CANFIELD Racing from Romania onto U.S. race tracks

Csaba Bujdoso has built a name for himself on local, national racing circuits.
By JOHN KOVACH
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
CANFIELD -- Immigration helps to enrich America.
And America helps to enrich immigrants.
Csaba Bujdoso, of Canfield, is proof of this mutually-beneficial relationship.
In 1989 as a 20-year-old in Romania, Bujdoso fled the country to escape communist oppression.
Today, he is a thriving U.S. citizen, operates his own business, builds and drives his own race cars and has become one of the top drivers in the Northeast Region of the Sports Car Club of America circuit.
Competing in the American Sedan Class while driving a 1989 Chevrolet Camaro for the past three years, Bujdoso ranks No. 2 in points in the region after five races so far this year. He won at Nelson Ledges, was second at Beaverun, third at Mid-Ohio, fourth at Watkins Glen and sixth at Summit Point.
And Bujdoso already has a national championship to his credit. In 2002, he won his class in the SCCA Kohler national runoffs at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course -- in his first try. Then he placed fourth in 2003 and already has qualified for the 2004 finals slated Sept. 20-26.
Bujdoso, whose full name is pronounced Cha-ba Boy-da-zhow, plans to compete in three more races before entering the national runoffs. His next race is at Mid-Ohio July 31-Aug. 1.
Fleeing communism
But it took courage, daring and perseverance for Bujdoso to escape communism and the Iron Curtain and reach the shores of America.
"I left Romania when I was 20 in 1989 and crossed two borders [Romania and Yugoslavia] illegally to get to Austria," he remembered. "I gave myself up in Austria, and they put me in an immigration camp for one year and three months. I had three choices -- to immigrate to Australia, Canada or the U.S."
While at the camp, he was helped by the U.S. ambassador and the Hungarian Presbyterian Church in Youngstown, which intervened to become his sponsor.
"After nine months, they called me for an interview with the American ambassador. [The church] paid for my plane ticket [to the U.S.]" But, "I didn't know anybody [in America]. I knew some English."
Determined to succeed, Bujdoso began working as a mechanic and welder and then started his own company called Checkered Express Trucking Company in Austintown, which transports waste oil and water in a 300-mile radius to Everclear of Ohio in Austintown. Everclear then processes the sludge and separates the oil from the water.
His mother, Maria, also left Romania to join him and now is an U.S. citizen and also lives in Austintown.
Pursuing racing dream
Bujdoso was determined to pursue his racing dream in America.
Trained as a welder, auto-body repairman and truck driver in trade school in Romania, he wanted to begin building and racing cars in that country but didn't have the money.
"Then I came to America in 1990, then I started working, and seven years later I bought my first car. I was determined to do it," he recalled. "I told my wife [Mariana] that I wanted to build a race car and she said, no, that we have to build a house first. So three months after doing that, I started to build my first car [a 1986 Volkswagen]."
Then he began racing it in 1997.
"I thought that I was pretty good at it and I just wanted to show that even coming to this country that with a small budget you can build [cars] from scratch." said Bujdoso, who raced his Volkswagen in 1997 to 1998 in the SCCA Improved Touring B Class.
Friend is crew chief
Bujdoso has received valuable support and collaboration from Constantine Gheorghe of Canfield, a friend from Romania who has been Bujdoso's crew chief for the past five years.
"He is a crew chief for a pro racing team in Chardon and in his spare time he helps me out," said Bujdoso, whose wife sometimes attends his races but is not that interested.
"She said it is boring; [although], it is not boring when I race," he said.
The couple has two sons, Robert, 11, and Andrew, 6.
"They are racing go-carts," said Bujdoso.
kovach@vindy.com