Former Cup Series champion Kurt Busch is coming out of retirement this week for the Race of Champions in Sydney, Australia. In anticipation of the event, the local magazine Man of Many, specializing in men's lifestyle, culture, and style, interviewed him and asked him several random questions.
Busch, who ran Cup Series cars from 2000 until 2022, won 34 races and the 2004 championship. He also won The Great American Race, the Coca-Cola 600, and the All-Star Race once each. He retired from full-time racing in 2023 due to a concussion suffered at an accident in Pocono Raceway the year before. The ROC will be his first professional event since the accident.
During the interview with Man of Many, he was asked fun questions along the lines of - "If you could trade lives with any athlete from a different sport for a week, who would it be?", or "Do you have any driving pet peeves?" He playfully answered:
"Stop signs and speed limits. No, speed bumps. I mean, why do we need speedbumps? And they hurt my suspension on the car."
He also got some slightly more serious questions, like: "If you could steal one skill from another driver, which would it be?", to which he answered:
"I would say the ability to brake with your own foot, making it like an ABS (brake). In a NASCAR car, we push the brake pedal and it kind of sits there on a plateau, where, some of these European guys they go into the corner and they're like manually doing this ABS, so they're really disciplined on their braking."
The whole interview, not a minute long, gives the fans quick and fun insights into Kurt Busch's mentality, knowledge, and personality.
Kurt Busch's partner for Team USA at the ROC will be a well-known daredevil
Kurt Busch will team up with Travis Pastrana for the ROC this weekend in Sydney. Pastrana, a well-known daredevil, has won multiple motocross and supercross championships and X-games gold medals and participated in rally events for the World Rally Association and American Rally Association.
Pastrana is also famous for his high-profile stunts, such as jumping out of a plane without a parachute and relying on his team to catch him, and replicating Evel Knievel's motorcycle jumps, including the Caesar's Palace one from New Year's Eve 1967.
Pastrana recruited Kurt Busch to join him in Sydney for the Champion's race. His first choice had been another NASCAR champion, Kyle Larson but there was a scheduling conflict with Larson's Cup race at Phoenix Raceway on Saturday, March 8.