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Mike Bushee named competition director for the Thanksgiving Classic

Longtime Late Model Stock official Mike Bushee has been named the competition director for the Thanksgiving Classic at Southern National Motorsports Park.

Bushee, the CARS Tour Late Model Series competition director from 2016-2017, is no stranger to Southern National, serving the in the same role for touring divisions that have held events at the high-banked Lucama, North Carolina track. He is a local to the area and excited to be a part of his home town’s signature event.

“Southern National is my home track,” said Mike Bushee. “It’s home to me and I want to see it be as successful as it can be. Michael Diaz and I have always had a good relationship helping each other whenever we can and after he loaned me a bunch of equipment to go up and work Richmond we struck up a conversation about this and the time just seems right.”

Bushee will be working in the office at Southern National during the lead up to the event, allowing him to be readily available for anyone taking part in the Thanksgiving Classic.

“I want to be there to help make it a live being again. I will answer the phones when I’m there and have the number forwarded to me when I’m not. Plus I can get the entries as they come in whether online or through the mail and get everything ready ahead of the event. The Thanksgiving Classic is one of the biggest races in this region and it needs this kind of attention.”

Southern National Motorsports Park owner Michael Diaz looks forward to continuing a working relationship with Bushee.

“It’s always great to work with (Mike) Bushee,” commented Diaz. “He brings a lot of years of experience and a lot of familiarity for our teams and drivers who have worked with him either here or on the CARS Tour or at some other race track or for some other series. He’s been around a long time and everyone knows him and knows he will treat them fair and that means a lot to the racers.”

While Bushee and Diaz look forward to a successful event in November, they are not looking forward to their 2019 plans quite yet, focusing on this year’s Thanksgiving Classic alone. But the two hope the relationship will turn into something more going into next season. Track General Manager Charlie Hansen will continuein his current role through the Thanksgiving Classic.

“We’re going to work this event hard and see what happens for the future,” said Bushee. “I’d like to do whatever I can do to help the track and the racers in this region. We’ll see where this goes and go from there.”

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Carter is a public relations student based out of Charlotte, NC

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