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KJ Motorsports places in top 5

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By JOHN CEBALLOS

jceballos@tampatrib.com

Published: June 24, 2009

RIVERVIEW - Fourteen cars traded paint during a recent short-track race in Punta Gorda, but two of the top-five finishers came from the same South Shore-based racing team.

It was the year's best result for the Riverview-based KJ Motorsports team, which continued its Checkered Flag Sprint Series season by competing at a June 13 event at the Charlotte County Motorsports Park.

Keith Butler, 35, finished second during the day's feature race and teammate Amanda Ferguson, 16, came in fifth, matching the best finish of her career.

"My family has been big racing fans for a long time, but no one in the family has ever raced until me," said Ferguson, who joined KJ Motorsports in April. "I feel like I'm getting more confident each time out."

Ferguson also finished fifth a week earlier, during a June 6 race at the New Smyrna Speedway in Samsula. Butler was involved in a crash and unable to finish. On top of that, his primary car would not be available for the Punta Gorda race.

As a result, Butler decided to dust off a 31-year-old chassis he keeps stored at home.

"We call it Foxie, and it's been really good to me and my family," said Butler, who is one of several drivers - including Butler's father, Stan, and brother, Shane - who have driven Foxie to victory.

With his teammate's help, Butler got his vehicle ready for the following week's race. Shortly after the Punta Gorda race, he was able to take Foxie out for a few practices on the track.

"I told them, 'If we're off at all, we're not off by much,'" Butler said of the car, which had not seen a track in five years.

Butler and Ferguson now sit in first and sixth, respectively, in the series point rankings after their latest performance. Gary Gimmler won the race at Punta Gorda. The next series race for the team will be July 4 at the same venue.

Butler began the year with five wins in five starts, and Ferguson is a talent on the rise.

"One of my goals is to finish in the top five in the overall points race, but I also really want to win rookie of the year," Ferguson said.

The series is in its second year. Sprint cars run on short oval or circular tracks.

Butler, who has been racing go karts since age 7, founded KJ Motorsports nine years ago with his wife, Jennifer. The team will compete in races - including Checkered Flag events - throughout Florida and the rest of the southeast against national sprint series competition. Last year, he won the series' owners and drivers Championship.

The Butlers also hope to use the exposure generated from his sprint car races to benefit Operation: Race for Freedom, a charitable organization they created in February 2008 to collect and distribute items such as razors, shampoo and deodorant for members of the U.S. military serving in Iraq, Afghanistan and other parts of the world. More than 500 pounds of those items have been collected since the program's inception. They typically collect items throughout the day of racing events.

"Keith acknowledges that it's very important to give back to the sport that has given him so many opportunities," Jennifer Butler said.

Reporter John Ceballos can be reached at (813) 627-4762. Keyword: KJ Motorsports, to see more photos.

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