More On Busch, And Hopefully The Last
Written by George Katinger · November 17, 2005
What truly got me to thinking Kurt Busch was getting railroaded was reporter Ed Hinton’s cohosting on Wind Tunnel last Sunday evening. He had the courage to call the sheriff and his merry band of deputies what they are, dispensers of rumor, innuendo and misinformation.
sun-sentinel.com: Busch gets a raw deal from Roush
sportingnews.com: Exploring the finer points of the Kurt Busch case
thatsracin.com: Poole: Is there any moral high ground in Busch case?
roanoke.com: Wrath of sponsors costly for Busch
Here’s Ed’s latest summary of the sad state of Kurt and the results of his run-in with the law, as practiced in Maricopa County, Arizona.
A few other “after action” reports are now being revised in the light of additional information coming in. The primary fact of him not nearly being intoxicated is the big one. Maybe a glass of beer or wine with his dinner. Big damn deal! What really frosts my chestnuts are the extreme reactionists who claim as a spokesman Kurt shouldn’t drink ANYTHING AT ALL, if you have to drive. It’s not the way I, and I would bet your average citizen, would interpret the phrase “drink responsibly”.
I understand “don’t drink and drive”, there isn’t a bit of ambiguity in that statement, right? Now when someone who drives for a living is tied to a campaign that says “drink responsibly”, to me it firstly means no EXCESSIVE drinking if you’re going to have to drive. Or no excessive drinking under any circumstances. Which by definition is the legal interpretation of your jurisdiction for intoxication by blood alcohol levels. Period. Secondly it means know your own reaction to alcohol. Many folks I know can’t sniff a glass of wine without passing out, while many others actually drive more cautiously after a beer, because they are more concerned over safety issues. And yes, the legal consequences of what actually happened to Kurt.
But the outright hypocrisy and method with which Diageo and Roush divested themselves of Busch was a total sham, nothing less. And for all you Busch haters out there with long memories, please tell me what Kurt has done this year that would make him an unworthy Nextel Champion? Not a damned thing.
Here’s hoping that Kurt rebounds well and has another top ten season for Roger Penske next year. And I would dearly love to see Kurt in the winners circle this Sunday passing the Nextel Cup to Tony Stewart.
It’s only right!
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Only one thing? OK that’s easy:
May 2005: Kurt bad-mouths NASCAR over the radio, hits an official with a water bottle in the garage area, and drives erratically with a damaged race car after crashing in the first lap at Darlington. Kurt wasn’t fined or suspended, but NASCAR called his actions “not befitting of a champion.”
I’ll be very surprised if Kurt is anywhere near the winners circle on Sunday considering Homestead canceled the unveiling of his 2004 Nextel Cup championship banner.
I also find it highly ironic that Champ Crown most likely will be handed off to someone who just a short three years ago was just as volatile and hostile to some media and other drivers as Kurt is now.
HEY!!! PUT A SOCK IN IT! DOESN’T MATTER IF KURT WAS DRUNK OR NOT. HE STILL DISRESPECTED THE LAWS AND AUTHORITIES THAT PROTECT US FROM PEOPLE WHO DRIVE RECKLESS AND PUT PEOPLE LIKE MYSELF AND MY FAMILY IN DANGER.MAYBE IF KURT SPENT A LITTLE TIME IN A PINK JUMPSUIT HE WOULD CHANGE HIS ATTITUDE. FROM ONE ROUSCH FAN TO YOU!
Oh George, look what you’ve gone and done…………(chuckle)
I knew someone (thank you Marc)would bring up Kurt’s on track incident back in May with the NASCAR officials. None of what he said or did was broadcast over the air, so it was NASCAR defending their own poor race judgement (One of many over the year, and not just with Kurt).
Countless driving incidents between drivers, and drivers and NASCAR, that’s what adds to the “charm”, shall we say, of the sport?
And you may think I come across as a cop baiting neo-liberal weenie when nothing can be further from reality. I respect what law enforcement officials risk every day in the fullfillment of their duties, I just can’t stand it when they methodicaly turn routine traffic stops into more than it should be. ANd I also know that the first time a cop takes their own safety for granted in a “routine” stop is when he/she just might get themselves killed. No one said the job was easy. It requires what many police seem to be unwilling to apply, the use of tact.
I for one would appreciate a little more differential between self preservation of the police and bullying of citizens who commit moving violations on our streets and highways.
Kurt got mouthy with a cop…he admitted it…
http://sports.espn.go.com/rpm/news/story?series=wc&id=2227733
when was the last time you saw ANYONE get mouthy with a cop and walk away NOT in handcuffs? I really wish the alcohol issues weren’t part of this because it’s clouding the real issue of the incident - fact that he’s a mouthy punk. That’s the real reason all this went down and escalated to a breathalyzer test.
If he stepped out of the car and sweet talked that cop, batted his eyelashes, acted like a gentleman and maybe offered to sign an autograph for the cop’s kid, we would have NEVER HEARD ABOUT THIS. Fact is he got out of the car and started swinging his wang around acting like Mr. Famous NASCAR driver who doesn’t have to put up with these pesky traffic laws that were designed to keep the mortals in check. If I was the cop I may have reacted similarly. He’s a punk, plain and simple. A great driver, but a punk none the less.
I hope that Kurt Busch kicks butt next year and i wishe him the very best of luck
Yea, what Josh said. Except I would just call him stupid and not a punk.
