Ahead of the Pack
“Well, I didn’t crash, and I didn’t come in last,” says Butler, who has been in love with the racing scene since he visited a Porsche factory in Germany with his dad. “My dad is a Porsche fanatic, and I traveled to races with him all over the United States.”
Butler valued the bond he developed with his father, a former animal conservationist with the World Wildlife Fund. He particularly enjoyed collaborating on articles for regional Porsche Club magazines; his father wrote, and Butler took the photos.
While Butler’s father mostly raced Porsches in his spare time, he once raced in the Baja 1000 – which crosses the Baja California desert – on Bill Stroppe’s Ford Bronco team.
“Back when my father raced, people could buy seats and secure a place on a team for the racing season; now it’s unattainable without serious sponsorship or money,” says Butler. “Fortunately, we now have programs that make racing affordable and fun for a broader population.”
Of course, Butler’s mom is not thrilled to have another race car driver in the family.
“My mom was nervous when my dad raced, and now she’s nervous with me,” says the Washington, D.C., native, who got his license last year and now races with the Sports Car Club of America. “I tell her not to worry because with today’s safety requirements, it’s safer than it’s ever been.”
His senior year of high school, Butler got involved in Grassroots Motorsports, an opportunity for amateur racing drivers to hone their skills. After graduation, he took a gap year to continue racing and raise money for college since the scholarship he received to attend the public university of his choice did not cover all his forecasted expenses.
Butler liked the diversity of a liberal arts education, and – when it came time to make a decision – he landed on the College, where he started as a marine biology major but soon switched to anthropology with a studio art minor.
“I decided having a holistic view of the world and an understanding of what makes people different in a positive way would open my eyes to opportunities,” he explains.
One of those opportunities turned out to be real estate. At a Porsche driving event his sophomore year at CofC, Butler’s neighbor asked him to join his Washington, D.C., branch of the brokerage firm, Engel and Völkers. Intrigued, Butler obtained his real estate license and has thrived as a real estate agent ever since.
Using the skills and the anthropological lens he has developed at the College, Butler says he supports buyers and sellers by looking at them within their own context rather than comparing their situations to his own.
“I work to understand the people I’m interacting with,” he says of his sales approach, which he has used on milliondollar deals and multiunit investments “so that I can make sure they make smart, informed decisions.”
Clearly, Butler is on the fast track to success in more ways than one.