Nationwide driver Ken Butler III deals with rich-kid persona
R3 Motorsports driver Ken Butler III competes in the NASCAR Nationwide Series. // David Griffin, NASCAR Scene
R3 Motorsports NASCAR Nationwide Series driver Ken Butler III has heard it all his life: He’s a spoiled rich kid who only is racing because of his dad.
You may have heard of his father, Ken Butler Jr. Or you may have seen him on television. Butler is the chief executive officer of Aaron’s Rents, which has become somewhat of a household name in NASCAR because of its TV commercials with Michael Waltrip – and sometimes with Butler.
Butler III – better known as KB3 – won’t shy away from who his father is. And why should he?
“I’ve dealt with it all my life,” Butler III, 27, said. “My dad’s doing his thing, I’m doing my thing.”
KB3 has received help from his dad during his racing career, but Butler II rightly points out that all drivers get help of some kind along their way to NASCAR’s three national series.
“I don’t really care,” Butler III said. “A lot of these guys are … racing because of their dad. And without their funding or somebody who they know funding, they wouldn’t be racing either. So I don’t care. It’s part of the deal.”
“I have a lot of pressure on myself. But as far as anybody else, I really don’t care. I want to do well for the team and the sponsors, of course. But as far as outsiders who don’t understand the sport, I really don’t care what they think.”
So if you want to call him a spoiled rich kid, go ahead. If you think he is racing only because of his dad, go ahead. You’re free to think whatever you want.
Besides, Butler III doesn’t care what you think.
“Even though high school, people were like, ‘Dude, you’re a spoiled little rich kid,’” Butler III said. “It is what it is, and that’s why you’ve just got to not worry about what people say and do what you do.”
And for Butler III, doing what you do is racing. He hasn’t been doing it that long, but he’s racing for one reason and only one reason.
He’s not racing because of his dad. He’s not racing because of his dad’s company.
Butler III is racing simply because he loves it.
He fell in love with racing after playing high school football for one of the powerhouse programs in Georgia, Parkview High School in Lilburn, Ga. Butler III wasn’t that talented of a player – by his own admission – but he was fearless, taking on players much bigger than him.
Not long after his football career ended, he and brother Brett saw a kart race at Peach State Speedway in Jefferson, Ga.
“I thought that was the coolest thing ever,” Butler III said. “I watched them race one night, and I was like, ‘Dude, I’m in. I’ve got to do this.’”
The boys dragged their dad to a track, where another competitor had two karts, a trailer and some engines for sale, and it was “fairly reasonably cheap.” Butler II said.
“I figured we’d buy them, and after about six months, they’d grow bored and they’d be for sale the next year,” Butler II said. “I was already figuring out how much I could get back out of them.
“So I figured that was going to be my race car investment. Little did I know …”
That same year, Aaron’s got in the NASCAR business, sponsoring a race in what was then known as Busch Series at Atlanta Motor Speedway. The Butlers were so raw to the sport that after Butler II met Michael Waltrip – with whom the company would develop a relationship that lasts to today – Butler II asked, “Like Darrell Waltrip?”
Soon, the racing education began, and the boys were working on race cars in their father’s basement, often with the help of plenty of people.
Butler III moved to stock cars in 2004, racing in the Hooters Pro Cup Series in 2005-07. Also in 2007, Butler II ran some races in NASCAR’s Truck series, as well as in the Automobile Racing Club of America.
In his fourth ARCA start, Butler II won at Toledo Speedway in Ohio in 2007. A year later, he finished 10th in the series’ point standings, winning two poles and posting seven top-10 finishes.
This year, Butler III joined R3, sharing the team’s No. 23 Chevrolet with Robert Richardson Jr., the son of one of the team’s owners.
Another of the team’s owners, Rob Fuller, says Butler III is doing a good job despite the limitations of a small team competing against some of the best in the sport.
“He’s smart enough to see what we’re racing against,” Fuller said. “He knows budgets. He has been around long enough and his dad has been around long enough to know the reality of everything.”
And that means doing the best he can with the limited experience he has and the limited budget his team has. Butler III has crashed out of four of the 12 races he has entered this year, but he has finished 17th twice, once in Las Vegas and again at Kentucky.
He understands how difficult it is to learn the ropes at this level, and that’s made tougher by racing part-time.
“That sucks,” Butler III said. “You get in a rhythm, and then you’re like, ‘I’m not racing for three weeks.’ That part kind of sucks. I do better when I’m in a rhythm.”
But he doesn’t take for granted where he’s at, even if Aaron’s won’t be back as his sponsor for 2010.
“A lot of great race car drivers out there are searching for rides,” Butler III said. “I’m very blessed and thankful to Aaron’s for backing me up for so long. I am one of the luckiest guys in the world, really. I get to drive race cars for a living. It’s pretty awesome.”
