Ryan Buscaglio

By Dennis Terry

This week’s Bass Pro Shops pit crew spotlight is on Ryan Buscaglio, pronounced Buzz-kaag-lee-O.

Buscaglio is 29 years old and is from Lake Worth Florida.  He is married to his wife Cristi whom he met in 2003 at a party in the Talladega infield.   

Buscaglio has a degree in occupational therapy from Lenor-Rhyne college and graduated in 2001.

At Lenor-Rhyne, Buscaglio played outside linebacker on the football team.  This is the same football team where Trent Cherry played QB, which explains why most people have never heard of the school.

During the week Buscaglio is a registered occupational therapist.  His job requires “house calls” providing at home physical therapy for the elderly.  Basically, he drives around all day giving massages to old people.

But, on the weekends Buscaglio is the front tire carrier for our world championship pit crew.

There is a saying among us tire changers that you are only as good as your carrier.  In this particular situation it’s the other way around.  I’m usually the one who makes him look good and that’s not easy considering that he is 6’-1”, weighs 220 lbs. and looks like Vanilla Ice meets Taylor Hicks.

When Buscaglio is not racing or rubbing someone’s sore back he can usually be found floating in the LakeNorman sun somewhere close to the sand bar or entertaining the campers on the Talladega infield.  He also enjoys golfing and he has a trophy commemorating one of his last place finishes at a local NASCAR tournament.

On pit road Ryan is easily recognizable, popular and well respected by other pit crews.  He works well under pressure and has proven himself to be one of the most consistent tire carriers out there. 

DEI recognized Ryan this week as the “pit performer of the week” for his near flawless performance at Michigan.  Ryan helped our team achieve our best pit stop average of the year, 12.90 seconds, and his quick work with fender and air dam adjustments was instrumental in achieving a great day in the pits.

See Ryan at…  http://www.daleearnhardtinc.com/content/news/default.aspx?StoryID=1629

DT