5/31/2023
Five Flags Speedway
Track Chaplain to Compete Against Crown Stocks; Kids Gear Up for Annual Bike Races
Track Chaplain to Compete Against Crown Stocks; Kids Gear Up for Annual Bike Races
By Chuck Corder
5flagsspeedway.com reporter
Wayne Butts’ sense of adventure has always been stuck at full throttle.
It’s how Five Flags Speedway’s longtime Track Chaplain and his wife, Sue, have lived their 28 years of marriage together.
But even they couldn’t have been prepared for the long, strange trip constructing their forever home would be. Wayne and Sue are in the final stages of a two-year-plus project building a “Barndominium” on eight acres in Chumuckla. For 22 months, the pair have lived in the close confines of an RV.
“People like to combine words these days like (Barndominium),” the 65-year-old Care Pastor at Liberty Church’s Blue Angel campus. “I have my own words: Tiny Mansion Combine those and you get ‘Tinsion’ [sic].”
Wayne will take a break from construction this Friday night and add another page to his story of adventures. Wayne will compete in Five Flags’ newest and hottest series. He will race in the Story & Bleich Crown Stocks Series in addition to carrying out the invocation, which he has done for more than a decade as Chaplain.
Wayne’s racing history extends to a few “Faster Pastor” races several years ago.
“I think that’ll be evident again this Friday,” he joked. “I got an offer I couldn’t refuse. I haven’t studied the class in depth, but I know they are as stock as you can get.
“I think it’s a great way to get more people involved and bring more attention to the racetrack.”
The Crown Stocks (15 laps) will share Friday night’s stage with the track’s annual children’s bicycle races along with the Faith Chapel Outlaws (40), The Dock on Pensacola Beach Sportsmen (25) and Lloyd’s Glass Pure Stocks (20). Gates open at 4 p.m. Friday with the green flag set to drop at 8. Admission is $15 for adults; $12 for seniors, military and students; and free for kids 12-and-under.
There will be multiple age divisions for the bike races. Creek Waste has sponsored trophies in each age division and every child will receive some cold and delicious ice cream courtesy of The Dock on Pensacola Beach.
Wayne hopes his performance will be worthy of a bowl, too.
“Along with gray hair, I hope, comes wisdom,” he said. “I’m not as young as I used to be. But it’ll be interesting to get in a car and have a lotta fun.”
Wayne has been a mainstay at the famed half-mile asphalt oval, provided counseling for drivers after on-track accidents and officiated weddings for a couple racers. It’s a similar mission he has been called to at Liberty where he cares for the congregation.
The “Tinsion” project has needed a lot of tender loving care, as well. Wayne and Sue’s contractor tragically died late last year and they had to start at square-one around New Year’s. They’re getting close to leaving the RV behind, though, as the plumbing inspection was set for this week.
“It has been an ordeal, but we’re looking forward to getting in,” said Wayne, who will have a 1,600-sq. ft. shop for his beloved woodworking. “We’re excited to be in peace and quiet and enjoy nature. It’s going to be a great retirement place. When we move in, the RV goes. We met our quota. We’ll stick around the house.
“We’re looking forward to enjoying life and moving forward. Always onto a new adventure.”
His next adventure comes Friday night at Pensacola’s high banks.
