Most car lovers — heck most people in general — have put too much money into a car that wasn’t worth the trouble. Whether out of necessity or out of love, keeping a car in running shape can be an expensive endeavor.
This is apparently as true for NASCAR drivers as it is for the rest of us, but for NASCAR drivers, the bill can run up even higher.
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Appearing as a guest on the Racin’ With the Boys podcast, Chris Buescher explained that the worst financial decision of his career came from pouring money into a vehicle that he wound up overly invested in.
“My first vehicle after my first real contracted racing, I went and bought an ’08 F250, and I have blown that thing up four times,” Buescher said. “I continue to throw money at it, rebuild it and blow it up again. I have not done the engine work myself so I know that sounds like I’m not mechanically inclined. I am just really hard on stuff.”
The ultimate price tag?
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“I am six figures into a vehicle that’s worth maybe 18 grand today.”
“I feel like that’s a normal story for a racer,” Ryan Preece said in Buescher’s defense. “Every bad decision for us is cars.”
Preece then explained the state of his own vehicular money pit.
We’ve all been there.
Sure, the numbers were definitely a bit smaller, but a car that is close to your heart always feels worth saving, at least right up until the point you see the bill come due.
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“I parked mine in a field for three years after I blew it up the last time,” Buescher said of the current state of his treasured vehicle. “I was so sick of it, but I couldn’t come to part with it. So now it was just housing for the local rodents.”
Luckily for Buescher, he’s doing pretty well in the financial department these days, having signed a multi-year extension with RFK Racing earlier this summer.
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