Kurt Busch Goes Under the Lights
Written by John Davison · December 18, 2003
Concord, NC – The final NASCAR Winston Cup Season is over. The haulers are parked, the trophies have been distributed and the point-fund checks have been cashed.
But on a Friday morning in December during the middle of the off-season, Kurt Busch goes through an all-to familiar routine. He arrives at the track, steps into a motor coach and changes into his driver’s suit. He grabs his helmet, his gloves and walks towards his car amidst a flash of camera bulbs. But there is something very different about this pre-race routine, something that separates it from the 38 race weekends where he makes the same walk.
This time Kurt is wearing make-up.
Though the Daytona 500 and the start of the first NASCAR Nextel Cup Series are still two months from commencing, Kurt’s numerous sponsors are putting the finishing touches on their advertising and promotional campaigns for 2004. For the driver of the No. 97 this means long days of bright lights and smiles in photo studios and on-location… and make-up.
“We always try to look our best for our sponsors,” Kurt said. “It’s always interesting to see how they do these shoots, and I’m always amazed by how many people and lights and cameras are involved with the productions.”
The week before Christmas has been unusually busy for Kurt, with three full days of photo and commercial shoots scheduled.
“On Tuesday we had a full day of shooting for our primary sponsor Newell-Rubbermaid and some of their brands, and then on Thursday and Friday we’re going out to Concord Motorsport Park to shoot with some of the other drivers for Gillette,” said Kurt. “That one will take a couple days because there are six of us drivers involved, and any time you get us together for something like this we end up spending half our time joking with each other.” Kraft, Visa and Nextel have already concluded their shoots for 2004. When Kurt returns from the holidays he will have shoots scheduled for Coca-Cola, Pennzoil and Ford.
Roush Racing is a subsidiary of Livonia, Mich., based Roush Industries that operates 10 motorsports teams; five in NASCAR Winston Cup with drivers Mark Martin, Jeff Burton, Matt Kenseth, Kurt Busch and Greg Biffle, three in the BUSCH Grand National Series with Martin, Burton, Kenseth and Biffle, and two in the Craftsman Truck Series with drivers Jon Wood and Carl Edwards.
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