Wednesday, April 1, 2009

David Reutimann

By Denise I Smithson

Representing the third generation of "racing Reutimanns", David Reutimann is the son of DIRT Motorsports Hall of Famer (and still active participant in racing) Emil "Buzzy" Reutimann. The two still often race together at the "Clay by the Bay", as Florida's East Bay Raceway Park is known to racing enthusiasts.

David got his start in dirt track racing and by 1997 was named Rookie of the Year in the Slim Jim All Pro Series, later becoming the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Rookie of the Year in 2004. Reutimann has had a number of top ten finishes in the league, although he has racked up few wins thus far.

He was the winner of the 2005 Nashville Toyota Tundra 200, which he followed up with a 2007 win in the Sam's Town 250 in Memphis, his first Busch Series car win. He ran the entire series on 2007, coming in second in the standings.

A resident of Zephyrillis, Fla. Reutimann has earned several awards in the NASCAR Southeast Series since 1997. He moved up to NASCAR in 1997 after spending some time racing modified vehicles on the short tracks of his native Florida.

For the last few years, he has been racing in the Nationwide Series as well as the Sprint Cup series for Michael Waltrip Racing. He hasn't achieved the level of success of some NASCAR stars, but he has been a consistently high performing racer with top finishes in a lot of the sport's most important races.

In 2009, David Reutimann has named one of his old racing peers as his crew chief for his No. 00 Toyota car, Rodney Childers, who first met him back during the 1999 Slim Jim All Pro race. Childers sites David Reutimann's sense of humor and personality as a reason he searched out the position, when it became available.

Reutimann has been on the scene for some time, but in the last year has really started to come into his own. He and his team are hoping to build on his momentum and score some top 10's, top 5's and even some wins this year.

In fact, the choice of Childers as new crew chief may be exactly what Michael Waltrip racing was looking for. Childers has four years of experience as a crew chief on the Sprint Cup Series. Michael Waltrip Racing has a great relationship with Toyota and is committed to winning.

Reutimann is not one of NASCAR's biggest names yet, but this year Reutimann is going for broke in his quest to achieve racing stardom. Michael Waltrip and David Reutimann will be sharing number 00, also known as Aaron's Dream Machine, which is sponsored by Aaron Rents. Aaron has been with Michael Waltrip for a decade now and fans are excited to see Waltrip behind the wheel once again.

David Reutimann has shown tremendous progress in the Sprint Cup Series and 30 top 10 finishes in the Nationwide Series, and Aarons is excited to be a part of the upcoming racing series with him, according to their spokesperson.

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