Buffy Waltrip

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Buffy (Elizabeth) Waltrip is the wife of famous NASCAR driver Michael Waltrip, who is the brother of Darrell Waltrip. Her maiden name is Franks, and she has a bachelor's degree. She was attending college and working at a local Winston Cup drivers hang-out when she met Michael. Buffy and Michael were friends and saw one another whenever the Cup circuit was in town. One day in 1992, somebody told Buffy that her friend Michael had been involved in a bad crash. She visited him in the hospital, and the couple began dating.

Michael proposed to Buffy on April 4, 1993. Three days prior, Alan Kulwicki died in a plane crash. Alan and Michael had shared the same rookie year, and the two were friends. Alan's passing weighed heavily on Michael's mind two days later, when he won the BGN's Budweiser 250 at Bristol. He took the car around the track backwards, performing NASCAR's first Polish Victory lap in memory of Alan. That same day, during a televised interview in victory lane, Michael drew Buffy into his arms and held her. He introduced everyone to his girlfriend.

"Michael won the Busch race that night," Buffy recalled, "and when he did, I ran to victory lane to meet him. When he was giving his interview, he pulled me up there and said, 'This is my girlfriend, Buffy.' I thought he just wanted to kind of make it official that he had a girlfriend. He then said, 'I want to marry her one-day.' Benny Parsons said, 'Hey Michael did you just ask her to marry you?' Michael looked at me and said, 'Will you marry me?' I said yes and then Michael said he had the ring in the truck. I laughed so hard later because I knew he meant it was in the hauler. It sounded so funny to hear Michael say, 'Yeah, the ring's in my truck.' Michael had happy hour after that for the Winston Cup race, so I had to sit there at the hauler and wonder where my ring was until it was over. It was torture."

The couple were married on November 27, 1993. Buffy moved into the 200 year old farmhouse where he was already living, in Sherrills Ford, North Carolina. The couple still live there today. September 27, 1997 marked the birth of Buffy and Michael's daughter Magaret Carol, who is better known as 'Macy'.

Buffy is business savvy and has helped Michael become the sponsor's dream that he is today. In September of 2001, she brought to her husband's attention his communication troubles. "You are a great race car driver," Buffy said, "but you are a rotten communicator. In order for the world to be able to know what a great race car driver you are, you have to work on your people skills. You've got to be more of a communicator. You've got to be one of the guys."

Michael began to recognise that, although he excels at engaging audiences, cracking jokes, and making people smile, he had difficulty with one-to-one relationships. "I never thought I was better than anyone," he said. "I don't do personal relationships well. That probably has hurt me throughout the years in my career."

Buffy's talk with Michael allowed him to turn things around on the track. "With help from her," he said, "in recognizing it, and then in getting a guy like I felt like I could work with, getting Slugger, I finally put myself in an environment where we could communicate. We were able to understand each other and get headed in the right direction. We see what it takes for me to be successful. Now we'll just keep on doing that."

Buffy brokers deals behind the scenes and has contributed immensely to the success of Michael Waltrip Racing. She loves New York City; she visits the city frequently. She enjoys spending time with her daughter Macy and Michael's daughter Caitlin.

BUFFY QUOTES:

"There's no good explanation why one wreck hurts somebody and another doesn't. When it's your turn, it's your time. That's how I have to live or I'd have 20 ulcers."

"He started instilling confidence in Michael emotionally. He constantly told Michael that he would win, that he was required to win. The whole off-season he talked to Michael like that. Michael went to Daytona knowing he had a good chance." (Her response to Dale Earnhardt offering her husband a ride with DEI)

This information comes from http://www.mikeypower.com and is used with permission.