Kurt Busch will return to his drag racing roots during the 41st
running of the Tire Kingdom NHRA Gatornationals March 11-14 at
historic Gainesville Raceway.
The 2004 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion is set to get
behind the wheel of his rebuilt 1970 Dodge Challenger next weekend
to compete against a field of between 70 and 90 veteran
“Super Gas” racers who no doubt will be champing at the
bit to line up against one of the biggest names in motorsports.
Busch will make a minimum of three “time trial”
passes on Thursday March 11 and the field will return Friday
morning, pair off, and begin eliminations.
“Gainesville is one of the marquee events on the NHRA
calendar and it’s a privilege to compete against the best
Sportsman racers out there,” Busch said.
Super Gas is one of seven different Lucas Oil Drag Racing
Series classes that will be contested at the Tire Kingdom NHRA
Gatornationals. The LODRS is NHRA’s “sportsman”
series that is home to a wide variety of racers from hobbyists to
highly-competitive, highly-invested teams to young drivers with
aspirations to move up to the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing
Series.
Busch bought the Dodge Challenger in 2008 and began the
process of getting it into race shape in March of 2009. The car is
powered by a stroked 6.1 liter Hemi, weighs 3000 pounds and puts
out an incredible 1167 horsepower.
While Busch feels at home behind the wheel of No. 2 Penske
Racing Dodge, he is aware that this will be a new and exciting
environment for him.
“Sportsman racing is no different than any other type
of racing, you need seat time. I spent over 30 hours at Roy
Hill’s drag racing school, and have had two tests in my own
Challenger, but that’s nowhere compared to the seat time many
of these guys have in their own cars. We are going to go out there
and do our best competing against these talented Sportsman
racers,” Busch said.
Busch’s love affair with drag racing began back in the
early 1990’s when he met a pair of Las Vegas based NHRA
racers - George Marnell, a Pro Stock racer, and Dave Bush, a Super
Comp competitor. And when Kurt began driving in the Sprint Cup
Series for Penske Racing, he got to know NHRA Top Fuel champion
Larry Dixon as they were both sponsored by Miller Lite.
He got the idea to compete in an NHRA event after taking part
in the opening night of zMAX Dragway in Concord, N.C. in September
of 2008 and one of the rare off-weekends in the NASCAR schedule
coincided with next weekend’s 41st running of the prestigious
Tire Kingdom NHRA Gatornationals.
