Blast from the past: UPS, Reutimann a perfect match

CONCORD, N.C. -- Finally, some 20 years after he first proudly wore the UPS uniform, David Reutimann is being asked to drive for the world-wide, package-delivery company.

Only this time, instead of working part-time as a "jumper" whose job it was to hop out off the passenger's seat and deliver packages as the second fiddle to the driver on a two-man UPS delivery team, Reutimann will be asked to deliver Sprint Cup victories as driver of the No. 44 Toyota racecar.

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Reutimann will step into the No. 44 currently being driven by NASCAR veteran Dale Jarrett after the first five Cup races next season. After divulging Friday that he worked for UPS during the busy Christmas holiday seasons for three years in a row back when he was "around 16, 17 or 18" in the early 1990s, can't you just see the television commercial possibilities?

Jarrett can.

"I don't think there is any doubt about it," said Jarrett, the star of so many UPS spots in the past. "That was the first thing I thought about when I heard the story. I don't know what they're cooking up, but I know they're cookin' something and I know it's gonna be fun."

Home-spun goodness seems to spill from Reutimann, 37, every time he opens his mouth to talk. For as successful as he has been on the racetrack -- he entered Friday night's Busch Series race at Lowe's Motor Speedway second in points to Carl Edwards -- Reutimann seems humble and extremely easy-going off it, with a healthy dose of self-deprecating humor ready at his lips all the time.

When Michael Waltrip announced Friday that Reutimann would be replacing Jarrett when Jarrett officially retires as a driver five points races into next season (not counting his planned cameo in the May All-Star Challenge, which will be Jarrett's true curtain call), the owner of Michael Waltrip Racing admitted that earlier this year he often wondered if Reutimann would come back when he sent the Cup rookie out for qualifying. Waltrip added that those fears subsided as the year progressed and his confidence in the "young driver" soared.

Then Waltrip paused and added, "Except, well, he's not that young, really."

Shortly thereafter, he introduced Reutimann at the news conference that began with Jarrett announcing his retirement plans. Reutimann shuffled to the podium in unassuming style, but soon had the attentive crowd rippling with laughter.

"The well-spoken part stops here, and the stuttering is about to commence," Reutimann said. "Michael talked about starting off, and wondering if I was going to make it back around. Well, there were many times when I wondered if he was going to make it back around, too."

His brown and checkered past

Reutimann is the son of East Coast racing legend Buzzie Reutimann, who won a reported 1,200 feature and 20 track championships in the 1950s and '60s. The younger Reutimann still counts winning races with his dad as among his most memorable moments in the sport.

But now, armed with a new contract to drive a car with a deep-pocketed sponsor for a team that suddenly is armed with an influx of cash from a new partner in billionaire Robert Kauffman, Reutimann appears ready to carve out a slew of new and thrilling memories.

First, however, he felt the need to share one more from his past.

"When I finally get to wear the UPS brown, it won't be the first time I've done that," Reutimann admitted. "I've raced my entire life, and never really had another [full-time] job other than racing, which means I have really never had a real job ever. But during the off-season, I was smart enough to figure out that when there was no racing, there would be no food -- because I had no other way to make money.

"So our local UPS guy said, `Well, hey, how about coming and helping us out during the winter months, during the peak season?' He said I could help out as what they referred to at that time as a jumper, which basically meant you were helping the [full-time] UPS guy.' So I never drove the UPS truck, but I did wear the brown and sat in the seat beside the driver -- and I took orders from him. I do think I'm going to look much more forward to the brown I'll be wearing in the future than the brown I wore at one time."

Passing the torch

Dale Jarrett announced he will retire his way in the 2008 season, by racing the first five points races then ending his career at the All-Star Challenge in May.

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Yet, at the time, Reutimann took pride in and appreciated the opportunity to be employed by UPS.

"I was grateful to have that job, because I really needed the money," he said. "I think the fact that I learned how hard those people worked is what jumped out at me the most. You're down at the shop and the brown truck pulls up and a package shows up, and everything is good. You're mad at the guy if he's a little bit late or whatever.

"But then you go out there with the guys and you're making over 200 stops a day in different places -- and in some places that you would never find anywhere on a map. It's pretty amazing. So I was very taken back. As with most things, it's a lot harder than it looks."

So is racing at the Cup level, as Reutimann rudely discovered when he failed to qualify for several races earlier this season. Although it bothered him deeply each time, he said he always believed there would be better days ahead -- and Friday was one of them.

"We've had our ups and downs this year," said Reutimann, who has qualified for the last seven Cup races in a row after missing a total of eight earlier [six by failing to qualify and two because he was not entered in the road-course races at Infineon and Watkins Glen]. "But I knew having Michael Waltrip in my corner, and having Dale Jarrett as my teammate ... I was kind of living the dream.

"Dale has basically helped me get this opportunity. For whatever reason, he seemed to like me all right. I really don't know why that was, but he's kind of put his blessing on this and is the major reason I'm having this opportunity. I want to thank him for that, but at the same time I'm very disappointed that he won't be my teammate on a weekly basis."

Cue the commercial

If you think UPS has had fun with Jarrett in their television advertising campaign, wait until they get a load of the new guy with the jumper past.

Jarrett already is mulling over the possibilities, and might even play a role or two himself before making the transition to Reutimann complete. He said he approached Reutimann maybe two months ago about the possibilities.

But it wasn't until after all the ink was dry Jarrett learned Reutimann once held a part-time job for the company he now will be paid millions to race for and to represent.

"He told me that [Thursday]. That was the first time I heard that story," Jarrett said. "That makes all of this an even better situation and fit than it was before. He's such a good guy, and a very talented racecar driver, obviously. But he's such a good guy.

"People are going to see that now. They are going to get the opportunity to see and meet David Reutimann. I think a lot of people are going to be pleasantly surprised to see what they're going to get here -- but what a great story. There are just stories like this all through the garage area -- and until those young guys get the opportunity to tell us those stories, we don't know a whole lot about them."

Reutimann said this is just the latest in a series of timely blessings in his life that he believes have been sent from the heavens above. And that includes his first stint with UPS.

"The Lord has blessed me with things happening at the right time in my life," Reutimann said. "Just being associated with UPS at that time was the perfect time because I needed income and I didn't have any way to get it. I think it was eight dollars an hour or something like that. And I was like, `Man, I'm in the chips right now. I'm all set.' So it was pretty neat."

He claimed he never screwed up a delivery of a single package while he was on the job.

"It's amazing that they can make as many stops as they do and get it right all the time," he added.

Told Reutimann was paid roughly eight bucks an hour previously by UPS, Jarrett grinned broadly and promised: "We're giving him a pretty good raise over that now."

Reutimann smiled, too, at that thought.

"I'll be making slightly more," he said. "I've stepped it up a little now, and I'm feeling pretty good about it."

The opinions expressed are those solely of the writer