Racing is a family sport, one where usually sons, daughters and the rest follow in their elder’s tire tracks. But there are some exceptions to this.

The racing Buehns are one of the very few husband wife teams where both compete on oval tracks. In this area the Natenstedts are the only other duo like this.

Dennis and Tami Buehn hold a print of his Hobby Stock and championship T-6 Air Racer.

But Dennis and Tami Buehn not only race Hobby Stocks but he’s a six-time T-6 Gold champion at the Reno Air Races.

His involvement in air racing goes back into the late 1960’s when he got involved with Ed Weiner, who was racing two P-51’s.

“Back then they had a transcontinental race from back east to out to Reno. So I started out as a crewmember on a P-51 Mustang with Vern Barker as crew chief,” he said. “Then later Lyle Shelton proceeded to acquire a Bearcat rebuild project and a number of us helped him build the original Ablecat, they called it that because it had an AD Skyraider engine. Then it proceeded on to be Rare Bear.”

After working on racing aircraft Buehn decided he wanted to race.

“A friend of mine, a gentleman by the name of Jim Mott had a T-6 and we raced that but of course he was the pilot and I was on the crew,” he said. “So I go, ‘I need to get my hand in this,’ and purchased my first T-6 around 1971 and came to the Reno races around 1972 where I campaigned the very first Midnight Miss.”

He explained the name came from working in the aircraft after midnight on many nights.

“Back then I played an old 78 record player and the spray paint would eventually make the needle get pretty sticks so the records got a little gooey, the music sounded a bit bleary and I was getting a little bit bleary,” he said. “So that was the beginnings of the Buehn Motorsports you might say.

Over the years he has gone through several aircraft and competed at the Mojave Air Races, Lincoln air Races, California City Air Races, Texas National Air Races at at different times.

His involvement at Reno began in 2005.

“Initially we were last in the Silver, in 2006 we were second in the Gold and in 2007 I brought home the gold,” he said, “That started, I guess you might call it a string of championships but it’s been on and off.”

He added that there was a 10-year stretch where no body won the Gold Championship twice in a row.

“I broke that chain in 2010 and 2011 but it’s a team effort as together everyone achieves the miracle.

He also explained that the people competing are doing it for the love of the sport rather than money.

“The purse for the race barely covers one fourth of the expenses to come here,” he said. “Just to campaign a T-6 in the Gold for that 10-days is 25 to 30 thousand dollars. Of course that covers not only the airplane but the crew, cars, food and other expenses.”

Like any competitor in racing he’s very appreciative of his sponsors like Cam Guard, Tempest Industries, Sun Air Parts and Aero Accessories. And there are several other sponsors that are listed in the Air Race program.

“If it wasn’t for the sponsor money we wouldn’t be able to do this,” he said.

He met his wife Tami after being involved with flying and air racing for several years.

When I met Dennis I wasn’t a pilot,” she said. “It ended up that a friend of his had a little Aeronca Chief back in Michigan. Dennis and I went back there, took at look at it and a friend flew it out. Dennis was also a CFI, had moved to Carson City, he taught me to fly and that’s how all that started.”

Then she added, “I kind of got “nudged,” into flying the way my husband “nudged,” me into car racing.”

Tami Buehn (left) stands behind her car with Teresa Aquila from Teresa’s Garage radio show. Buehn later took Aquila out on the track during a heat race.

Buehn got interested in car racing after the tragedy at Reno, which happened around the time they moved to Fallon.

“So flying around in a Cub one day I noticed a lot of cars in the pits at Rattlesnake Raceway,” he said. “So I went home and told Tami, ‘hey there’s car racing here in town,’ so we went to the track. And all our friends were nudging me and said, ‘hey Dennis you need that $200 or $300 stock car.'”

He explained it was a reasonable way to work on his affliction of being a motorhead.

“So we got into car racing and after I let her drive my car one time I said, ‘no, you get your own car.’ That was probably three or four years ago as I preceded her a year or two before that,” he said.

Dennis Buehn in his Hobby Stock at Rattlesnake Raceway.

Now they have a couple of racecars and are both working with the Lahontan Auto Racing Association. He’s on the board, she is the treasurer and both of them have done a lot to promote the track.

“It takes people to move this thing forward to work in concert with sponsors because, once again, we’re strictly a volunteer, work for free sort of outfit,” he said. “If it wasn’t for donors, sponsors, as well as the Tourism and Convention Center, they give us a grant, so we are able to put on the 4th of July fireworks. So it works out well for us.”

This past season, Tami was bumped out of fourth place to fifth in the championship chase so she got a plaque rather than a trophy.

Tami Buehn out on the track in her Hobby Stock.

