Kurt Busch Bio - Biography

Name Kurt Busch
Height
Naionality American
Date of Birth 4-August-1978
Place of Birth Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S.
Famous for NASCAR (National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing)
Kurt Busch is an American NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race car driver. He currently drives the No. 78 Furniture Row Chevrolet SS for Furniture Row Racing in the Sprint Cup Series. Busch has also driven for Phoenix Racing, Penske Racing, and Roush Fenway Racing in his Sprint Cup career, which began in 2001. Busch, winner of 24 Cup races and the 2004 championship, also races on an "opportunity permitting" basis in the Pro Stock division of NHRA.

He is a second-generation racing driver; his father, Tom, won several NASCAR sanctioned events. He is the older brother of Kyle Busch, who is also a NASCAR driver. Busch won the Cup Series Championship in 2004, the first ever season using the "Chase for the Cup" points format, finishing just eight points ahead of Jimmie Johnson. With a 2006 win in the Nationwide Series, Busch became one of only 23 drivers with a win in all three of NASCAR's top divisions: the Sprint Cup Series, the Nationwide Series, and the Camping World Truck Series. Busch's first racing experience was in a Dwarf car at age 14 at Pahrump Valley Speedway. He was put in the Dwarf car by his father. Busch earned his big break after Chris Trickle was wounded in a mysterious shooting (Trickle would die of the injuries over a year later and to this day the murderer has never been found). The Star Nursery team looked for a new driver to replace Trickle for the No. 70 team. Busch gained national exposure while competing against Ron Hornaday, Jr., Matt Crafton, Greg Biffle, Kevin Harvick and others for the first time in the 1997 Winter Heat Series at Tucson Raceway Park. At the 2012 Aaron's 499 at Talladega, Busch paid homage to the 2006 racing comedy Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby by running his #51 car with the paint scheme of Ricky Bobby's #62 "ME" Cougar car from the movie, causing NASCAR on Fox commentators Mike Joy, Larry McReynolds and Darrell Waltrip to jokingly refer to Busch as "Ricky Bobby" throughout the race, and Busch also dropped movie lines into radio chatter with his spotter and crew chief. Busch's girlfriend Patricia Driscoll spent months getting permission from Sony and Will Farrell as well as other trademark and license holders. Busch's real-life fall from grace during the 2011-12 Sprint Cup off-seasons has been compared to Ricky Bobby's.

Busch's car was one of the stronger performers, running near the front and even leading for a few laps. Towards the end of the race, with six laps to go, he dropped back when he spun out in the trioval off Brad Keselowski's bumper. After stopping, Busch drove backwards down pit road to get replacement tires, though he was not penalized and finished in 20th place as the last car on the lead lap.

Busch began training in January 2011 under veteran NHRA Pro Stock driver Allen Johnson and obtained his NHRA Pro Stock competition license. He made his drag racing competition debut on March 10 at the 42nd annual Tire Kingdom Gatornationals in Gainesville. On March 12, Busch qualified in the Pro Stock field, and made his first professional drag racing Elimination-round start on March 13, losing to Erica Enders by 0.004 second in a car carrying Shell sponsorship and painted to look like his NASCAR Sprint Cup car. Busch is only the third driver to cross over between NASCAR and NHRA, the other two being Richard Petty and John Andretti.

Kurt Busch Photos