By T.J. Buffenbarger, photo gallery courtesy of Jim Fisher / FSC Pictorial and Bob Buffenbarger
In a rather surprising e-mail received on Thursday Broughman indicated he has pulled up roots and moved to Florida with his wife Lisa and children Zac and Karigan with a new career and life in the sunshine state.
“There are a few more jobs in my line of work in Florida, and I received and opportunity I couldn’t pass up,” said Broughman.
Previous to his sprint car experience Broughman raced in the modified division that competed at Butler Motor Speedway in Quincy, Michigan, Bryan, Ohio, and Avilla, Indiana. When Broughman moved up to the sprint car ranks in 1995 he traveled extensively racing with and without wings. Eventually Broughman toured with the Sprints on Dirt before primarily focusing his efforts on Butler Motor Speedway, winning the track championship in 2008 with a race car that was over 10 years old. Due to Broughman’s height, he ran the same Maxim tall chassis for several seasons, being singled out in 2008 in a company press release because of the durability of his car over the years. Overall Broughman has over a dozen sprint car feature victories to his credit.
“I would like to say a special thanks to my parents, Jim and Sarah Broughman, because without their support I would never have been able to race sprint cars in Michigan, my longtime sponsors including Velocity Graphics, Bloomer Excavation, Marv’s Racing Engines, Moyer Dry Cleaning, Smitty, and Ken Dora, and of course my wife (Lisa), son, and daughter for putting up with me being gone for so many hours to race. Also, thanks to all the great fans, media people, all the tracks and SOD folks that I have raced with over the years.”
The move does not signal the end of Broughman’s sprint car racing career. Broughman is currently looking for a Florida legal engine to run in Florida.
“Who knows, maybe you will see me in the news down here soon,” said Broughman.
Notes:
• If you are looking for your methanol fix locally several Michigan tracks are holding test and tunes over the weekend. Look for sprint cars to pop up at the Crystal Motor Speedway and I-96 Speedway practice sessions. The Crystal sessions in particular tend to draw a lot of sprint cars to them.
• Belated congratulations to Jason Blonde and the entire Biobased.us sprint car team for their track record effort at Bristol Motor Speedway during the Bristol Speed Trials. Look for Blonde and several other Michigan drivers to kick off the season Sunday afternoon during the Must-See Racing X-Treme Sprint Car Series event at Salem Speedway.
• While the co-sanction events have not been announced yet, the Hoosier Outlaw Sprint Series and Auto Value Super Sprints are teaming up for several co-sanctioned shows this year. Some could be in Michigan, stay tuned.
• Dustin Daggett missed last weekend’s opener at Attica Raceway Park due to the teams transporter breaking down on the way to the track. Look for Daggett back in action at Attica this weekend, and wanted to thank the Perry, Ohio Autozone Store for some exceptional customer service in getting their transporter running for the trip home.
• Look for Steve Irwin and possibly a couple of other Michigan drivers at Eldora this weekend for the USAC Sprint Car opener. Irwin competed in the USAC series openers at Ocala Speedway in Florida.
• For all Michigan teams, contact us and let us know what you are planning on doing for 2011. We’re going to run our season preview for all of the Michigan area series and tracks (aka AVSS/HOSS, Spartan, Butler, ASCS SOD, MTS, etc) the week of the Sprints on Dirt opening event at Crystal. We want to make this an annual tradition on TJSlideways.com, so please contact us with your plans for 2011.
Photo Gallery tribute to Mark Broughman
