Where is ... Buddy Baker?

Once in a while, the ol' itch to drive will come back when Buddy Baker is at the track and the command is given to start engines. You don't race as long as Baker did and not have it become a very real part of you.

Then, shortly after the green flag falls, he'll come to his senses.

"They come down the frontstretch at Talladega five wide, and it's like, 'What was I thinking?!?'" Baker said.

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Buddy Baker

No, Baker seems truly content with the way things have worked out. Contacted recently about the possibility of participating next year in what will amount to a seniors racing tour, Baker said thanks, but no thanks. In effect, Baker said, he had nothing left to prove.

He's a co-host of a weekly show on Sirius Satellite Radio, and he still does driver coaching with Penske Racing when they need him. As late as just last year, Baker was on the track doing testing work for the powerhouse organization.

He'll still drive at the Buck Baker Racing School when he gets a special request, but he's so doggone busy, it's hard to do everything. There is in Baker's voice a sense of contentment that's not hard to miss.

Buddy Baker is happy doing what he's doing.

"I'm in great health," Baker said. "I get to be around a sport that I love. I'm very content with life."

His deal with Penske happened almost by chance. He happened to be at the track when longtime Penske driver Rusty Wallace was testing and Wallace asked Baker to see what he could do with the car. Let's just say that Wallace was impressed.

"It was one of the greatest compliments I ever got in racing," Baker said. "When I came back in, Rusty looked at me and said, 'You drive the car and I'll just work on 'em.' After that, one thing just led to another."

Since then, Baker has been a guiding force in Ryan Newman's career, coaching and spotting for the star driver long before his first Cup start. His latest project was with Sam Hornish, who'll be making the jump from the IndyCar Series to a newly formed full-time Sprint Cup entry fielded in 2008 by team owner Roger Penske.

Really, if anybody is perfectly suited for a coaching gig, it's Baker.

"I basically tell 'em what not to do," Baker said. "They might ask a question about the fastest way around the track. We'll discuss it and then they'll go out and a lot of times figure out something even faster."

Baker had a fairly spectacular career, one that began in 1959. He wasn't exactly known as a finesse driver. Only two of his 19 career wins came on short tracks, one at the old Nashville state fairgrounds track in 1973 and the other at Martinsville six years later. No, Baker's reputation was based almost entirely on mashing the throttle as far through the floorboard as it could possibly go.

He was the first driver to reach 200 mph on a closed course, steering one of the famed winged Dodge Charger Daytonas at Talladega during a 1970 test session. It would be another 12 years before Benny Parsons recorded the first "official" 200 mph qualifying lap, also at the 2.66-mile superspeedway. (Continued)