June 24, 2011
By Brenda Benedict
Kyle Busch took a plane out of Michigan heading to California immediately after completing the Rowdy 251 CRA Super Series.
The race, named in his honor, was held at Berlin Raceway located in western Michigan.
But he left behind many happy fans and track owners who were singing Busch’s praises for his commitment to racing at the local level.
Kyle Busch who is currently ranked fourth in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, has been appearing frequently in the news this spring with a series of sometimes bizarre events including a dust-up with team owner Richard Childress. In that event, Busch was found to be innocent although fans and Childress seem to think that Busch was deserving of the punches thrown by Childress for his on-track behavior.
Busch’s team was also penalized two weeks running for equipment violations. All of this comes on top of NASCAR placing Busch and Kevin Harvick on probation for continued aggressive racing behavior toward each other. That probation has ended
Busch is the driver fans seem to love or hate but Mike Blackmer, owner of Berlin Raceway, cannot stop singing Busch’s praises. I spoke with Blackmer earlier this year and he explained that he met Kyle Busch several years ago at a race he was attending. They began their relationship that has resulted in Busch making appearances at the half-mile track near Grand Rapids, Michigan. Busch’s appearances have coincided with the Sprint Cup Race at Michigan International Speedway.
Blackmer told me about the graciousness of Busch and his willingness to help promote local racing by appearing for a race designed in his honor.
This year that graciousness was tested when the Rowdy 251 had to be postponed due to heavy rain and a tornado watch on Tuesday evening. Busch agreed to stick around for the Wednesday running of the race and his patience paid off for the track with over 3,000 fans showing up to watch Busch win the rescheduled race.
Busch spoke with local media this week and expressed what may be his reason for competing at this level. He spoke of giving up and coming young drivers an opportunity to compete with a Sprint Cup level driver. He stated that some of the drivers remind him of himself when he was beginning his driving career.
Chase Elliott, son of Bill Elliott and Ross Kenseth, Matt Kenseth’s son, both competed in the Rowdy 251. Last year, Busch also won the race holding off Chase Elliott. This year he had to outrun Johnny Benson, one-time NASCAR driver and a local boy with a huge Michigan following.
Busch’s new wife, Samantha, accompanied him to Berlin and kept us informed with her prolific Twitter presence. Her frequent tweets not only tell the details of the race, but she is making a connection to female fans with other information related to her personal life as well.
So if you are at Berlin Raceway, it will be hard to find fans who didn’t enjoy watching Busch’s brand of racing. But that is how I’ve always approached Busch. He didn’t appear to care what type of reaction he would get for his behavior. He did what it took to win the race and then show his feelings to fellow drivers such as his incident with Kevin Harvick in the cool down lap. Busch’s bumping of Harvick led to the probation placed by NASCAR.
But when Kyle Busch comes to Michigan, he shows his ‘softer’ side and that makes the Michigan fans appreciate the effort he went to put on a good show for us.
There is a saying in politics that “all politics is local”. This phrase coined by former U.S. Speaker of the House, Tip O’Neill meant that all politician’s success is based on their ability to connect with local constituents. But I believe that this is true for racing as well. A driver’s ability to connect with the local fans will go far in developing new fans for the sport. And ultimately that is good for all racing fans-whether they like Kyle Busch or not.
You can follow me at Twitter @nascarfaithful
The thoughts and ideas expressed by this writer or any other writer on Insider Racing News, are not necessarily the views of the staff and/or management of IRN.
