What do you think of Kurt Busch?

[Frank]

A few weeks back Kurt Busch and Jimmy Spencer were having a bit of an "arguement" on the track. Busch stated that Spencer spun him out on purpose. I don't think that was the case, but that doesn't matter.
While they were interviewing Busch, he called Spencer a "Never Was". It was then that I first began to dislike Busch. He just seems to be a little to forward for a rookie. He would seem to be one of NA$CAR's crybabies.

Let me put it this way. He's not one of my favorite drivers.

[caveman]

Busch is kind of cocky,He has won a lot of races too.Jimmy can be a crybaby too at times.I've also seen him do a lot of stupid stuff.They used to call him Mr Exitement.It seems these young guns are getting wins right off the bat,not like some years ago you had to work at it for awhile before you got your first win.

[Loghead]

Kurt's Mommy and Daddy gave him everything but common courtesy, and now he's a master of Winston Cup racing (sarcasm)
From what I've read about Spencer, he came up the hard, dirty way, racing in the junkyard-building his own stuff, like most of the older guys in Winston Cup.
Dale Sr. flipping Kurt off in the Daytona 500 was certainly not the most "family friendly"thing he could have done, but it tells me that Earnhardt had Kurt Busch pegged from day one.

[Frank]

Originally posted by caveman
It seems these young guns are getting wins right off the bat,not like some years ago you had to work at it for awhile before you got your first win.

I think the largest contribution factor for the youngsters winning sooner is the quality of equipment they're getting.

Years ago young drivers didn't get the opportunity to drive the best equipment. Today, one of the better car owners will latch on to a good Busch driver, give him track proven equipment, a top notch team, a good crew chief, and a bankroll and tell him to go racing. The jump from Busch to Cup cars is not as drastic as it used to be.

The young guns of today have it better than most of the old pros had in their prime. You can't tell me that Richard Petty doesn't look at todays equipment and dollars and wish he was coming up today.

[AVENGER29]

Have no use for him, arrogant brat, somebody needs to teach him a lesson...

Avenger

[GS -]

I'm really disappointed in Spencer....he should've taken Busch out early in the race.

[caveman]

Your right about Jimmy Spencer he did come up the hard way,He ran modifieds up in the NE,for a long time.Kind of like Jeff Bodine.Jimmy owned and worked on his own stuff for years.I'm not sure when he started driving for others.He's learned a lot of patients in the last 5 years or so.He has come close to winning a couple of times too.I think at some point he will win in a dodge.He has a good team,and has run OK at times this year.

[Glenn81]

He can drive I just wish he was behind the wheel of a Dodge. I'd like him then, but give credit where it's due 2 in row. McMurray has impressed as well. We got Newman next year as well he's awesome for a rookie.

[Ericmopar]

It isn't just Bush, theres a few of the drivers that have gotten swollen heads. Some of them are old enough to know better,
like Tony Stewert, for instance, and Dale Jr. doesn't seem to cool headed, since his father was killed.

[Nightri1]

So what if Stewart has a "swollen head."
He can expertly drive anything.
Besides he's the current point leader.
Why are you dogging Jr?
Quit acting like the typical Mopar owner and always whining about the other guy.
Sheeesh!

[QCHemi]

Originally posted by Nightri1
Quit acting like the typical Mopar owner and always whining about the other guy.
Sheeesh!

WOW...with that being said..I have nothing to whine about..crap.

[Nightri1]

Let me expand on why I said what I said. I have been a machinist in Austin for over 15 years. During that time I went to the local Mopar club meeting at a local dealership. Using my background I tried to influence club members to upgrade (and in some cases update) their engines and other mechanical devices. All I got for a response was a bunch of complaining about the prices charged at any of our local machine shops regardless of owner. In fact one owner had pulled off the head of his slant six (has almost 100K miles on it) and went to the trouble to "solvent check" the valve condition. He said there was no leakage therefore there was NO reason to do a valve job or at least surface the head so he reassembled the engine. It does however still smoke though. Once it was back together he found plenty of money to buy a new can of car wax and go hang out with the other club members at a "wash and wax" event. This is just one example of the general attitude of Mopar owners in this area. In fifteen years in Austin we have yet to build a SINGLE Mopar engine in our shop. What's up with that?
On to the Moparchat website. I am still a diehard Mopar fan but can't understand why the majority of threads here are usually dogging the death out of some other driver. Hey I don't like them all (Bodines come to mind) but I don't spend the time to whine about them. I figure if you've made it to the Nascar level then you must have the talent. Attitudes are attitudes and everyone has one, so what!

Crabby steps off soapbox and hides it under a rock for awhile.

