Memories abundant in 26 years of the Busch Series

ORLANDO, Fla. -- Nothing's the same as it was 26 years ago; not the price of coffee, beer, gasoline -- or certainly, race tickets.

The Busch Series ain't the same, either.

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And nothing hammered that point home more than when four-time Busch champion crew chief Steve Bird sauntered into a Thursday night throw-down at Universal City Walk celebrating Roush Fenway Racing's Carl Edwards' driver championship and Richard Childress Racing's car owner title.

Seeing Bird was akin to having a ghost walk into your 25th high school reunion -- though his recent history has been anything but celestial, as he's successfully racing in the Hooters Pro Cup.

But for old time's sake, seeing Bird -- who won Busch championships with drivers Rob Moroso, Johnny Benson and Randy LaJoie -- saunter into the crowded room clutching a dark brown longneck bottle of the sponsor's product was priceless; even if his observation wasn't.

"Not too many people here I recognize," said Bird, who was a Busch Series garage fixture for virtually two decades. Ain't it the truth?

Given what's bound to change in 26 years, I guess that's no surprise -- but it doesn't mean you shouldn't miss it.

As brewery giant Anheuser-Busch "realigns its marketing objectives" and its Busch beer brand heads down the road into history's cobwebs, the one obvious benefit is there are plenty of memories -- from the inaugural Budweiser Late Model Sportsman Series to the current day.

And that's a good thing.

Like with a lot of other things, in a lot of ways, the memories of what the Busch Series once was are better contained in a time capsule.

There was a time when it seemed like the Busch Series had icons, legends: Men like Jack Ingram and Sam Ard and Butch Lindley and Tommy Ellis and Tommy Houston -- and then guys who came in and seemed perfectly positioned to assume the role of torchbearers: Like Larry Pearson, Chuck Bown, Steve Grissom and Randy LaJoie.

The series in that era was a little raw, and that was perfect for its position in NASCAR. Ingram was a tough racer, but he could be even tougher afterward -- and what a memory that is.

In 1986, Ingram -- the "Iron Man, which is another treasured memory -- was leading the Busch standings when he had an, err, "altercation" with another competitor in a Late Model Stock Car race, I believe, at New Asheville Speedway.

Ingram's NASCAR license was suspended for several weeks and the hiatus allowed Pearson to take his first of two Busch titles.

The memories of watching Ard in that white-and-red No. 00 Thomas Brothers Country Ham Oldsmobile, or Ingram's crusty maroon No. 11 Skoal Nova, really stick in the memory.

As the cars transitioned from the Novas and Le Mans and Tempests and Cutlasses of the Late Model Sportsman days, to the Monte Carlos and Thunderbirds that were too similar to what was being raced in Winston Cup, it should have been a warning shot, but we were enjoying it too much.

Speaking of those boxy, Sportsman-era cars, if you showed anyone Houston's 1987 Buick Apollo Busch Grand National -- yup, there's another memory that will never go away -- car, and asked them its significance, there's no way they'd be able to tell you it's the Daytona Busch track record holder, and probably will be for time immemorial.

It was about that time Mark Martin came back to NASCAR racing, after a period back in the ASA that followed his early 1980s fizzle in Winston Cup. He came back in the Busch Series and I remember chatting with him at Daytona during a break in testing.

Randy LaJoie

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Martin, who won his first Busch race later in 1987, went on to create a lot of other Busch memories in Jack Roush's No. 60 Fords, most of which carried him to the Busch record win total. But the most compelling memory of that day was how classy and respectful Martin was -- qualities that haven't dissipated through the years.

Houston's was a family team, with sons Scott, Andy and Marty on board, along with a cousin or two; and sponsors like Roses Stores and Southern Biscuit Flower that are also the stuff of Busch legends.

So was the V6 era, when standing outside any Busch venue -- but particularly places like Daytona -- was akin to being in close proximity to an apiary in revolt, with a billion bees about to go wild.

The Houstons were only one family that made a comfortable -- and competitive -- home in the Busch Series. The Pearsons, Bowns, Jarretts, Linvilles, Thackstons, Hensleys and, in three different decades the Bodines were all families that created a lot of Busch memories.

Pearson winning his first Busch race at Darlington, a track where his legendary father David Pearson had so much success, is big; and a lot of that comes from memories of crew chief brother Ricky, who's a mainstay in the Busch Series to this day, providing a solid link to the past.

And how about the Busch legacy of the Earnhardts? Dale Earnhardt, whose image was nowhere near the magnitude it was when he was killed on the final lap of the 2001 Daytona 500, scored the first "Busch Series" win, in 1982 at Daytona.

What a memory images of that initial series Victory Lane are, with a blissfully youthful Earnhardt and wife Teresa joyfully celebrating another win.

And as Earnhardt steamed to a career-dominant 33 victories at Daytona, one of the Busch Series' best memories is Earnhardt's five consecutive victories in Daytona's Busch season-opener, the Goody's 300. And despite only a 15-year run, doesn't that title seem like a Busch Series trademark.

As the 1990s waned, Dale Earnhardt Jr. seemingly completed the Busch Series' transition from its "own entity," marked by three consecutive titles for Busch-only team owner Bill Baumgardner in 1995-'97.

Baumgardner's BACE Motorsports entity made a Busch dominator out of LaJoie and created one of the series best rivalries of all time: LaJoie and Buckshot Jones. Buckshot was a Busch treasure, as a youngster with a lot of courage and some ability, though not enough to match dad Billy's bankroll.

But what Buckshot certainly didn't have was much sense to go messing with a certified junkyard dog like LaJoie -- and their set-to at Bristol, particularly, was another slice of Busch legend.

But Dale Jr. cutting his competitive teeth and beginning to establish his overwhelming fan base were certainly some of the best memories of that era of Busch racing, particularly his fights with Matt Kenseth, who Busch championships aside has out-stripped his more nameworthy adversary every step of their careers, since.

These days, despite having drivers whose ability and potential is the equal to anyone who ever came out of the series -- and maybe even more so considering their early starting points and level of equipment they're able to get in at a very young age; Busch action just doesn't seem as memorable.

Of late, some of the biggest memories are of newcomers such as Dario Franchitti and Steve Wallace crashing a lot -- but in time their victories may replace the rougher edges.

If Busch wins are "just another check mark" for the Cup drivers who are winning many of them these days, that's certainly a loss.

But that makes a couple of the biggest memories of late in the Busch Series: David Gilliland and Stephen Leicht's huge wins at Kentucky -- stand out so much more.

So best of luck to new series sponsor Nationwide in establishing the same traditions. If they put the same effort to that as former A-B drum beaters such as Bill Selmon and Dennis Punch once did, it could succeed.

But if they do, in 26 years, when the lucky ones meet to celebrate the latest champions, tossing shredded insurance claim forms in the air seems to be a poor substitute to clinking a couple longnecks together in salute to a history of racing excellence.

And you can only hope to have two-and-a-half more decades of excellent memories to celebrate.

The opinions expressed are those solely of the writer