TOLEDO OH (2-25/26-09) - Everyone's got a story to tell; 54-year-old Barry Fitzgerald would be no exception.

"I sell buses for a living," said the Sykesville, Maryland driver.

He can also call himself a bona fide ARCA RE/MAX Series driver after finishing 13th in Wayne Peterson's no. 06 TheBusPlace.com Ford at Daytona Int'l Speedway in his career-first series start back in February.

"I heard from Andy (Belmont) that Wayne Peterson (ARCA car owner) was looking for a driver. I went to his shop, got fitted in the car and went to Daytona."

That was of course after Fitzgerald had tested at Daytona back in December in order to first get approval to race.

"I've known Andy for 20 years or so. I raced in the Goody's Dash Series with him. He was also racing modifieds in the Pennsylvania area and we stayed friends over the years. Last year, I jokingly talked with Andy about driving one of his cars. He offered me to come on down to his shop, got fitted in a car. But, as it went, another driver came along who was funded, so that was that. But Andy also told me about a team that wanted to test at Daytona, so I took Andy's advice, got hooked up with Stan Hover Motorsports, went down to the test and got approved."

Back to the buses.

Actually, Fitzgerald does a lot more than sell buses. Fitzgerald manages federal contracts for Colonial Equipment, which takes him to all 50 states across the Union. His contract also includes ‘special vehicles' for the Department of Homeland Security. And business is booming.

"The bad economy actually helped the transportation business. And when gas prices shot way up, people starting using mass transit more, subway systems, any form of public transportation that would help get them from one place to another. Our business is moving along steadily; the demand for transportation products is up."

Fitzgerald sells every type of bus imaginable with the exception of school buses. Anything from airport shuttles to special vehicles that move the men and women of the military fall under his department.

"I'm on my way to Indiana right now. We're working with the American Trailer Company on mobile command units for the government."

When he's not chasing bus contracts, he hopes to get back in Peterson's ARCA car to do some more racing.

"Right now our plans are to run the first four races with Mr. Peterson - Salem, Rockingham and Talladega; and then we'll see if we can pick up some advertisers and do a few more. I've got a very busy work schedule, so that could play a factor too.

"The Petersons treat me very well. I have an enormous amount of respect for Wayne."

Turns out, Fitzgerald isn't alone on the respectomometer for Peterson, and for good reason.

Peterson (seated in car), in addition to a long, storied racing career that dates back to Richard Petty's hay-days when Peterson was Petty's gasman, the Pulaski, Tennessee car owner served seven tours of duty in the Army during the Vietnam War - Sergeant 1st Class, Special Forces.

Peterson was not drafted. He served voluntarily.

"It was a difficult time in our nation's history," said Peterson. "It was not a popular war by any means. And there was a movement in the country in young people who despised the war."

Unlike veterans of World War I and II, the Gulf Wars and Iraq, the soldiers that returned from Vietnam were not hailed as heroes - quite the opposite really.

"I used racing as an outlet when I returned from Vietnam. I enjoyed my time in the military, but it was no picnic over there. It was infested with mosquitoes, the floods from the Monsoon rains were horrible, always up to your ears in mud, the food was terrible, and we lost a lot of people, good, strong, capable Americans.

"In some ways, racing saved me when I got back. I still use it as an outlet. I'd love to run up front; I know what it takes to run up front, know how to make the car run up front; I just don't have the money. But even if I had the money, I wouldn't be willing to spend it all on racing anyway. We make a lot of our own stuff. We do what we can with what we give it, which if it isn't a lot of money, it's a lot of man hours; that's for sure."

Peterson runs his race team out of his three-car garage at his house in Pulaski, Tennessee with a close-knit mob of volunteers. His longtime partner Gerald Smith also has a small race shop an hour away in Boaz, Alabama that serves as race central from time to time.

Peterson's race team is off to a commendable start in 2009 following their 13th place finish at Daytona. If not for the bad luck, it could have been better.

"I was going down the backstretch when I lost the drive," said Fitzgerald. "The axle cap came off and the axle slid out some. I got pushed to my pit. The Petersons fixed it soon enough but not before we lost some laps. We were running with Darrell Basham and Norm Benning on the lead lap all day before it happened." Basham and Benning finished 9th and 10th respectively on the lead lap.

"I just loved the experience though; I'll never forget it. All the ARCA officials were especially nice to work with. The Petersons were just great to me; I hope I can find some ad money to let them keep racing."