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.

Four times, Baker won at Talladega. Another four times, he went to Victory Lane at Charlotte. It was the Daytona 500 that eluded for so long, and not until 1980 did he finally notch a win in the sport's biggest race.

He did it in style. His 177.602 mph average is still the quickest Daytona 500 ever run.

"No doubt, winning the Daytona 500," Baker replied when asked what his proudest accomplishment was in the sport. "I had won four races at Charlotte, four at Talladega. Atlanta. Darlington. I'd won some big races. It took me 18 years to win the Daytona 500, and [Dale] Earnhardt 19."

On the flip side, one of Baker's biggest regrets is that he rarely concentrated on winning a NASCAR championship. In only three of the 33 years in which he competed did Baker run a full schedule.

"I didn't place myself with a team that was capable of running for the championship," Baker said. "I did a lot of testing for both Goodyear and Firestone. At that time, doing that paid better."

The track then known as Charlotte Motor Speedway saw Baker win his first race in October 1967. Baker's victory in the event ended Richard Petty's historic run of 10 consecutive wins that season. However, it was also at Charlotte in 1988 that Baker sustained a head injury that eventually led to his retirement.

He soldiered on for a few more races in '88, and even scored top-10 finishes at Pocono, Daytona and Talladega. Severe dizzy spells, however, forced him out of the car he co-owned with Danny Schiff beginning at Watkins Glen. He would not drive again for another year and a half, until early in the 1990 season at Atlanta.

"The nice part of getting hurt was that you don't remember it," Baker said with a laugh. He can do that now, laugh. Then, it was incredibly hard getting used to the notion of not driving. He began broadcasting races with The Nashville Network, and that kept him in and around the garage.

When he came back in 1990 with car owner Junie Donlavey, things were different. He satisfied himself that he could still drive, but also that he'd had enough. He wasn't going to tempt fate, and in that is a testament to his character. He didn't hang on, trying to chase something that just wasn't there.

"I qualified 30th and drove it up through there to fifth. Junie radioed me and said, 'I ain't never seen anything like that,'" Baker said. "Going down the backstretch, I told him that I'd done what I needed to do, that I proved to myself that I could still do it. The next thing I know, Mark Martin goes straight up into the air and I get caught up in the wreck.

"When you come back, the good rides are gone. There had been a time when I made moves on the track without even thinking about it, on instinct. I'd see an opening and just go for it. When I came back, I had to think about doing something before I did it."

After running three races in 1992, Baker turned his full attention to broadcasting. Today, he focuses on his Sirius show. He's got to stay up on everything that's going on, because the folks who listen know as much as he does.

Or ... they think they do, at any rate. One thing that sticks with him, though, is the notion that current drivers are overpaid. Nope. That doesn't fly, not with Buddy Baker.

"That's malarkey," Baker said. "These guys put their lives on the line every time they get into a car. To do what they do, they should get paid ... and paid well."