FLASH BACK MARCH 2006

My March 2006 interview with Kurt Busch...

It was the last race of the season in 2004, every position he moved up made his chances better at winning a championship, if he were to slip back to far or get into an accident the championship would be gone in the snap of a finger. Kurt Busch just did what he does best and that’s drive. He stayed out of trouble and finished high enough ahead of Jimmie Johnson to win the 2004 NASCAR Nextel Cup title. Busch won the championship by eight points the closes points race in the history of NASCAR.

“It was a great accomplishment,” Busch said about winning to title in only his fourth full season of NASCAR.

It’s a pretty big accomplishment for a kid who grew up in Las Vegas, Nevada, a city that didn’t have a racetrack until a hand full of years ago. The 27-year-old grew up on the southwest end of town attending Durango High School. He got his start in racing from his father Tom. A racer himself, Tom would take Kurt to the track while he raced, then as a youngster he put Kurt in go-carts when he was 14. It seems a little older than most to get his start in racing but it didn’t take long for Kurt to get going.

“I would go to the bull ring and watch my dad,” Busch said. “Then I guess I caught the racing bug after that.”

From go-carts Busch moved up to the Dwarf Cars. It wasn’t long before he won his first title. In 1994, he was named the Nevada State Dwarf Car Rookie-of-the-Year and won the Las Vegas Motor Speedway Dwarf Car championship. The next season he won the Nevada State Dwarf Car title and another Speedway championship. A few years later Busch captured Legends Cars National Rookie-of-the-Year and the Western States championship. He did all this racing went to school and worked for the water district fixing main brakes.

“I got the job through a friend of mine I had in high school,” Busch said of his job at the water company. “I would fix main breaks in my bright orange uniform, it was a great job and I had a lot of fun with it.”

He was on the move in racing but in 1997 after graduating from Durango he decided to leave racing for college. Busch attended the University of Arizona in the fall of 1997 and was studying medicine.

While at college Busch couldn’t shake the racing bug and in 1998 returned to Las Vegas to pursue his dream of being a racecar driver. That year would be the year he broke through in racing. Busch captured the Rookie-of-the-Year again in the Southwest Series with one win and three top-five finishes.

“I stayed and raced here (Las Vegas) for awhile but then I went to Detroit to get my start in the bigger classes,” Busch said.

Las Vegas wasn’t the racing mecca in ‘98 like it is today. Kurt went on to the east coast to compete for a spot in one of NASCAR’s big time series. In 1999 he become the Southwest Series champion and was given a shot to drive in the Winston West race in Las Vegas where he finished eighth. This caught the eye of Jack Roush who gave Kurt a shot at competing for a seat in one of his NASCAR Craftsman Trucks. Roush was more than impressed with Busch and signed him to a multi-year contract.

Busch said it was one of the most exciting accomplishments of his young racing career but it was going to stop there. He would earn his fourth Rookie-of-the-Year title and came within a few points of winning the Truck Championship. This successful season prompted Roush to move Kurt right into the NASCAR Nextel Cup in 2001. Most drivers move from trucks to the Busch Series, which is like the triple A of NASCAR, but Kurt moved right to the top series.

“I was living the American dream with all this success,” Busch said about his move from trucks to the Nextel series. “For a guy this city it pretty amazing.”

In his first season, Busch had three top-five finishes and was second in the Rookie-of-the-Year voting. At first most veteran drivers thought of Busch as a reckless driver and most picked on him and bullied him for it, but in a series where guys think you should pay your dues first Kurt was becoming a star not to mention one of the best drivers in the circuit. Busch went on to have a breakthrough year in 2002. He racked up four wins, and nine top-five finishes and a total millions of dollars in winnings. That set up his 2004 championship run, where he won one race and finished better than sixth in the last ten races of the season known as “The Chase.” Its NASCAR’s version of the playoffs.

“Winning the championship changes things a lot,” Busch said. “You have a lot more pressure to win and win.”

Busch followed up his championship year with a solid 2005 campaign winning three races and racking up nine top-five finishes, 18 top-10 finishes and took tenth in “The Chase,” which pushed his career winnings to over $29 million. Kurt signed a huge multi-million dollar deal with team Penske in 2006 and will take over the number 2 Miller Lite Dodge car formerly driven by NASCAR legend Rusty Wallace.

“The transition has been pretty smooth,” Busch said from switching teams. “The people are great and I enjoy them.”

Its three races into the new year and Busch hasn’t had the start he expected but he loves to come home and race in Las Vegas with the fans.

“Vegas is always big race for me, its my home town and its as big as the Daytona 500 for me,” said Busch who finished 16^th in the race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. “This race is very important to me I have a lot of friends at the track and I know everybody around there, its always fun to come back.”

Kurt didn’t get the finish he expect but his little brother Kyle had a great showing finishing third in the race. Kyle is seven years younger then Kurt and learned his skills from racing against his older brother.

“He seven years younger and we have had some battles growing up, but he can never keep up with me,” Busch said with a laugh. “He’s going to be a great racer in this series he just has a lot of pressure on him and he will get use to it.”

Busch also mentioned that Las Vegas is one of the most fan friendly tracks in the country and with the new renovation for 2007 it’s going to be even better.

“They are going to have a pit area where fans can see just about everything,” Busch said. “Your going to be able to see down into the garage and pit stalls. They are also going to change the banking from 12 degrees to 20 degrees, which will added about 10 to 15 miles per hour more to the car. Its going to be much faster and a lot of side-by-side racing.”

Despite all his success, Busch credits most of it to his Dad, who got him into racing. He still calls Las Vegas his home even though he resides in North Carolina close to the teams shop. Busch still gives back to the Las Vegas community all the time, he works with many different organizations like Water Works Industry Solutions and local youth sports programs.

SIMSZEE