Race Car Planet

Kyle Busch, born in Las Vegas, Nevada on the May 2nd, 1985 is also known as Shrub as he is the younger brother of NASCAR driver Kurt Busch. By age 6, Busch was already speeding around his family’s home in Las Vegas in a makeshift go-kart. His father, Tom Busch, taught the young Kyle Busch the basics in racing but until he was tall enough, his father would hold down the gas pedal as Busch would maneuver the kart around the neighborhood. Because of his family’s involvement in racing, it was only natural that Busch grew up tinkering in garages, building and repairing race cars with his father and older brother.e started driving competitively professionally at age 13 and has since awed the world of NASCAR. It took him seven years to compete in the NASCAR premier series and he astonished everyone when he was crowned the youngest winner in series history. Although he was a racing fiend, his parents made sure that he was academically sound and as a result, he was also an honor student in school. His parents also instilled a sense of responsibility in Busch which means that Busch was taught from an early age to respect other drivers and to keep his equipment in shape.

Busch was picking up track championships at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway before moving up to late models. His emergence as being victorious made important people pay attention to the budding star. At age 16, Busch entered the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series at the Indianapolis Raceway Park. He finished at ninth place in that race after starting at 23rd. Unfortunately the glory was short lived as an age limitation ruling was enforced by NASCAR which meant that Busch had to wait till he turned 18 to compete on a NASCAR level again. While he waited until he was old enough to return to the NASCAR tracks, Busch joined the American Speed Association and ran the entire 2002 schedule. He also graduated that year from Durango High School adding more pride to his parents already bursting cabinet of trophies as he graduated a year earlier.

The next year Busch signed up with Hendrick Motorsports and in that same year, he entered seven NASCAR Busch Series races and managed to cinch the runner-up finish at Lowe’s Motor Speedway in his first start. He was also able to win his first Automobile Racing Club of America event in Nashville. In 2004, he then went on to win the Automobile Racing Club of America victory on the high banks of Daytona International Speedway. All the winnings then made him the youngest top rookie at age 19 in all of the series’ history.

By the time he reached age 19, Busch had won his first series at Richmond International Raceway, qualified for six NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series races, selected by team owner Rick Hendrick to replace two-time Cup Series champion, Terry Labonte, for the No.5 Kellogg’s Chevrolets for 2005. He then went on to break the record held by Donald Thomas when he won the Lakewood Speedway race in 1952. Busch managed to win at the California Speedway when he beat Thomas’s record by 4 days. The rest, as they say, is history.

Busch now lives in North Carolina with his two dogs and his girlfriend Ashley Deihl. The 22 year old also enjoys other sports like surfing, dune buggies and watching football like any other guy his age. He has also started a foundation aimed to help the less fortunate children around the country. The Kyle Busch Foundation is targeted to assist organizations that are involved in building better and safer environments for these children.

When most people think of NASCAR, they think of the Sprint Cup Series, the Nationwide Series or the Craftsman Truck Series. There is another series out there that many people think is more exciting than any of these. The NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour was established in 1985 and races at some of the most famous short tracks in the northeast. In 2008, The Whelen Modified Tour has a 16 race schedule that includes tracks as short as the ¼ mile Riverhead Raceway in Long Island and as long as the New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon, New Hampshire. The cars, themselves, bear little resemblance to their Sprit Cup cousins. They are open-wheeled cars (meaning they don’t have full fenders) that weigh about 2,600 pounds and use 15 inch wide slick tires. The NASCAR Whelen Modified cars are much lower to the ground and slicker than the Sprint Cup Cars. While they carry names like Chevy Corvette and Ford Mustang, the only part that actually has to be stock is the roof. They have a 107 inch wheelbase and get their power from small block V-8 engines that are capable of creating up to 600 horsepower.veral of the biggest names in NASCAR over the past 20 years, including Geoff Bodine, Brett Bodine, Jimmy Spencer and Steve Park started their professional racing careers in the modified division. In addition, many of today’s top drivers including Tony Stewart, Carl Edwards and Ryan Newman have driven modifieds either on Sprint Cup off days or when the Sprint Cup and Whelen Modified Tour come together for race weekends at Loudon. Most of the Whelen Modified Tour races are staged in a single day. However, there are several opportunities to spend a weekend enjoying the mighty modifieds. The season begins each year in April at the Thompson Speedway in Thompson, CT with a weekend of racing called the Icebreaker and culminates with the World Series of Short Track Racing also at Thompson. Free camping is available at Thompson Speedway so pack your tailgating gear and have a great weekend!

If you’d like more information on the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour, and a schedule of the races, simply Google NASCAR Modifieds. There are many quality sites out there you will find very interesting.