Kurt Busch

 

 Kurt Busch was born on August 4th 1978, and graduated from Durango High School. Later he attended University of Arizona hoping to earn a degree in Pharmacy! However now he is a professional NASCAR driver and is currently in the Sprint Cup Series driving the #2 Miller Lite Dodge. His father Tom is a former NASCAR driver who won several sanctioned events, making Busch a 3rd generation driver. Another relation to Kurt is his younger brother, Kyle Busch who drives for Joe Gibbs Racing. Kurt began his racing stunts at the age of six, driving go carts. They held Dwarf competition at Las Vegas Speedway Park where he competed as an underage teenager. By the time he had been in two races he already had a win under his belt. Then in 1994 he won 10 consecutive races at 10 different tracks, and this was only his first full year as a driver. By the time he was 18, his father had purchased a powerful car for the Legends Series, and Busch began driving. That year he competed in Auto Zone Elite Division, being rookie of the year and winning the 1999 championship. Then by the age of 22, he replaced Chad Little in the John Deere Ford #97 and began racing in the Winston Cup Circuit. In 2000 he drove in 7 different races, not placing any top 5s or 10s and no wins. In 2001 Busch started racing the season with no sponsor until Sharpie/Rubbermaid signed the team, however they had raced several races before this took place. Busch earned more than 2 million dollars in winnings for finishing 27th in the championship, and for runner-up for the Rookie of the Year award. In 2002 he had his breakout of the year in the Winston Cup Series, and he won his first race at Food City 500 in Bristol. That same season he also had four wins, 20 top 10s, 12 top 5s, one pole and he finished third in the final standings. For the end of the 2002 season he finished off well collecting 5,105,394 with 3 final wins out of 5! However the following year in 2003, he had his times. He did still have four wins with one being a season sweep at Bristol, and he was the first driver to hold this title again since Rusty Wallace in 2000. For Busch, he still collected 5 million dollars this season however it was rough with his ongoing fued with Jimmy Spencer. Later on Busch was suspended for the final two races during the 2005 season, when he was issued a DUI before the phoenix race. This did make him finish 10th in the final standings, and turns out that he was falsely accused. The next year after getting out of his contract with Roush, he began to drive for Penske and had his first win of the season at Bristol Motor Speedway. For that season he finished 16th in the final standings, and also won 6 poles. In 2008 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway Busch broke a 29 race winless streak. This was his 4th win since he had joined Penske and 18th overall since he has been racing. He had his ups and downs, and lets say in 2009 the wreck that happened at the Daytona 500 on lap 124 did not help. He did jump back with the race Kobalt Tools 500 where he was leading 235 of 325 laps and received his 19th Sprint Cup Series victory. Just in that race he led more laps then he did for the whole 2008 season. Busch did pick up one more win at the 2009 Dickies 500 race, beating his brother after he ran out of fuel with only two laps to go. For this year 2010 Season Sprint Cup Series, Penske will add more drivers to there team. Busch and Sam Hornish will be teammates, as well as Brad Keselowski will join and run full-time during the Nationwide Series. Kyle Busch will run a Pink paint scheme on his No 18 Toyota at an upcoming event in the Nationwide Series. This design was inspired by a contest that toyota was holding, and this design was the winner. The No 18 Kimmy Diecast will feature bunnies, baby seals, and kittens on the Bright pink Toyota. Kyle says he is ready to give everybody the race they are waiting for, and he is even going to wear a bright pink suit to match his car. This event will take place later this year, Sept 11th for the 2010 Season!