytheville and Bulls Gap for the first two races, which will be close for us and we’ll be able to jump back home and then stretch out to 411 then come back home. I’m sure we’re going to forget a handful of things and learn a handful of lessons. But those first two or three races will help us be prepared for the end.”
Buckingham’s Double Down Motorsports No. 50
While the physical preparation of getting the cars and hauler ready for so many races over such a short period is tough and time consuming, the mental aspect of the series is an important factor in the success or failure of a team as well.
“Mental preparation is a big issue,” Buckingham declared. “I’m bad to bark at everybody, especially when I’m hot and sweaty, but that boils down to the physical preparation. If we’re prepared with all of our tires and we’re ahead of the game it’s a lot easier to not get down and out and not get behind the 8-ball. That’s when I get grouchy and my dad is the same way. It’s going to be a little bit of a challenge.”
And not only are the Buckinghams maintaining cars for Double Down Motorsports, but they are also very much involved in helping Australian Craig Vosbergen and his team compete in the Southern Nationals.
“We try to help Craig Vosbergen and those guys keep their stuff going,” Buckingham explained. “They’re racing out of our shop so we’ve got a lot going on other than just trying to be ready ourselves. We’re trying to keep everybody ready. We’ve had some success at Wytheville in the past so I’m going to hit that really hard and go for broke. If we can get a good jump on it, that’s when the pressure will set in because I’ll try to maintain that level of racing.”
Double Down Motorsports has been stepping in the right direction over the course of the last few weeks, marked by a runner-up finish to Canadian Ricky Weiss in the recent Iron-Man Challenge race at Volunteer Speedway. Buckingham believes that trend can continue during the next two weeks.
“It seems like every week, even though it might not show in the results that you read on the internet, we have progressed,” he said. “I feel like we’ve had very few setbacks so we’re progressing and we’re just now getting to where we need to be. There are a few tracks during this little series that we haven’t been to so I’m sure there will be some setbacks there. But we’ll start out strong with Wytheville and Bulls Gap. I’ve not raced 411 since it’s been dirt, I raced there quite a bit when it was asphalt, but it’s a home track on home clay so I’m expecting to have a good solid run. The biggest thing is to keep progressing and not tear our race cars up.”
Buckingham hopes to put his experience as a driver to good use. Keeping in mind that survival can be very much a key to success over the course of a grueling mini-series such as this, knowing when to make a move and when to stand down during a particular race can mean the difference in ultimate success or failure.
“I don’t want to knock a front clip off for the difference between eighth and sixth,” he said. “But when the time comes and we’re ready to win, we’ll put our equipment in jeopardy. But until then, I just want to keep progressing. I don’t want to beat every corner of every car out every night for one more spot.”
The driver who has won numerous feature races in the past pointed out that he is starting anew and doesn’t want those past memories to get in the way of what he hopes to achieve this time around in his racing career.
“At my shop I had a handful of checks on the wall and a handful of trophies, but I pushed all those aside. I took all of those out of my workshop for a couple of reasons. We cleaned up and did some painting, but I haven’t brought those out for a reason, I want to be hungry for that win. And I am hungry, but I can’t be hungry back in tenth making a bunch of enemies and tearing stuff up.”