“I don’t race for the trophy anyway, it’s fun you know and we like to bring our cars out to ever race to get the car count up,” she said. “I got a new engine in my car for this season and we’re going to lock the rear end so Tami is going to have to learn to race all over again.”

Then Dennis said, “The kitty is going to have some claws now. Not only that she actually beat me in half of the races to be sixth and me only fourth. She was ahead of me probably 40% of the time.”

Tami Buehn leads her husband Dennis (43J) and another car during a restart at Rattlesnake Raceway.

As for Dennis, he ended up fourth in the points race for the second year in a row.

Looking head he said that Buehn Motorsports will sponsor two Pro Stock races at Rattlesnake while the track will sponsor a third event. And the track will also be part of the Evenson Ironman Challenge, which ends at Fallon on the 3rd and 4th of July.

“A lot of good stuff working in concert with the city and all the other tracks,” he said. “We work in concert with the city for Octane Fest as you’ve got Top Gun Raceway as well as the Fair Grounds.”

Looking ahead toward the 2016 Air Races, Buehn explained that both he and Nick Macy have six Gold victories each. They are both going to try and score a seventh which will tie the record.

Dennis Buehn taxis back onto the ramp after winning his sixth T-6 Gold championship and his third in a row at the Reno Air Races.

“There’s a challenge for both of us as we’re both looking to see who will get the number 7 win, then we have to race another year to see who gets around that,” he said.

One aircraft, Miss TNT was flown to seven Gold victories and after several years has been purchased by another pilot.

“She presently in the hanger with Midnight Miss so there’s 13 wins sitting in my hanger,” he said. “We’ll race prep Miss TNT, we’re bringing her up to speed so it will be racing again with a new pilot. It may take a while, a year or so to get it completely dialed in so we have to watch what’s coming up on the horizon.”

This past year Buehn and Macy swapped places during Saturday’s race.

“It went back and forth until I only beat him by maybe 10 feet in Saturday’s heat race,” he said. “So it was not as easy as I thought it was going to be and it really brought the crowd to their feet. That’s why you’re here, if you’re only seven to 10-feet ahead at the finish line lap after lap, that’s racing.

Dennis Buehn (left #43) leads the T-6 Gold race at the 2015 Reno National Championship Air Races.

“That challenge I’ve been waiting for nearly 10-years, Nick Macy and I each with six wins are trying to get around Fast Eddy Van Fossen’s seven wins.”

A jubilant Dennis Buehn heads back towards his pit after winning this third T-6 Gold race in a row, which gave him his sixth championship.

While Buehn won the Gold Chris Rushing was catching him and this year could be a real threat to take the Gold.

He also added that the T-6 Lickety Split, that used to be flown by Bud Granley has been purchased by John King and will race at Reno after an absence of several years.

As a result Buehn Motorsports will be supporting about five new T-6 air racers this year.

Another project the Buehns are doing is to have street legal Camaro painted like their racecars so they can use them in parades and other presentations.

They are also buying an old Pro Stock/Late Model, putting dirt tires on it so it can be used for promotional rides during intermissions. And Summit Racing might be the big sponsor for that project.

Tami mentioned they are also trying to get some cars out to the Pylon Racing School for publicity shots that can be used both for the Air Races and Rattlesnake Raceway.

She also complimented the new CEO of the Air Races, Mike Crowell.

“He’s cut a lot of fat and is trying to get more money for the purse,” she said.

Buehn added that a good purse can draw competitors to an event.

Looking toward the future he said, “There’s a lot of good stuff, working in concert with the air races, car races. I mean new cars, new sponsors, new people coming to racing, guys pulling cars out of the weeds. It’s going in the right direction.”

For this racing couple the coming year looks like a busy and great time for area racing.

OTHER RACING NEWS

• On Sunday the Daytona 500 ended with what may be the closest finish of the track’s stories history when Denny Hamlin just beat Martin Turex Jr. literally at the finish line.

DAYTONA BEACH, FL – FEBRUARY 21: Denny Hamlin, driver of the #11 FedEx Express Toyota, takes the checkered flag ahead of Martin Truex Jr., driver of the #78 Bass Pro Shops/Tracker Boats Toyota, to win the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series DAYTONA 500 at Daytona International Speedway on February 21, 2016 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by Chris Trotman/NASCAR via Getty Images)

Of the two Nevada drivers in the field Kyle Busch started fourth, led for a while and in the last lap scramble ended up third. Older bother Kurt started eighth and finished 10th.

In Saturday’s Xfinity race Las Vegas native Brendan Gaughan started sixth, got as high as second and was running in the top five until the final laps when he slipped to 10th at the finish.t

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