Well, another domino has fallen in our still very young NASCAR Sprint Cup offseason and another driver finds himself on the outside looking in. Kurt Busch has now joined the ranks of David Ragan, Brian Vickers and David Reutimann, all of whom are looking for a 2012 ride.
Kurt’s situation came about a lot differently than the other three guys. Brian Vickers' Red Bull team ceased operation in NASCAR racing. Car owner Jack Roush was forced to shut down David Ragan’s No. 6 team for lack of sponsorship. David Reutimann’s sponsor was cutting back to a partial schedule and that fit in with what Mark Martin wanted to do, so he replaced David for 2012.
Kurt’s situation is certainly different because, quite honestly, he brought this on himself. My take on all this is it boils down to discipline vs. defiance. The irony in all this is both Kurt and Kyle Busch have now traveled down the same path pretty much.
If you remember, Kurt had problems with the law a few years ago in Phoenix. Kyle, naturally, had his speeding ticket incident earlier this year. Kurt and Jimmy Spencer got so heated with each other that Jimmy punched him. This year you saw things escalate between Kyle and team owner Richard Childress to a point where Richard showed Kyle the business end of his fists.
Naturally, the irony of ironies is they are brothers, for heaven's sake. What’s that old line about “apples not falling far from the tree?” As I kept thinking about this whole situation with Kurt, the word defiant keep popping into my head. So I decided to look up the definition, and, boy, it fit like a glove. Mr. Webster defines defiant as “he is defiant in the face of his critics — resistant — obstinate — uncooperative — insubordinate — total disregard for authority" and on and on.
I don’t care if it is in NASCAR racing or any sport, for that matter, or simply in society as a whole — you cannot have disrespect for authority. You have to play by the rules. Whether it is the sanctioning body, in our case, or the legal authority of your government, you simply have to answer to somebody.
The great Bob Dylan wrote the song, “Gotta Serve Somebody,” and in it are the lyrics – “You're gonna have to serve somebody, Well it may be the devil or it may be the Lord, But you're gonna have to serve somebody.”
That certainly applies here. Sometimes — again it doesn’t matter whether it’s in sports or in everyday life — you become too prideful and egotistical and it begins to consume you. As the old cliche goes, “You believe your own press clippings” about how great you are or think you are.
Humility is a lesson well learned. No one person is above the sport. If you don’t believe me, go ask Kevin Harvick. There was a time a number of years ago when he thought he was above it all. NASCAR fixed that real quick. You remember what they did? They parked him after the Martinsville Speedway Truck race. Trust me, that got his attention.
Once again, Kurt has to look no further than his younger brother last month. Kyle thought he was bulletproof, too, until NASCAR parked him for the remainder of the Texas weekend after what he did to Ron Hornaday in the Truck race.
Drivers are fiery, passionate, I-hate-to-lose-at-anything type of people. So it’s not like we haven’t seen a driver explode at the media, his team, his owner or even one driver back in the day acting the fool and challenging the race fans to meet him in the parking lot of the Kmart. The driver is in the heat of battle. He blows hot, apologies are made in a day or two and we move on in most cases.
But Kurt’s situation is so far beyond most cases that it isn’t even funny. I picked up on this back in 2010 when Kurt had his meltdown over the radio at Martinsville. He was going off on the car, the team, his owner, etc., until car owner Roger Penske came over the radio and instructed Kurt to either calm down or park the car. Kurt’s response was “10-4 dude.”
Now, Roger Penske is one of the world’s most well-respected businessmen, let alone an icon in motorsports — “10-4 dude” was a total lack of respect for the man. You just don’t talk to Roger Penske like that. I simply cannot even imagine the fury I would have faced from Junior Johnson after a race if I had ever said “10-4 dude” to him.
Kurt saying “10-4 dude” was my signal that things were going to head into a downward spiral. There were other meltdowns by Kurt after that. We’ve had a few this year as this volcano prepared to erupt. The explosion finally came at Homestead with Kurt going off on media member Jerry Punch. Kurt’s rant went viral and was a big sensation on YouTube. If that wasn’t enough, the cherry on top had Kurt giving folks the bird as he was leaving the track.
Back in the day, I could be mad at the world, my owner, my sponsor, my team and I would take it out on Jeff Hammond. I would rant and rave and cuss him out like nobody’s business. Very few people would really know about it. But, see, this isn’t back in the day. This is today, and if you pull a stunt today like Kurt did, everyone knows about it instantly. Today’s society is all geared toward social media, whether it is Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, etc. Even an intern with a cell phone working for a race team can record a confrontation of any sort and have it up on the web within minutes.
So am I surprised that Kurt Busch is out at Penske Racing? Absolutely not. Penske had no choice. In addition to Roger’s anger and frustration with Kurt’s never-ending issues, just imagine the public-relations nightmare his sponsors are dealing with. This isn’t what they signed up for. They want to win races, compete for championships and sell their product. What they don’t want is to be paying a guy to stand there wearing their colors and logos on TV and listening to him F-bomb the world.
The really sad part is the Busch brothers are two of the most talented drivers our sport has ever seen. To have all that God-given talent to control a race car, yet lack the ability to control their own emotions is puzzling.
Luckily for them, they make their living in NASCAR. You always hear us say NASCAR is a family — very dysfunctional at times but still a family nonetheless. Our sport prides itself on giving people second and, sometimes, even third and fourth chances.
So what does the Kurt’s future in NASCAR hold? Kurt said last week he is utilizing a sports psychologist to help work on his anger issues. That’s a great start. I also like what he said in his quote after being released from Penske Racing about how it was not easy to leave but “it's an important step for me and allows me to take a deep breath to work on things that can make me a better driver and a better person.”
Make no mistake, with the talent Kurt possesses behind the wheel, there will be a car owner who will be willing to take the risk in signing Kurt to drive for him. I am just at a loss to tell you who that owner might be right now. With the economy the way it is, sponsorship being so tight and teams forced to either cut back or cease all together, this is one of the few years we have had more drivers available than there are teams.
If David Ragan, as rumored, does take over the No. 22 Dodge, that still leaves quality drivers like David Reutimann and Brian Vickers along with Kurt looking for a ride. So my point is, opportunities are pretty slim and pretty limited. I would love nothing more than for Kurt to get his head screwed on right and get his emotions under control. I want to see him make a strong comeback doing what he does best — driving a race car.
