Buffy Waltrip
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Elizabeth "Buffy" Waltrip is the wife of NASCAR driver Michael Waltrip. Buffy is the owner of the #55 car on the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup team Michael Waltrip Racing (MWR). She is involved in modeling and advertising jewelery marketed at the NASCAR community.[1] She is also known for her help for several charities.
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[edit] Personal life
Elizabeth "Buffy" Franks was born on April 5, 1967 in Monroe, La. She was the third of three children born to Beverly Louis(BL)and Carol Franks. The family moved from Monroe to Owosso, Michigan for BL's job with Georgia Pacific. During Buffy's junior year of high school, the family once again moved for BL's job with GP, this time to Asheville, NC.
Buffy was in college at the University of North Carolina getting her Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration when she met Michael at a NASCAR themed eatery that was frequented by many of the drivers, team members, and other NASCAR related personnel. They became friends, and after she graduated in 1989, she moved onto working for a software company, but saw Michael now & then while out on the town. They would hang out a bit but nothing ever came of it until she got a job working for a company called SPORTS IMAGE. Part of her job was attend NASCAR races in marketing capacity. It was then Michael decided he wanted to be more than friends with Buffy and pursued her. He had been asking her out for several months, when, in August 1992, while at Michigan for race weekend, she finally agreed to go out to dinner with Michael. Dale Jarrett and his wife Kelly were to be chaparones. Buffy had left to take a sponsor to the airport, and during qualifying, Michael had a bad wreck and was transported to the hospital. Buffy was back at her hotel room, waiting for Michael to call. She was about to give up on him, when a co-worker called her and told her what happened and where Michael was. Buffy rushed to the hospital to be with him. It was when Michael asked Buffy to hold his hand while getting stitches under his lip, that she finally saw that sensitive side of him and fell in love with him. It would still take another month before she finally agreed to be his girlfriend. On April 3,1993, Michael won the Bristol Busch race, and overcome with emotion from the week's events, asked Buffy to marry him on live tv in Victory Circle. They married on November 27,1993, and have 1 daughter, Margaret Carol(aka Macy) born on September 29,1997. Michael has an older daughter, Caitlin Marie from a previous relationship, who was born on January 12,1990.
[edit] Car owner
Michael Waltrip Racing was formed as a Busch Series team in 1996 with Michael and Buffy Waltrip as co-owners. The team ran Busch Series races as primarily a single car team until it was announced that Toyota would start racing in the NEXTEL Cup series (NASCAR's premiere division) starting in 2007. MWR was select by Toyota as the lead team for the manufacturer, so the team developed the engine package used by the Toyota teams. Buffy was named as the car owner of the #55 car, driven by her husband Michael Waltrip. Michael Waltrip Racing also fields cars driven by David Reutimann and Dale Jarrett.[2]
