Sprint Cup Series star tells tale of his own childhood mischief
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DORAL, Fla. — When Kyle Busch‘s Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup title hopes fizzled in the Contender Round finale at Talladega Superspeedway, there was still plenty of racing to focus on as he turned the page from this season to 2015 preparations in all three national series. But there’s another, more important focus from a different perspective coming next year, in the form of a bundle of joy for himself and his wife, Samantha.
Busch talked at length about his approaching growth into fatherhood Monday before the NASCAR Nationwide and Camping World Truck Series awards banquet, where he’ll accept team owner championship honors for Kyle Busch Motorsports in the truck tour. The couple announced in October that they were expecting their first child in May.
With on-track action complete for the year, the Busches are preparing for an offseason of shopping, studying up for their new arrival and working out schedule logistics.
“That is priority number one since Talladega is just trying to get everything ready and all set,” Busch said. “We’ve been online trying to find stuff, trying to figure everything out, reading books and what all comes with it. For us, you’ve got December and January pretty much to figure out what your nursery is going to be because as soon as you go to Daytona for two weeks, you’re home for three days and you’re gone for a month when you do your West Coast swing and then it’s a month later before the baby’s there. It’ll all come quick, I’m sure.”
Though Busch regularly wheels cars at 200 mph for a living, he said the thought of hands-on participation in childbirth terrifies him. So does infancy.
“I’m ready for 2, 2 1/2. I’m ready for that age, right now. I could do that, no problem,” Busch said, pointing to newly crowned Sprint Cup champion Kevin Harvick and his 2-year-old son, Keelan. “Walking around, talking a little bit, all that stuff. The zero to 12 months freaks me out — way too much work. We’ve got to figure it out on our own.”
Busch alluded that the two may have their hands full, especially if the newborn’s earliest years are anything like his. He said as a youth, he escaped through the front door of his family’s home on a handful of occasions, usually on the way to his grandmother’s, just a couple of houses down the road. “I knew where the fun was,” Busch smiled.
The couple should be content as long as the new child is able to avoid repeating the father’s mischief as a toddler. Busch recalled one of the first automotive experiences of his life, something that sounded as if it was plucked from a Calvin & Hobbes comic strip.
“I think I was 5 or something like that, my mom, she gave me the keys and was like, ‘here, go get in the truck. We’re leaving in 5 or 10 minutes.’ I was bugging her too much, I guess, so she gave me the keys,” Busch said. “So I got in the truck, turned the key. I didn’t turn it on, I just turned the key enough to where — it was a 1983 Chevy Silverado — I pulled the lever and knocked her into neutral and rolled across the street into the neighbor’s wall.
“When she came out, I was in the passenger seat and she goes, ‘what the hell happened?’ and I go, ‘I don’t know. Wasn’t me.’ It was fine. I don’t think the neighbors ever fixed their wall, but I fixed the truck.”
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