FloRacing’ s Kasey Buie shares the importance of telling drag racing’ s stories By Nate Van Wagnen

A little over two years after starting as a production assistant at FloRacing, she’ s now a camera

operator for the livestreaming company, though her involvement goes far beyond that. She works with the Flo production team to provide an authentic experience for racers at the track and fans viewing the stream at home.

“ I grew up learning the intricacies of how much intellect goes into [ racing ],” Buie says.“ There’ s an aspect to the sport that is just‘ How fast can you make it go? How much nitrous or boost or whatever can you throw at a car?’ But for me, there’ s a beauty in the science of old-school bracket racing and foot-brakers – my dad’ s still a foot-braker – and that precision that is required and understanding how every little element of the weather and track conditions and whatnot just affect every step of the way. I’ ve always been fascinated by that.”

After nearly 20 years working in higher education and corporate training, Buie was burnt out and looking for a new line of work in the post-COVID era. She applied for a PA position at FloRacing and got her first opportunity to work with the company at the 2023 FuelTech Radial Outlaws Series’ Bama Outlaws event. When two camera operators didn’ t show up, Buie jumped at the offer to run one of the cameras. She now

runs a camera at 12-15 events a year.

In between capturing footage, Buie takes meticulous notes in her notebooks, collecting track temps and weather conditions, reaction times, speeds, and more. But as enthralled with the numbers as Buie is, she’ s even more captivated by the personalities in the sport.

“ Drag racing isn’ t about the cars,” she says.“ I love cars. I think they’ re beautiful and all of that, but it’ s about telling the stories of these individuals. I have spent the last two years trying to build relationships with the drivers in each of the series that we work with because I like to watch patterns. I get to watch their crews and their routines. I’ ve been able to do that, thankfully, because the drivers want their stories told.”

Buie’ s approach to storytelling has made a

noticeable impact on FloRacing’ s productions, which have also benefited from major investments like the addition of drones, boom cameras, and upgraded graphics. She’ s also worked closely with Flo’ s Drag Racing Content Creator and pit reporter Courtney Enders to help bring stories to viewers around the world.

“ Kasey has elevated the Flo production in so many ways, but the most influential way is the people,” Enders says.“ Kasey collects data not only about the cars on track that help us to tell the story of the race, but she pays attention to the people. She understands habits of teams and drivers to be able to help our camera operators stay out of the way of the teams but be a part of their‘ dance’. When it comes to the pit interviews, everybody knows her and welcomes her into their pits with open arms. She assists the pit reporters with information on the drivers and teams to assure we tell a humanizing story every time.”

Buie’ s passion is evident in the way she discusses her work, but her dedication shines through in other ways as well. For example, she abbreviated her wedding weekend in 2024 so she could make it to the World Series of Pro Mod, a race her father had raved about. Buie and her wife were due to get married on Leap Day, February 29th, but WSOPM qualifying started the following day.“ When we decided to get married, I said,‘ Hey, here’ s the deal. There’ s this race that is huge. I don’ t know why it’ s so huge, but I need to learn and I want to know why it’ s so big to my dad,’” Buie remembers.

So, the couple got married at noon, stopped for a scoop at the local ice cream shop on the way to the college where they first met, and Buie was on a flight to Bradenton by 3 p. m.

“ It was a wonderful experience,” Buie says.“ The excitement and the amount of work Drag Illustrated puts into that event is huge. But at that race and the PRO Superstar Shootout specifically, my brother [ Jason ], who now works with me and was at that race as well … We get it now. We both got a text from my dad that was like,‘ I’ m sitting here watching the biggest race in history and my kids are there making it happen.’ And that’ s the stuff that matters.”

Drag racing matters to Buie, and through her role at FloRacing, she’ s going to do everything she can to make sure it matters to those viewers watching at home, and that the stories that matter to its participants are told in a meaningful way.

“ I think it’ s important that people know Flo is trying to meet the requests of the viewers and trying to put the drivers at the forefront so that people become invested in the sport and the heart of it,” Buie says,“ and that is who the drivers are and what the sport means to them. It’ s those individuals that are going to determine how drag racing continues.” DI

PHOTOGRAPHS COURTESY OF KASEY BUIE