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Kurt Busch by Fr. Dale Grubba
3-25-08
The word maturity is an important one when the topic is Kurt Busch. Has he
matured? Has the move from Roush to Penske helped in that regard? For Busch the
transition has been beneficial. “I think it was taking a step back and looking
at the big picture,” he observes. “Listening to Roger Penske about what I needed
to do as an individual really helped me. Racing is a cutthroat, tough business.
Roger has been a calming hand.
“You win races and you win a championship and you never expect things to change
because you are the same person, but the more people you meet the more you
realize there is more to it than just racing the car. I think I came to
understand a little bit more of the business side and it’s helped things.
“When you go through enough bad stuff you eventually learn. You do things that
will be more appreciated, whether it’s my new Kurt Busch Foundation or with
great sponsors like Miller Lite, Mobil 1, Dodge, or Gillette. There are so many
people I’ve worked with that have helped me mature into a better person.”
Then, echoing the philosophy of Roger Penske, Busch states, “If you surround
yourself with good people it turns you into a better person.”
In 2004 Kurt Busch won the first Chase Championship. It was very close and
exciting, everything NASCAR had dreamed when they made the change. In 2007
Jimmie Johnson was unconscious, blowing everyone away in his quest for the
title. How tough is it for a championship caliber driver and team to see someone
be that much better than everyone else? What do you do? Say, “If I lean on the
car a little more…” or throw up your hands in resignation and ask, “What can we
do?” Johnson left everybody scratching their heads.
“The performance he put together is the type you need to win championships,”
Busch observes when he reflects on Johnson’s drive to the Nextel Cup
championship in 2007. All the resources he has at Hendrick Motorsports helps him
do that job. If I felt we were weak, like not performing on pit road like I
thought we should, then you have to think of how you can make yourself better.
“Myself as a driver, I know I can learn more things and challenge myself. My
crew chief and the engineering staff is doing the same thing because if you are
not on the top you are clawing your way up there to beat whoever is.”
Does not being on top take some of the fun out of it? Is it hard to smile and
suppress your true feelings? “It is not any fun when you have those bad days,”
Busch admits, “but the longer you are around you realize that you have bad days
as well as good days. The greats are able to knock off the peaks and valleys and
stay on an even, consistent keel all the time. I think being around a bit more
has helped me.”
How much of a role has experience played in Busch’s career? “When you are
starting out things are so new and uncomfortable you don’t know what to expect,”
Busch observes. “So you are challenging yourself to grab information and learn
from it. Now, being around a few years, you challenge yourself to get better at
what you have done in the past and how you can win at a specific track, for
instance, I haven’t won at Daytona or Indy yet. I know Bristol. I think I’ve got
it under control, but you can’t rest on what you are good at. You have to pick
up the areas where you haven’t won or are struggling at.”
One of the things that seemed to turn things around for Kurt Busch in 2007 was
when Pat Tryson became his crew chief. What has it meant to Busch to have him on
board? Busch admits that it has helped. The two, although on different teams,
had worked together indirectly at Roush Racing.
“We are both straight forward guys,” Busch says about their styles. “We don’t
sugar coat anything. If there is a weak area technically or personally we
address it right away. We are comfortable doing that. It led to success right
away. We hope we can build our communication even further; because you can’t
stop learning, get stationary. You always have to keep moving forward. Pat’s got
that enthusiasm, that passion like I do. We’d like to see better things.”
How has getting married changed his life? “It gives me a great sense of
stability to have Eva by my side,” Kurt says. “She is part of the team. She
loves to interact with the group and help give me insight at the end of a race.
Of course during the week there are the home-cooked meals and time spent with
her and the family. It definitely has come full circle for me. When I first came
in I was doing it all on my own with a buddy out of an apartment.”
Are there plans for a baby? “We have a plan put in place for a few years down
the road,” Kurt adds. “Right now it’s full tilt racing. She knows that. She’s
number one in my life. I consider myself number two, but she has been incredible
enough to let me treat racing as number one.”
At the end of 2008 when the checkered flag falls at Homestead what is going to
be a successful season for Kurt Busch?
“We hope we’ve used the foundation of a seventh place finish in 2007 to go on
and win some races in 2008, especially at some new tracks, as well as pole
positions. We want to build consistency. We want to be one of those guys in the
top five, top ten every week, able to lead laps and bounce back from mistakes. I
think that’s where Hendrick Motorsports did so well. If they had a problem in a
race, the next thing you knew Johnson was driving into victory lane. Case in
point, at Atlanta Johnson didn’t even have an eighth place car and he won the
race. Those are the kind of days we want to have.”