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Saturday, August 9, 2008
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Pillager grad relishes pit job
BY AMY FREDMAN Staff intern One of the area's own was in the heat of the action this week at Brainerd International Raceway's Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals.
A Pillager native, Thomas Buckingham spent a lot of time at the track as a child. This week, he devoted his time at Nationals on the pit crew for Mike Neff of John Force Racing.
"I grew up working on cars," Buckingham, 22, said. "It's a hobby of mine."
This hobby has translated into a career for the recent college graduate. After graduating from Pillager High School in 2004, Buckingham graduated from the University of Northwestern Ohio in the spring of 2007 with an associate degree of applied science. The school is known as a prominent high-performance motorsports school.
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Mike Neff roared his Funny Car off the starting line Friday at the Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals at Brainerd International Raceway. Thomas Buckingham of Pillager (inset) is a mechanic on the Neff Funny Car team. Brainerd Dispatch/Steve Kohls
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After graduation, Buckingham returned home, working at Tires Plus in Brainerd and putting in resumes at BIR.
Through connections with people at the track and his resume, Buckingham was hired on Mike Neff's team in January.
"I've always wanted to do this," Buckingham said. "It's good. It's a lot of work."
Buckingham enjoys traveling the country with this NHRA racing team and said it was cool to be back at his home track as a participant instead of a spectator.
Neff is based in Indianapolis, but Buckingham gets home to Minnesota about once a month to see his family. He's home for about four days during visits.
His daughter, Morgan, is 16 months old. Buckingham said that he makes time to call home and has more time off in the winter. His girlfriend and daughter live on Love Lake.
He described race days as intense, saying that in the mornings he's a little bit nervous. As a high school athlete playing football and baseball for Pillager, Buckingham said that his job is a different kind of intensity than sports. "It's more intense. It's a lot bigger."
Buckingham joined a team that has a scarred background. Neff's Old Spice trailer belonged to Eric Medlen, a 33-year-old racer who died in 2007 from severe trauma to his brain four days after his Funny Car slammed into the wall during a test run on March 19 in Gainesville, Fla.
At BIR, Medlen won his first-ever Funny Car final in 2004 and defended his title the next year.
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Thomas Buckingham carried a pair of magnetos to a waiting engine in the Mike Neff pit Friday at Brainerd International Raceway. Buckingham, a Pillager native, is now a mechanic on the pro Funny Car team and travels the country with the race team. Brainerd Dispatch/Steve Kohls
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John Force brought Mike Neff on as the new racer in the middle of last year, making this Neff's first full season.
Medlen's father, John, remained the crew chief for Neff's team.
In addition to the crew chief, there are eight other members of the crew. When Buckingham joined, the majority of the team was new and fitting in went well for him. They spend 40 weeks on the road, translating into a lot of time together and conflict is minimal.
Buckingham's dad and stepmom, Rod and DeeMaris Buckingham, live on North Long Lake. His mom and stepdad, Dan and Lori Johnson, are of Pillager.
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