[Frank]

So....a....Does that mean you do or don't like Kurt Busch

By the way, I own a couple of mopars, and I have had a great deal of machine work done through the years. Further, I have found, only through experience, that, for the most part, machinists are pretty down to earth people.
I have also found, also through experience, that there are good machinists, and not so good machinists. The problem is both types usually charge the same amount of money, and you can't sort the good from the bad until you've spent the money.

I also found that a good machists is not necessarily a good manager. For example, the shop I go to is well known for their quality machine work. However, that quality is built into the hands of the guy who owns the shop, not the guys who work there. If you get the owner to do the work for you, it will come out perfect. If one of the younger employees does the work, you got about a 50/50 chance of being right. The problem is the guy who owns the shop doesn't have the heart to fire the poor workers.

Now that that's out of the way, I think Kurt Busch is crybaby who blames everyone else for anything that goes wrong on the track. I think Tony Stewart has his problems, too. But, at least he's getting professional help to work through them. None of these opinion are based on the fact that I'm a MoPar guy.

[AVENGER29]

For what its worth,
Im a saturday nite racer, and I have little respect for those Cup drivers that bitch and complained about every damn thing there is!!
Especially if all their life, the world has been handed to them on a silver platter, on the same token, I respect those guys that struggle and achieved success and moved on to the top classes, ie Winston Cup...
People like Rusty, Jimmie Spencer, the Labontes,etc.
And have little use for the Jeff Gordon, Kurt Busch or other cry babies that have the best equipment money can buy...and have never struggle with piss poor 3rd rate equipment...when was the last time you heard Jeff or Ward Burton bitch about the equipment...
As a crewchief, I would have torn Tony S. a new one yesterday after the comments he made, piece of sh%$, worst car he's ever driven, and yet his crew never gave up, work their butts off to save the day with the finish he got...that 14th place finish, that was them not him, they deserve better and he should have never openly said that...
In the last year we have struggle a bunch, have not had many wins to show for our effort, 4/5 months ago a crewmember left lug nuts loose, with 2 laps to go i develop a strong vibration, leading the race, i wasnt about to back off, by the time i decided i better rethink my decision, i was back up agaisnt the wall, with a rear clip hurt bad...i threw my helmet in the truck, calmed down, my crewchief yelled at everybody for a while, i collected my thoughts, i dont pay this guys anything, sometime they even buy their own way in...but boy my wife sures feeds them well, how can i scream at somebody that give me their heart out, every week, for no pay, the point is, my guys would kill themselves to get me back on the track, and so would these Cup guys crews,they deserve better than Stewart gave them credit for, I always like Tony, rethinking my position on him now...
Avenger

[Nightri1]

make sure if you want to tear Stewart a new one for the comment he made then you WILL have to include Ward Burton too. When he was being interviewed after his wreck he stated that "we had been running like sh!t all day." Seems that Ward was feeling the same thing that Tony was.

[Loghead]

Ward's comment's may not have been as gracious as they should have been, but let's face it, his equipment has been no where near on par with what Tony has been given. And...Ward did say he RAN like@#%^ all day. Tony said the car was the worst piece of @#%^ he'd EVER driven!
You may think I'm splitting hairs, but there seems to be a difference to me.

And if I'm ever in Austin and my Mopar needs machine work, I'll be sure to look you up.

The Chevy machinists around here treat Mopars like hog slop!

[Ericmopar]

Originaly posted by Loghead,

. And...Ward did say he RAN like@#%^ all day. Tony said the car was the worst piece of @#%^ he'd EVER driven!

There is a big difference between what the two of them said.
Ward was being inclusive. He was saying the team as a whole ran bad.
Tony was being exclusive. He was saying (As usual) it was every ones fault but his own.
I find it strange that the big name drivers, also seem to think, its O.K. to "bump" others out of their way, but when one of the new up and coming drivers does it to them, its time for a fist fight in the pits after the race.
I guess as long as the newer drivers "Stay where they belong" ( At the back of the pack?) Things are O.K. with the "Big name drivers".
I'll say this again too. Dale Jr. has lost his head since his father was killed. He doesn't win as often, loses his head and crashes more often, and gets in a lot more fights than he used to. He drives like he's scared after his father was killed. I'm not blameing him, any sane person should feel mortal at 200mph., but if you can't keep a cool head on the track, you become a danger to everybody around you and yourself.
I also used to like Tony S, and wonder whats going on with him. I don't remember a bunch of public outbursts from him in the past.
I would like to say that, there are other problem drivers out there too, its just that those two came to mind, because they've been around awhile, and I'm more familiar with them.


What ever happened to sportsmanship?


Ericmopar,