* Bud began racing cars in 1936 at Langford Speedway. He drove Phil Foster's"Speedway Special", a four-cylinder flathead Chrysler powered car.

* Bud suffered the most serious spill of his career in May, 1938, when he flipped end over end several times in heavy traffic in the A-Main event.

* After several months of "sheet time", Bud was released from the hospital in a full body cast (which, unfortunately, would not fit into the race car).

* During 1939, 1940 and 1941, Bud scored well enough to capture the B. C. Championships for all three consecutive years.

* Johnny-on-the-spot for the post-war Mighty Midget Racing boom in 1945, Bud's rock-em, sock-em style of driving gained more attention than ever.

* Luckily, his 1947 car owner. Les Wasilchen, was the proprietor of a thriving auto rebuild shop, as the car got thoroughly crunched at least once on every track throughout the circuit that year. He still ended the year in 5th place.

* After the 1947 season, Bud began devoting more of his time to driving his favourite sprint cars again.

* He was driving a Cadillac sprinter for owner Mac McBurnie at Yakima, Washington's 1/8th mile track early in 1950. Bud's determination to take the lead began to wear on Mac's nervous system to the point that when he saw Bud dive his new sprint car into the first turn without shutting off, he popped a whole roll of Tums into his mouth and began chewing -- paper and all.

* After a brief stint into hardtop racing, Bud completed his sprint car racing career at Victoria's Western Speedway in 1957, just a few miles from where it had all begun 21 years earlier.

* In later years, Bud was involved with the Golden Wheels Fraternity out of Seattle. He ran a restored vintage sprinter at the various meets throughout the Pacific Northwest and enjoyed the fellowship of his many racing friends until his passing.

PREV --- MAIN --- NEXT