Story By: MANDEE PAUCH / KID RACING – FRENCHTOWN, NJ – Heading into his 44th career season, Billy ‘The Kid’ Pauch believes the two biggest attributes to his career are his sponsors and his crew.
Eager for the 2018 season to be in full swing, Pauch is pleased to acknowledge his 20-year partnership with Pioneer Pole Buildings owner, Bob Greene.
“I don’t know of too many sponsors that have been with a driver for that long,” laughed Pauch. “I couldn’t appreciate it enough.”
Founded in 1998, Pioneer Pole Buildings has become the premier builder of post frame buildings in PA, NJ, DE, MD, WV, VA, and NY.
“Bob has the perfect business because a lot of racers and fans like to put up a shop or a barn and that’s exactly what they do,” added Pauch. “A lot of people I know have had them done. It works good with the sport because he gets good return out of it. He helps me out and in return it helps his business. I have a lot of their buildings on my property. Now they do metal roofing and siding, which he’s done to some of my buildings. They do a great job at it. They have a fair price and that’s what people are looking for.”
Not only is Pioneer Pole Buildings Pauch’s longest sponsor, but his car owner, Kevin Bifulco, owner of K&A Excavating, holds the record for being Pauch’s longest car owner.
“We’ve been together for 13 years,” added Pauch. “He holds the record for putting up
with me the longest as a car owner. We’re not only driver and owner but best friends, so it works good together. We spend a lot of time together outside of racing as well so it’s a great combination. Along with Pioneer and K&A I still have Nick Contey with First Choice Auto Equipment, Don Bish with Husqvarna Bish Sales and Al’s Sunoco coming back this year.”
After experimenting with his retro No.15 Big Block Modified last season, Pauch plans on getting back to the basics.
“After our experimenting binge last year, we decided to go back to the basics for this year. We went to Florida and had a mishap at the beginning of the week. We were able to rebound, drive up through the field and close out the week with a top-five finish. That’s hard to do down there with a field like that.”
Looking back on the DIRTcar Nationals in Florida, Pauch is pleased with his teams work ethic and confidence.
“My guys busted their butts down there,” he said. “We all worked together really well so I’m looking forward to blasting the season off. I have a really good group of guys with me – Phil Cox, Tim Hoffman, Chris Kraemer, Doug Lipouri and Jimmy Martin, Jimmy Stryker, Mike Kusant and John Rynearson.”
Pauch has his sights set on the South Velocita Short Track Super Series title along with select higher paying races throughout the year.
“We’ll post everything on our Facebook page and let our fans know where we’ll be. The bottom line is that we’d like our fans to support our sponsors who support us. If it weren’t for our great partners, we wouldn’t be able to do this.”
The biennial open house the Pauch family hosts at their race shop in Frenchtown, NJ will be on slate for this summer. The open house is set for Sunday, July 15th with a rain date of Sunday, July 22nd.