For someone whose livelihood depends on how fast he can zip around a racetrack, NASCAR driver James Buescher has a remarkably slow-paced life off the speedway. When he’s not burning rubber at Daytona or Talladega, the 22-year-old and his wife, Kris, kick back at their home in a quiet subdivision in Katy, twenty minutes outside Houston. Here his other interests are in clear view. The bounty from his numerous hunting excursions adorns the walls, and his four dogs scurry and yip at one another in the backyard. After answering emails and jotting down track prep notes on his iPad, Buescher hangs out in his office/media room, where he plays Ping-Pong or boxing games on his Nintendo Wii and watches movies with Kris. “When we do go out,” he says, “it’s usually for dinner at Hasta La Pasta.”
About the Items in James Buescher’s Home Office
• I don’t smoke cigars, but I’ve kept one from when my niece and goddaughter, Gracie, was born. The others are from a cigar-rolling table we had at our wedding in Costa Rica.
• That’s a NASCAR trophy from the 2011 Camping World Truck Series. I finished third in the championship standings.
• I have about 20 to 25 helmets, and I told the designer I wanted this one to be tribal looking. This is a Mexican Day of the Dead candy skull. It’s supposed to bring good luck.
• I’ve had my camera since December, and I’ve already taken a couple thousand photos. I like to shoot different stuff, not just pictures of people posing. I like taking pictures of people when they’re not looking at the camera or even when they don’t know that I’m photographing them.
• Our honeymoon was in Antigua, and we bought that in St. John’s. It was the first sale of the day, and the lady selling it went down to $10. It was originally $20. She didn’t have very high standards.
• We have two dachshunds and a maltipoo, and we just got a yellow Lab. I’m reading this book to train the Lab. I’ll be happy when he’s housebroken. And the maltipoo too. When we went to Daytona, we took all four of them with us in a motor home.
• I bought this desk golf thing at the bookstore when I was checking out. I have a friend who works out of his home, and he’s the only one whose schedule syncs up with mine, so sometimes we’ll play at the Golf Club at Cinco Ranch on Monday mornings.
• We’re starting to post videos on my website. Kris likes to bake, so we taped ourselves making doggie cupcakes. We’re just recording things off the track that fans don’t usually get to see.
• A lot of people don’t recognize me when I’m away from the racetrack because I don’t have my sunglasses and hat on. I wear the sunglasses constantly. These are VonZippers. They’re one of my sponsors.
• You sweat a lot during a race. To keep me from getting too hot, there are hoses that go from the window to the cool box to my helmet. They blow in cool air.
• I haven’t started reading Game Plan for Life yet. It’s by Joe Gibbs, who used to coach the Redskins. He’s got a NASCAR team. I know him so I wanted to read his book.
• I started hunting when I was sixteen. I hunt whitetail, duck, and elk. I’ve gone elk hunting once a year for the past three years.
• I have two iPads. One is for note taking, and the other one is full of movies, magazines, songs, and games for the airplane. I like to play Monopoly, Angry Birds, and Cut the Rope.
