Indianapolis Motor Speedway (Speedway, Ind.) — Kyle Kirkwood remembers first meeting Kyle Busch.
It was just the second professional motorsports race he had ever attended. He believes it was at the age of 7.
And he wanted to get the hat signed.
That hat remains part of his racing trophy and memorabilia collection. The Andretti INDYCAR driver calls it a pivotal moment in his racing career.
“That was like one of the first moments that I got around professional cars,” Kirkwood said at a post-Indianapolis 500 practice news conference Friday. “In a way, he turned me on to motor racing and wanting to move forward from karting.”
Busch died suddenly Thursday at age 41, a day after being taken to the hospital for having trouble breathing and coughing up blood following a session in the Chevrolet racing simulator.
Fellow drivers shared found memories of Kyle Busch.
The motorsports world is mourning the loss of the two-time Cup champion. Kirkwood said he met Busch at Texas Motor Speedway.
“That was the first professional racer that I think I met from all forms of motorsports,” Kirkwood said. “I remember I got that signature, and for many years — still to this day, I still have that hat. I still have it with my trophies at my house.
“But I remember that moment kind of really turned me on to racing. It was one of those moments where I’m never going to wash my hand again, you know? I think I was probably 7 years old or something like that. I fell in love with motorsports kind of after that and then meeting a few other guys and falling in love with INDYCAR.”
Seven-time Cup champion Jimmie Johnson, also a former Indy 500 driver, was in the Indianapolis Motor Speedway garage taking in practice. He was also watching some of his Legacy Motor Club pit crew members who are on the pit crew of the Arrow McLaren car of Ryan Hunter-Reay.
He said he recently talked to Busch. Busch, like Johnson experienced late in his Cup career, was mired in a long winless streak. They talked about feeling they could still win amid the slump.
Johnson told me and another reporter that he will remember Busch for his bravery, among other things.
“The bravery, just natural skill, and then being able to tie that all back to the engineering process and communicating what he’s feeling, and expanding on that, and understanding cars, and the build [of the cars],” Johnson said. “Technically, in [knowing] the build of a car, he’s one of the best. He had that old school know-how and understanding, but could relate to the engineers — which is very special on its own.
“And then he had all this bravery and skill to match it up.”
Carson Hocevar and Kyle Busch were teammates when they both raced trucks for Spire Motorsports.
NASCAR Cup Series driver Carson Hocevar and Busch didn’t have a strong relationship but were teammates when they both raced trucks for Spire Motorsports, which bought the Kyle Busch Motorsports trucks program a few years ago.
“Whether he disliked me or not on Sundays, when it came to … at Spire, we were teammates,” Hocevar said on the FOX telecast of INDYCAR’s Carb Day practice Friday. “That said a lot about him.”
Katherine Legge, who is attempting to do both the Indy 500 and the NASCAR Coke 600 on Sunday, said Busch and his wife, Samantha, welcomed her into the NASCAR garage.
“A lot of the drivers don’t even say hi, but they took the time to get to know me and give me some help and advice, and I would class them as friends,” Legge said at Friday’s post-practice news conference. “So it’s desperately sad. … Racing has lost one of the greatest drivers, in my opinion, of all time.”
Busch won more NASCAR national series races (234) than any other driver in series history and ranked ninth all-time in Cup wins with 63.
Josef Newgarden, a two-time INDYCAR series champion, went to one of Busch’s two Cup championship parties. He considered them acquaintances and reacted to Busch’s death in the view of them both being parents. Newgarden has two young sons; Busch was the father of two children — an 11-year-old son (Brexton) and a 4-year-old daughter (Lennix).
“He was an extreme racer, one of the best you’d ever see on track, and I’m just speaking about his skill set,” Newgarden said at his post-practice news conference. “I’m sure that the toughest part about it is just what he leaves behind with his kids and what they have to go through.
“Incredibly sad for everybody. I didn’t even know Kyle very well. Just when I look at from afar, how can it not break your heart when you think about his kids?”
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