Monday, March 30, 2009

Is it possible to be a fan of a spoiled brat?

I suppose the obvious answer is a resounding 'Yes.'  I'm not a fan of Kyle Busch, but I find his on and off track antics to be entertaining, at the very least.  Last week he was making cracks about the sport's currently most popular driver, and this week, he literally ran away from a disappointing finish in the Truck race at Martinsville.

I watched it live on Speed TV today.  Kyle Busch literally acted like a little boy who had been kicked in the shins and ran home to Mama.  

Of course, Kyle might have been late to do his part in an M&M's commercial or something.  I'm certainly not privy to information like that.  Believe it or not, I'm not told the details of Kyle's schedule.

I did see him, courtesy of SPEED TV, throw his helmet and HANS device onto the rear of his 51 Toyota truck, owned by his friend Billy Ballew.  After Kyle got out of the truck, he didn't talk to anyone on the team; he simply sprinted up pit road, dodging other trucks that were still coming onto pit road.  He found the gate to let him out of the track, and hopped across the wall, and walked deliberately across the track, and was let out with a sound of 'Boos' in the air.  It's possible he was late to an important meeting, of course.  Anything is certainly possible.

For some perverted reason, I find myself becoming a bit of a fan of the Pee Wee Herman looking, temperamental driver.  It's not that I hope he wins, but performances like he put on after today's Martinsville race are absolutely priceless.  If nothing else, Kyle Busch puts on a very interesting show.

The fact that he has racing performance on his side helps too.  The guy has won in virtually everything he's ever driven, and usually many times.  Kyle Busch is an obviously very talented race driver who apparently has somewhat of a short fuse.  What better guy to capture the interest of NASCAR fans?

Kyle Busch has the talent, and an attitude that tends to irritate fans of other drivers.  He is somewhat like the Darrell Waltrip of the 1970's and 1980's, and somewhat like what many thought of a young Dale Earnhardt in the early 1980's as well.  Kyle Busch is brash, he's unapologetic, and quite honestly, he's a pretty good driver.

The fact that he has major temper tantrums makes it more fun.  Of course, he's not the only driver to have them.

Former teammate Tony Stewart is famous for them.  Brother Kurt used to be, but lately, Kurt seems to be trying to emulate the Jeff Gordon/Jimmie Johnson/Matt Kenseth type of profile, basically smiling at the camera and thanking the sponsors, and never taking the bait when asked specifically about what the driver thinks about getting punted or pushed into the wall.

In some ways, Kyle Busch is old school.  He wears his emotions on his sleeve, and though he acts like a brat at times, the passion shows through.  Kyle races hard, no matter where he is, and when he loses a race, he's upset.  Maybe he carries it overboard at times, as he did today in the Truck race at Martinsville, but when you get right down to it, you have to think that he's just passionate about winning.

Is that such a bad thing?

And you thought this was going to be a hit piece on Kyle Busch.  It wasn't meant to be.

He's very passionate about whatever race he's driving in, and I, as a fan, I'm happy to see that passion in racing.  Kyle, you just keep on doing what you're doing.  You might seem like a spoiled brat at times, but at least I know why.  Keep doing what you do, and one day you'll maybe have fans like Petty or Dale Jr. does.  And maybe you won't have to mouth off about it.


1 comment:

  1. Please I wish everyone would stop all the comparisons to Dale Earnhardt. I'm not getting into the " there's only one Dale Earnhardt" ,most all realize that. Kyle Busch can drive a race car , that is for sure, but Earnhardt, Petty, Pearson,Waltrip. I say let him earn the right to be mentioned in the same sentence over the years to come with the likes of those greats. At this point I see a real good driver. Just no way near that league. Yet.

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