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TO THE OFFICIAL
BUTCH JELLEY
WEBSITE
Butch Is In The Hall !!!
Justice has finally been served. On May 29, 2005, Butch will be inducted into the DIRT MotorSports Hall Of Fame, in a ceremony to be held in Weedsport.
Butch was already inducted into the New York State Stock Car Association Hall Of Fame in 2003, but that was expected. The overwhelming majority of Butch's career was run outside of the DIRT MotorSports circuit.
The induction by DIRT is testimonial, not only to Butch's greatness, but to the classiness of the entire DIRT operation. They obviously did not induct Butch for his success on the DIRT circuit ... to my knowledge his success there was limited ... at best. It appears that he was inducted for his contribution to the sport before DIRT was formed. (yes ... Butch is literally "older than DIRT").
For those of you who don't know who Butch is, or what he is like, I'll sum it up for you. He was an incredible stock car driver, who never enjoyed the luxury of having top-shelf equipment, never complained about that fact, and, at one point or another, beat anyone who is anyone in the northeastern United States.
More importantly ... to this day, Butch sees himself as nothing more than some old guy from Vermont. I literally had to shove him into victory lane to be photographed with his brother Wayne's 1st Lebanon Valley Speedway win. "No one wants to see me ... they want to see Wayne", he laughed at me, as I pushed him into the clearing that had been set for the photographers. I set him straight ... "Get your ass out there. You're Butch Jelley, this is Lebanon Valley, and those people love you", I insisted, as I pointed out at the audience.
He really is that modest. This site used to have a transcript of a telephone interview I had with Butch a few years ago. In short, aside from him knowing his name, and that he used to race stock cars, he was clueless. I had to tell him that he was amongst the winningest driver's in Lebanon Valley history. I had to tell him that he was hero to many people, myself included, and that there were still people talking about his racing skills to this day. He even got argumentative when I told him that I had nominated him for the New York State Stock Car Association Hall Of Fame ... as if he had no place on any such list. When I told him that, if Vermont had such an association and hall, they'd have to name the hall after him, he told me that I'm nuts.
He simply refused to acknowledge anything more than just being "one of the guys who used to race".
I'm really long overdue to re-interview him for this site, and I apologize for that. He's easy enough to find, so I have no excuse. All week long, he's at Jelley Deli ... his Mobil station in Londonderry, Vermont. On the weekends, you can usually find him somewhere around Wayne's car. Stop and see him, or give him a call. I'll guarantee that he will be haapy to talk to you, and that you'll walk away feeling as if you'd made a lifelong friend.
If you
have any stories, pictures or info about
Butch, please use the provided link to email me. Any help will be greatly appreciated.
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