Robert and Shana Dowling, both ardent racing fans, had no idea that their random encounter on that eventful September evening in 2021 at the Creek County Speedway would lead to courtship and ultimately to marriage.
“It was totally unexpected, I was not looking for anybody, and neither was he. He ended up sitting next to me at the racetrack, we started talking and missed part of the races because we were just sitting there visiting.”
They stayed talking until the lights were turned off at the track.
Shana says she gave Robert her phone number but he would end up losing it. “He tried to find me for a week, and I was also looking for him as well. I knew he worked at a place in Sand Springs, he gave me his name, his nickname is Bucky, that is what everyone calls him.
“So I am looking on Facebook, I am doing background checks, I knew he was from Ohio, I was doing everything I could think of to find this guy because I really liked him.”
Shana said that night at the raceway Robert told her he would “get back in touch” with her.
“Monday, I am expecting him to call me, no call” Shana mistakenly thought that Robert was not interested in her.
“Little did I know that he was trying to find me, he somehow got some of the numbers mixed up. He was going through all kinds of digits trying to find my phone number.
He even showed me on our first date that he was trying to call looking for me. I was trying to find him as well. I finally found him because he signed something “Pastor Bucky” on Facebook.
Hoping she had indeed found Robert, she messaged him on Facebook Messenger.
“I still have that very first message I sent him.”
Her message to him read “Is this Bucky from Creek County Speedway that I met last Friday Night?” Shana said he replied, “Yes.”
“We just hit it off right then. It was that weekend when we had our first date. It was the middle of September and a whole week went by before we got to talk to each other, because we couldn’t find each other. A month later we had our first kiss right there at the pavilion (next to the playground at Lake Sahoma).
“We slow danced to a couple of different songs and had our first kiss right there. We stood there, we danced, we had our first kiss. It was almost like we could hear ‘kiss her.’ Both he and I heard that same voice, and it was neither one of us saying that. That was all God’s doing. We just heard this little voice ‘kiss her,’ and that is when we had our first kiss.”
Robert subsequently proposed to Shana in November.
“He had already asked my dad for permission, he had asked my daughter’s permission, I had no idea whatsoever that this was happening.
We went over to Sahoma lake, and at the fishing dock over by the bait shop, we stood right there.
We were the only ones out there, it was nighttime, the sun was setting, it was beautiful.
He was nervous and he got down on one knee, I was like, ‘Oh my gosh.’ He asked me to marry him. He was thinking I was saying no because of the way I was acting. When he proposed to me I kept backing up, like ‘Oh my gosh, this is not happening’ and I was like, ‘yes, yes, I will marry you.’”
The two lovebirds were joined in holy matrimony on February 6, 2022, at their church, Harvest Time Assembly in Sand Springs. Robert and Shana are now happily married and reside in Sapulpa.
