Josh Reaume is a breath of fresh air.
The 23-year-old Highlands resident, who is attempting to make it on the NASCAR Nationwide circuit via a six-race trial with Rick Ware Racing, answered a late text on Friday night.
Not more than 90 minutes after finishing 30th at the ToyotaCare 250 at Richmond International Raceway in Virgina, the young man was on the phone to your humble correspondent, who had watched the race on TSN2.
His outlook and enthusiasm was more than refreshing for this ink-stained wretch, who has covered sports at the professional and amateur levels for more than 27 years.
Reaume, who began racing karts at age 15 at Western Speedway, was a treat to deal with as he rolled back into hs hotel room after 2 a.m. his time to fill my digital recorder with quotes to share with our readers.
The excitement was still very evident in his voice. Reaume had just endured more than a three-hour rain delay that doused the 3/4-mile track. Fighting a stuffy nose and head from pollens in the area, he gladly took to the track for his Nationwide debut.
Starting 37th in the 40-car field, the University of Victoria graduate, who also works in NASCAR as an engineer for TriStar Motorsports, finished 30th.
"I wasn't nervous, so much as just wanting to get out there," he said of the wait. "We ended the second practice in 25th and I think that impressed a lot of people.We're not a high-dollar team by any means, so doing that made a statement. There were a lot of good comments about achieving that.
"Qualifying 37th, I was a little disappointed in that so I wanted the race to get started so I could redeem myself. The delay got longer so I was more getting antsy than nervous because I wanted to get back into the car and just pass some people," he added.
He managed to get through the race - which featured several cautions - cleanly, but not without some mishaps.
"Kyle Busch got inside of me once, passed me inside and slammed my door a little bit. I got into the back of J.J. Yeley on a re-start, but other than that this car was pretty clean," he said proudly.
Reaume was racing against experienced drivers on the second-best stock car racing circuit in the world, behind only the NASCAR Sprint series.
He's supposed to get a chance to race five more times this season.
"The crew chief was ecstatic after this race, he thought I did a fantastic job. We met all our goals and we can't wait till I get back in the seat again," added Reaume, who had not raced since August.
"He wishes I was able to run more than I am going to run and he thinks I'm capable of doing real well if we're in the car."
Meanwhile, most of his competitors Friday were into their seventh Nationwide races and now Reaume heads back to work in North Carolina for TriStar Motorsports, which ran four of its own cars in the Nationwide race.
"I have the rest of the weekend off, which is nice, but come 7 a.m. Monday I'll be walking back in there," said Reaume.
He should be walking a little taller and with dreams of soon racing again, likely in Dover in May.
