Came across this link to James Buttera's racing story here.
If the link doesn't work here's the text. The clipping comes from the son of Gus Duray. Both Gus and James travelled up to Hastings Park, The Willows and the rest of the Pacific northwest.
The Jim Buttera Story
( Article from The Cavalcade of Auto Racing Fall/Winter 1968 )
Jim Buttera is 79 years old. This is an age many never attain, and if they do, they are long since retired; but not Jim Buttera. He is the oldest active member of the Foreign Stock Car Racing Association of Seattle, WA, and a veteran racers of some 57 years. Jim immigrated to this country from Italy in 1907, working as a mechanic. He started racing in 1916 just before the end of World War I, when racing engines were vintage OX-5, 90 h.p. airplane engines. His car was a Dodge and he would tour the Northwest with his booking agent, guaranteeing $1,000.00 to any driver who won a race he entered.
Promotion of races was carried on in this manner Buttera retired from driving in the early '20s after going through boards in Vancouver, B.C. and hired Jack Ross to drive the "Buttera Special." This car was a quiet, little aluminum bodded car that was capable of and did in every race, lap almost every other car. At this time, Buttera and Ross were racing against the Dusenberg factory team amongst others. Jack Ross, in 1925, took 44 first place wins on the dirt and plank tracks of the West Coast, a record yet to be broken. The following year, in 1926, he took 27 firsts. Jim Buttera now had assumed the role of the agent for Jack Ross and the "Buttera Special".
Appearance fees alone for this car and driver during the '20s ranged to $3500.00. In addition, when races were held in Victoria, B.C. the teams were given free boat transportation and room and board. Cars were not towed to the track as now, but were driven and tested on the way to the track. This usually was in the company of the local sportswriters which made for every colorful and descriptive Monday morning newspaper stories giving full details of the trip to the track. ( Note: I am enclosing a copy of the story from the extinct "Seattle Star" of July 26, 1926 telling of the trip to Yakima. --
From the Seattle Star - July 26th 1926
Jim semi-retired from racing during the Depression and World War II years. Following the war, in 1948, he became the first Volkswagen dealer in the western U.S. when there were only 600 of them in the country. His territory covered all of the western U.S. and Alaska. In 1960, he sold his dealership and retired. But retirement was not for Jim and in 1960 he bought his business back, not the dealership, but the name and building and started a VW repair shop. Along about this same time, the Foreign Stock Car Racing Association came into existence and Jim stripped a 1958 Volkswagen for competition. The fourth time out, he set a new track record and the following season, 1967, the "New Buttera Special", a far cry from the original of 1916, with its wooden spokes and V-8 overhead, won the "A" class season championship. Again this year, his car is trying for top position.
At 79, Jim is a devoted race fan and is at the track every Saturday night to cheer for his car and driver. He is a fine gentleman; honest, fair and a true sportsman, qualities which he has instilled in his driver and mechanics. Almost every Saturday night, his pit men can be seen helping other cars and close competitors to attain their peak performances, because, if he wins, he wants every car on the track to be running it's best. Jim Buttera is a true inspiration to all who come in contact with him; he is modest about his victories, generous with his time and money, imparts his vast knowledge of cars, racing and always will speak for her regardless of these troubled times. All of us in racing can look to Jim Buttera as the proverbial "shining example" of what a true sportsman and racer should be.
Behind the walls of a humble little building, which looks like an ordinary repair shop, is an extraordinary story linked to the first IndyCars and the legacy of great customer service.
It's Buttera Motors, independent Volkswagen repair service in Bothell, a family-owned business now into its fourth generation. The walls are covered with pictures of the founder, Jim Buttera, great-grandfather of Matt Hutchison, now service manager of the little blue and white shop that was the first Volkswagen distributorship in the Pacific Northwest. "Any Volkswagen sold in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana and Alaska was imported by Jim Buttera," says former employee Dick Dinham, who retired recently after working at the shop for 40 years. The cars came into the United States through Canada.
The history gets complex: Buttera's daughter owned the shop after he passed away, and then gave it to her son, Gary Photakis, whose sister Valerie Photakis is office manager. Valerie and her son, Matt Hutchison, are running the whole shebang while Gary Photakis is on a tour of duty in Iraq, serving with honors, as lieutenant commander in the U.S. Navy Reserve. One whole wall is taken up with a giant flag and a "Hurry Home, Gary," banner.
A large collection of framed pictures on all the other walls shows a young Buttera in a variety of cars that he built and raced, setting records on tracks all over Washington and Oregon. Old yellowed newspaper clippings hang in frames next to the pictures. Reporters in those days called Buttera "a Washington state hero" and "a famous race car driver." Buttera raced his cars on dirt and board tracks from 1912 to 1922,then hired drivers to race for him. He also helped build the first IndyCar engines and the first engines to power the hydroplanes that would roar across Lake Washington.
In those early days, Buttera's shop was in downtown Seattle, building specialty Dodges, some of the very same ones he raced. (One of his engines is in Harrah's collection in Las Vegas.) Some time in the 1920s, he felt an economic depression looming, and moved his shop to Juanita. In 1935 he moved again about a mile farther down the same road to Bothell, doing general car repair, surrounded by cow pastures.
In 1949, Buttera was going to be a Tucker dealer, and had a display model of the rare automobile. But Tucker tuckered out, amid financial scandal and bad press. In the early 50s, Dinham says, Buttera became sold on Volkswagen when the German-based company communicated to him that he would have to be trained by them to repair every inch, and have all the tools and parts on hand before he ever imported a car. And there was a strict formula as to how many cars he was allowed to sell in proportion to how many he could service.
"Service was vital and that sold Buttera. Everything revolved around the customer, which is why I stayed there so many years," Dinham says. Buttera had his employees working on everything, he says, from trailers to bikes and motorcycles. "Anything a customer needed, we would do the repairs, even on dune buggies for mining."
"You worked hard," says Ivan Flettre, another former employee who worked there even before Dinham. "(Buttera) pushed you all the time, but also gave you a pat on the back and had a sense of humor. And customers always came first."
That "customer is king" philosophy has carried over through four generations. They no longer sell cars, as Buttera sold that part of the business in the mid 1960s to George Moore, one of his salesmen, who moved the cars to Bellevue and started Moore Motors. But Buttera's shop remained, and the service continued, on Volkswagens and Audis. "Some customers who bought their cars here still come in. Business is good and steady," says Valerie Photakis. "If the grandparents were our customers, usually all the generations follow suit." One service customer, Katherine Huber from Woodinville, named her VW Esmeralda, and drives it in every year for its birthday. "We have a real party, and when Esmeralda turned 21, we changed from sparkling cider to champagne," says Valerie.
With all the history displayed on the walls, from pictures and clippings to Tucker ads, Buttera Motors feels like a little museum. But customers assure you it's a well-oiled shop, servicing cars the old-fashioned way, with caring and concern and efficiency. One tip from Dinham, to get the most out of your vehicle: "The main thing is the attitude of the driver. Drive it like it's going to last and it will last forever."
Puget Sound Business Journal (Seattle) - June 9, 2006
by Patti Payne Contributing Writer
No comments:
Post a Comment