Dec 2003

By Robin Ervin

Andy Santerre is the winner of back-to-back championships in the Busch North Series. He won the 2002 championship with very limited funds and after teaming up with Besey Racing over the winter, successfully defended his title by taking the 2003 championship as well.

In 1988 as he laid in a hospital for three months paralyzed with the potentially fatal Guillian Barre syndrome, he made a plan to follow a long time dream to become a racecar driver. The desire to race no doubt helped speed up his recovery.   The grit, focus and determination he used to survive and overcome the disease carried over to his racing endeavors when he started racing in 1989. Santerre had barely enough money to field the cars, which he built himself to save money, and pay the household bills but every weekend he would race with fiery determination. In his first three years of racing he won 15 races and a Super Sportsman Championship at Speedway 95 in Bangor Maine.

Santerre moved up to Prostock in 1992 and entered as many events as he could afford. He won six out of the seven Pro Stock features he entered that year. His hard work and drive to win brought him to the attention of O'Connor Racing, a well-established Busch North Series team. He drove their Busch North car for the 1993 season and together they had a very good year. Santerre won Rookie of the Year, scored seven top ten finishes and the team finished 10th in season points. In 1994 he finished the season 3rd in Busch North Series points and won the coveted Most Popular Driver award for the first time.

After several successful years in the Busch North Series, he was given the chance fulfill a dream to race in one of the premier divisions of NASCAR, the Busch Grand National Series for the Innovative Motorsports team #47 car. He won Rookie of the Year in 1998 and was considered to be a contender for next year's championship chase. Unfortunately, misfortune came knocking once more in the form of a particularly bad wreck in the 1999 season opener at Daytona, forcing him to consider his options while he recovered. Santerre, thinking about what was in the best interest for himself and his team stepped down as their driver.

The next year he drove on a limited schedule of 14 races for Team Rensi before starting his own team in March 2001. He ran the #01 team for eight races with support of local businessman, Mike Reece. That September he subbed for the injured Steve Park in the #31 Whelan car.

He returned 'home' to the Busch North Series in 2002 and won the championship on a shoestring budget. He barely had the money to put tires on his car by the end of the year. This time Lady Luck smiled on him. This combined with the grit, determination and skill that had gotten him this far in his career, helped him win his first Busch North Championship.

Santerre didn't have a full time transporter driver so he would often drive the rig to the next track himself. Also, due to his limited finances he had a very limited number of crew. He would usually be found with a wrench in his hands working on his car both at the track and at the shop. Through it all he kept a smile on his face and greeted every fan like a friend, which helped win him his second Most Popular Driver award in the Busch North Series.

Fellow Mainer Joe Besey teamed up with Santerre for 2003, bringing with him a major sponsor, Aubuchon Hardware. Santerre started the season off with a win in the season opener and hardly slowed down from there. That he has racked up 12 top 5 finishes is impressive by itself but what is really eye-catching is the dominant way he did it.  Santerre finished in the top three 11 times during the 2003 season. This gave him a commanding lead in the season points that no one could beat.

It will be interesting to see what Andy Santerre and Besey racing do for an encore in 2004.