Here is an interesting link for you. Be careful it’s a four page pdf file of the official police report. (http://www.azcentral.com/news/pdfbusch2.pdf)
Not to pile on or anything but I do have a question, is Busch married?
The report states a female was his passenger. A certain Mrs. “Blank.”
The name is blacked out but do my eyes deceive me or do I see the letter “J” sticking out beneath the blackout?
Not that it matters, but I’m surprised the media hasn’t played it for all it’s worth.
BTW, she takes the blame. Says she was drunk on a “half a Margarita” and was arguing with Kurt.
After the arrest she called a relative named Thomas Busch to pick her up.
From what I’ve read, Kurt is engaged. What her name is, I haven’t picked up on. And it’s the first I’ve read/heard that there was a passenger in the vehicle.
Interesting, very interesting!
What’s to stop Penske from running an extra car at homestead so Kurt can be 1 race ahead in his new ride?
Kurt is still under contract, and getting paid, until his agreed to release date.
No Penske ride for Kurt until ‘06!
I promised no more postings on the Roush-Busch fiasco, but here’s something worth reading.
http://www.tsn.ca/auto_racing/news_story.asp?id=143533
and:
speedwaymedia.com: My Apologies to Kurt Busch, http://www.speedwaymedia.com/Articles/05/111905Batease.asp
Quote concerning Jack:
“Roush is still angry over Busch’s decision to leave his organization to drive for Roger Penske, a decision Busch made just months after winning his first Nextel Cup title. His desire to move on shocked Roush and forever fractured their relationship, with Roush saying Friday he hasn’t even spoken to the driver in at least four weeks.”
So let’s see, Jack was/is pissed over Kurt leaving him for Penske? So what does Jack do, go and steal McMurray from Ganassi. But that’s okay, right?
And further in the article Greg Biffle totaly suports the idea that if the Phoenix cops hadn’t spread rumors (that they knew were wrong) about alcohol abuse Kurt would still be in the car. And he’s probably right.
Watch your back Greg, you may be the next one suspended or have your contract terminated. Isn’t saying anything in disagreement with your owner a contract morals violation? It is now!
Once and for all, Kurt is a mouthy 24 (?) year old guy with an ingrained inability to contain his opinions, good bad or otherwise. As Marc points out so was/is Tony Stewart. All of this is generated by Roush’s high handed “how could he do this to me” attitude. If anyone is an immature jerk here it’s the old geezer Jack. Jack needs to remember and apply that line from The Godfather movie, “It’s not personal Sonny, it’s business”!
Well, to start with I am a cop and have been for 12 years now. I love it when everyone os so quick to judge the officer instead of the violator when they were not even there to start with. If anyone wants to blame someone blame the media. They are the ones who blow things like this way out of proportion. Whether he was drunk/drinking or not the officer who stopped did exactly what he is paid to do. Ask yourself this question; what is he had been drunk and the officer not stopped him and stopped him and some innocent person had gotten killed. I am sure that would have been ok since after all it was “Kurt Busch” who was driving drunk and that would make it ok for a great deal of the Nascar community. Until you have walked in an officers shoes and seen what he has to deal with i do not consider it a wise decision to make judgement calls based on what the media thinks. I would like to see the officers report before i form any conclusions about this. These drivers are no different than anyone else in this world and they should have to obide by the state laws just like everyone else does. I have always found it humorous that when a celebrity gets in trouble they always seen to be able to buy their way out of it somehow and the officers seem to ultimately take the criticism.
Thanks for your rational observations Zack, I’ve been some what cringing, waiting for someone in the business to fillet me like a fish over my comments about the cops.
As a different take on stopping a co called celebrity, would you treat them differently if they were ULTRA respectful and considerate of your position as a cop? Or would you still think they were attempting to weasel out of reponsibilty by being “Nice”?
Ultimately I would hope you (and all police) would treat us civilians alike (give respect when getting it) during routine moving violation incidents. After all it’s a speeding deal, not armed robbery! And if you wish to reply, be sure to read my comment about the risks I know you take during “routine” highway stops.
Please preserve your open mind and attitude, in my opinion there aren’t enough like you in the uniform.
Just to weigh in… the patrol officer was, in my opinion, mostly professional and correct in his actions (with one exception, which I’ll get to later). The administration of the Sheriff’s Dept, however, seemed to intentionally create a media lynching by knowingly releasing half-truths and outright lies (implying he was DUI, but got away with it on a technicality) while withholding the most important fact to Bush’s continued livlihood (he was not even CLOSE to DUI). Only after changing their story 3 or 4 times (a behavior usually exhibited by criminals, not by trusted public servants) did the truth about the situation come out: Bush drove like an ass, behaved like an ass, but that is all. He has suffered the consequences of his behavior. However, the sheriff’s department will suffer no consequences for smearing someone’s reputation with a PR campaign of lies and misinformation. That’s just wrong.
As for my criticism of the officer, I doubt that the officer “smelled alcohol on his breath” after Bush had one Margarita and a plate full of spicy, smelling Mexican food. If anything, Bush probably smelled like onions and B.O. I believe that police officers around the country routinely lie about the “alcohol on the breath” allegation during traffic stops during evening hours because it gives them probable cause to take further steps like the field sobriety and breathlyzer. I’ve been told this by cops I know, and I’ve experienced it firsthand. For someone in Bush’s position, committing that routine lie did him a great disservice. Given Bush’s erratic driving, the officer did not need that excuse to conduct sobriety testing. Sure, take him in for being a complete horse’s ass, but don’t lie about the man.