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When Mt. Pleasant Speedway driver Jeff Fussman takes to the track this season, he will be turning back the clock 30-plus years as a way of honoring his uncle and former racer Pat Fussman.
Jeff Fussman, 43, of Shepherd, and driver of the No. 12 Street Stock, is going retro with his 2009 car as he has designed the car after a combination of two of his favorite cars that his uncle drove in his career that spanned from 1959 to mid-1970s.
The idea to replicate Jeff's car came from his cousin and Pat's son, Jim Fussman, 44, and owner of Fussman Designs in Clare.
"This is my dad's car," Jim Fussman said of the replication. "When I was a kid I remember the Snoopy logo on the car and I always wanted to have a car like that but never did get into racing. Jeff has a car and I talked him into lettering this year's car like my dad's old car and this is what we came up with."
The main car of Pat's that Jeff has patterned his car after is a red mid-1970s Pontiac LeMans.
"I think it's the neatest thing in the world since it looks like mine," Pat Fussman, 67, said with a laugh.
Seeing his nephew sport a car that so closely resembles his old racecars brings back many memories to Pat Fussman.
"It takes me back to my old driving days. My favorite races were the Australian Pursuits because it didn't matter if you started in the front or back," Pat Fussman said. of the old races where if a driver was passed he was eliminated from the race. "It really means a lot to me for Jeff to do this."
For Jeff Fussman the reasoning for doing this is quite simple - family.
"When I was a kid going to the races and watching my uncles (Pat and Jack Fussman) race I always remembered these cars," Jeff Fussman said. "Jack (Fussman) had the No. 11 and Pat (Fussman) drove the No. 12. Then this year Jim (Fussman) said he wanted to do this and I thought it was a cool idea."
One of the most recognizable parts of Pat Fussman's old racecars was the logo of Snoopy from the old cartoon where he was on the flying doghouse.
"When I built one of my first racecars, I always read the Snoopy comic strip of him riding the flying doghouse and that's how I got the idea," Pat Fussman said. "I still watch that cartoon today."
To re-create that design, which Pat Fussman originally hand-painted on his cars, Jim Fussman took one of his dad's old pictures and scanned in the Snoopy image. The other notable aspect of Pat Fussman's old racecars that was reproduced on Jeff Fussman's 2009 car is the No. 12 in a white circle.
"We scanned in the Snoopy design and then took the No. 12 in a circle, which actually came from two different cars of my dad's, and this is what we got," Jim Fussman said as he referred to Jeff Fussman's 2009 No. 12 Street Stock.
To keep as much of the original design from Pat Fussman's car on Jeff's the group decided to keep the sponsors names as basic as possible, Jim Fussman said.
"I measured them and he (Jim Fussman) cut them," Jeff Fussman said of how the logos were applied.
When the green flag drops this Friday at the Mt. Pleasant Speedway for opening night - weather permitting - and fans see the Street Stock No. 12 of Jeff Fussman circling the track, it'll mark five decades of a Fussman family member in racing at Mt. Pleasant.
Members of the Fussman Racing crew original members were Jack and Pat Fussman, from there the group expanded to their brothers Mike, Steve and the late Tom Fussman. Then in 1996 Jack and Pat Fussman's nephew and Jeff Fussman's older brother Roger Fussman kept the tradition alive by jumping into the No. 11 Michigan Modified car - which was a tribute to his uncle Jack's old car number. And finally Jeff Fussman keeps the name going with his No. 12 Street Stock in a career that began in 1997.
To honor the Fussman racing tradition Jeff Fussman is sporting a "50 Years of Fussman Racing" logo on the back of his car this year.
"It's the adrenaline rush," Jeff Fussman said of what he likes about racing. "You can't match it in anything. Sitting in the car you're relaxed, but when the green flag flies the adrenaline hits."
