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Butch Lehr

By Frances J Karon
First Published: 08 April 2009 - Issue Number: 12

As home of the Kentucky Derby, Churchill Downs is the most widely-recognized racetrack in this country. With an arsenal of 135 years of history behind it, the Louisville, Kentucky, showpiece is the first stepping stone for any horse whose connections hope to achieve the ultimate in racing immortality. While Churchill Downs Inc. has undergone a myriad of management changes, one thing that has remained a constant is track superintendent Raymond “Butch” Lehr Jr.
Lehr, who has also been a vice president of Churchill since 1991, is happiest in the cab of a tractor or making rounds on the backside. In his office, when the phone on his desk rings, it sounds out the Call to the Post. On the wall above hangs a framed reminder given to him by outgoing president Steve Sexton. “If we don’t take care of our customers somebody else will.” Lehr says, “That’s true, but I like this one the best,” indicating a caricature of a frog strangling a stork that’s trying to swallow it. The caption reads: Don’t ever give up.
Lehr’s uncle, assistant to Churchill’s renowned superintendent Thurman Pangburn, helped Lehr and his younger brother David get work on the superintendent’s staff, where Butch started in January, 1967. The draft board interfered with his plans to attend night school, and he spent 1969-’70 in the Army. He says, “I was on orders for Vietnam, and President Nixon stopped sending troops the cycle I was in Tigerland,” the military post in Louisiana that preceded an automatic send-off to Vietnam. “I was just lucky.” Spared from active combat, Lehr was sent to Fort Carson, Colorado, where he trained soldiers to use radar. “I really learned a lot in the military that helped me be where I am today.”
‘Where he is today’ is firmly rooted at Churchill Downs as one of the most respected track superintendents in the business. Even when he lived a thousand miles away in Colorado, Churchill was never out of the Louisville native’s blood. “I even came home on leave and worked here. I’d come home for two weeks and work because I needed the money. And that’s what I did on my vacations.” Brother David, who, as Butch’s assistant, stands to inherit the role of superintendent “when...if…” Butch retires, chimes in: “We had money, too. It was good money.”
“Good money” equated to $57.83 per week. “There aren’t many vice presidents over there,” says Lehr, waving a hand in the direction of the main office building, “that could say that.”
After military service, where he attained the rank of platoon sergeant, Lehr returned to full-time employment at Churchill. When his uncle retired in 1976, Pangburn promoted Lehr to be his assistant. “I didn’t realize it at the time, but I guess he must have taken a liking to me,” Lehr says of Pangburn. “Work was never a problem: I was always there, and if they needed me I’d work ungodly hours. I can’t remember how many times I said, ‘I can’t do this because I’ve got to work.’ That seemed like my whole life.”
Lehr gradually took on increasing responsibility as Pangburn’s assistant. It was, he says, a test, “putting more pressure on the young guy” to see how he coped. Pangburn retired in 1981, and Churchill’s board of directors must have felt that Lehr handled pressure just fine, appointing him track superintendent in December.
The job description of track superintendent is all-encompassing. Not only do Lehr and his 27-strong team keep the hallowed racing oval – dirt and turf – in pristine condition, but machinery, training track, barns (housing some 1900 horses), dormitories, rails and hedges also fall under their purview. Churchill stages two annual meetings, in the spring and the fall, and the racetrack and main barn area go on hiatus during the winter. “I think it takes a toll on any racetrack that doesn’t shut down for a period so they can clean it up. We do all of our repair...

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