12/2/2023
Five Flags Speedway
Northern Exposure: Butcher Brothers Aim for Milestone Victories in Derby, Snowflake
By Chuck Corder
5flagsspeedway.com reporter
Brothers Cole and Jarrett Butcher hope they need to check some bags when they fly back to their native Porters Lake, Nova Scotia, next week.
The journey from Pensacola to the Canadian Maritime province is approximately 12 hours. It’d be nice for the Late Models siblings to have some tall, chunky hardware to tote back and denote a successful weekend at the 56th annual Snowball Derby presented by Hooters and Safe Locator.
Cole Butcher, 27, gets the family’s first crack when the sport’s preeminent race drops the green flag Sunday afternoon. He will make his seventh consecutive start in the 300-lap Derby for Super Late Models at approximately 2 p.m. Sunday and be looking for more than his fifth top-10 result.
“The Snowball Derby is one we have marked on the calendar,” the elder Butcher said. “Everybody wants to win it. Everybody wants to be here. We’re definitely looking forward to this one. We’ve enjoyed a pretty successful season.”
To say the least. Cole Butcher racked up quite the 2023. He posted a win and six top-fives en route to finishing second to 2020 Derby winner Ty Majeski for the ASA STARS National Tour championship.
Cole Butcher also had a memorable summer stretch where he captured the Redbud 400 at Anderson (Ind.) Speedway and followed it up by winning the Oxford (Maine) 250 for the second straight year. Adding the Derby to that victory list would be one heck of a triple crown. He finished fifth last December and third in both the 2021 and 2019 Derby.
“It means I’m doing my homework and that we’ve been competitive,” Cole Butcher said. “We’ve been coming here since 2016. I’d have to guess that we have one of the best overall average finishes in that time. I’m looking forward to keeping that going and, hopefully, bringing that trophy home.”
Jarrett Butcher, 25, will have his eyes on a similar prize come Monday when he pilots a Pro Late Model in the rescheduled Allen Turner Hyundai Snowflake 100. Little brother aims to make his fourth straight start when ’Flake festivities kick off later than expected. Everything was pushed to Monday when rain washed away Saturday’s slate.
Jarrett Butcher has a third (2020) and two more top-12 finishes in three career Snowflake 100 appearances.
“It’s a big accomplishment to be able to run against these guys,” Jarrett Butcher said. “Down here, this is people’s full-time job.
“I like the track. It’s completely different than what we run at home. It’s tricky, but we’ve been good here so far this weekend.”
While this year they continue to be focused on their respective Late Model programs, the Butcher brothers didn’t rule out the possibility of both competing for a Derby crown in future Decembers. Only two pairs of brothers have ever competed in the same Snowball Derby. The Allisons did it in the 1970s and the Plott brothers accomplished the feat just a few years ago.
Given the choice of whose luggage he’d rather see the Tom Dawson Trophy stuffed in for the trip back home, Jarrett Butcher didn’t blink.
“I’d rather win the race myself,” he said. “But (Cole is) a lot closer than I am at this moment.”
