“Bucky” flipped his last burger Friday.

Duane Buck, the former owner of Bucky’s Drive In, 2120 W. Ninth St., retired after nearly 40 years at the Lawrence landmark.

Buck sold the restaurant to Craig Miller two weeks ago. He has spent the time since then showing Miller the ropes, but as of today Buck is officially in retirement.

“I’m excited,” Buck said. “I’ll miss it. But when it’s time, you know it — and it’s time.”

Miller, a former assistant general manager at Old Chicago on South Iowa Street, said the only change he planned was the store’s opening time. The store opens for breakfast at 9 a.m. Once Miller gets settled, he plans to open the restaurant at 7 a.m.

“(Bucky’s) is a tradition,” Miller said. “It’s got a great clientele. Everybody knows about it. It’s something special.”

Buck got involved with the restaurant in 1966 when it was known as Sandy’s, part of a regional chain. At the time, the restaurant had five owners.

Buck had been managing another store the group owned in Illinois, which is his home. He agreed to manage the restaurant in Lawrence for one year.

“After one year, my wife and I liked the area so we bought one of (the owners) out,” Buck said. “A few years later we bought another one out.”

Duane Buck helps serve customers at Bucky's Drive In. Buck, longtime owner of the Lawrence restaurant, officially retired on Friday. He had been involved with the restaurant since 1966.

By 1975, Buck was the sole owner and changed the name to Bucky’s Drive In. He also expanded the building that year to include more seating.

Through the years, Buc said he tried to introduce new sandwiches, such as a Reuben and a Hawaiian Burger, but most customers preferred the traditional hamburgers and cheeseburgers.

The biggest change has been the size of drinks offered.

“For the first 15 years, the biggest-seller drink we had was a 12-ounce drink,” Buck said. “Now, the biggest-seller drink we have is 32-ounce. That’s what’s making America fat: It’s all that pop.”

Of course, prices have changed, too. When Buck started, the store sold hamburgers for 15 cents. French fries and a Pepsi cost 10 cents each. Today, a small order of fries goes for $1.19.

Elaine Richardson-Knight brought her family to Bucky’s on Friday for lunch. She had worked at the store while she was in high school in the mid-1970s. She had no idea it was Buck’s last day.

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“It’s sad,” Richardson-Knight said. “I always thought he’d die working at Bucky’s. It was a surprise.”

She recalled Buck as a great boss.

“He was a lot of fun,” Richardson-Knight said. “He was one of those kind of managers that just didn’t stand over your shoulder and breathe down your neck. He just kind of let you be your own person. He always seemed to keep it together.”

Buck said seeing his employees and former employees was one of the things he would miss the most. He often hired the children of former employees. Recently, he hired the grandchildren of former workers.

“That makes you start feeling like you ought to retire,” Buck said with a chuckle.

The restaurant has been a meeting place for area residents for years. In the ’60s, the restaurant was one of two places to get something to eat after a Kansas University basketball game.

“You couldn’t get on our parking lot,” Buck recalled of those days.

Retired school teachers Don Racy and Buster Carney both stopped in on Friday. The two appreciated how Buck treated his customers.

“He’s a nice person,” Racy said. “He would always greet us when we came in. It makes us feel welcomed. We see a lot of people we know here.”

Carney added: “It’s where everybody knows your name.”

Buck is planning on traveling during retirement. He already has two motorcycle trips planned. Next week, he’s taking off for Birmingham, Ala.

But he’ll miss the “old-time burger joint.”

“You could come in here for many years and just about see everybody in Lawrence at one time or another,” Buck said. “It was a nice place to work.”