Friday, August 23, 2002
'Wild man' label suits Busch fine
Second-year pro speaks his mind, drives his style
The Associated Press
BRISTOL, Tenn. - Kurt Busch is a little cranky, even as he returns to the site of his only Winston Cup victory.
“This is the part of the season where players make it to the front,” Busch said. “Instead, we're backpedaling, and it's the wrong part of the season to be doing that.”
Busch is coming off three straight finishes of 39th or worse that have dropped him from fifth to 12th in the Winston Cup standings. So he's hoping to snap his streak in the Sharpie 500, an event funded by his sponsor, Saturday night at Bristol Motor Speedway.
Busch won here in March and attracted plenty of attention by bumping Jimmy Spencer out of his way for the victory. It was the first of many scrapes that have cost Busch money in fines.
His outspokenness and aggressive behavior are proving that the 24-year-old Busch won't be pushed around by anyone as he tries to make the No.97 Ford a weekly contender.
“I think that 99 percent of the field respects the way I drive,” Busch said. “But that's not necessarily a concern of mine.”
Busch has proved during his second Winston Cup season that he's here to win races for car owner Jack Roush and nothing else.
Busch was assertive in the season-opening Daytona500, prompting Jeff Gordon to complain in a nationally televised gripe over his radio: “That 97 is a wild man!” Busch reinforced the label a month later when he spun out Spencer.
MONTREAL INDY: The comparisons are inevitable as the CART series makes its debut this weekend at Montreal's Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, which has been home to the Formula One's Canadian Grand Prix since 1978.
Jacques Villeneuve, a former CART and Formula One champion who is still an F1 regular, took a shot at his former circuit when he said: “It will be good to find out, finally, what is the exact lap time difference and how much quicker Formula One is.”
It's the first time in CART's history that the series is running on a track still being used by Formula One. In fact, officials with the Montreal Molson Indy say the 2.747-mile, 13-turn road course on Notre Dame Island hasn't changed since the June race won by F1 season champion Michael Schumacher.
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'Wild man' label suits Busch fine
