Kurt Busch recently took possession of the Unser Family Cup after a frantic drag race to the finish with seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson in an IROC exhibition event at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.
The triumph came 23 years after Busch claimed the 2003 IROC championship.
Busch and Johnson ran up front in the 15-minute race during the Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion.
Driving an IROC Pontiac Firebird, Busch beat Johnson to the checkered flag by .002 seconds. Also the winner of the IROC Heritage International exhibition race staged at Ten Tenths Motor Club outside of Charlotte Motor Speedway in April, Busch will chase a third IROC win of the season on Saturday when the vintage series lines up as part of the Freedom 250 Grand Prix in Washington D.C.
Still beaming with glory, Busch weighed in on all things IROC.
“Man, Laguna Seca feels like a top-10 type of win, but yet at the end of the day, racing is who I am,” smiled Busch. “Competing against the best of the best is what I’ve always loved to do. The whole IROC group, it’s like a fraternity when you get the whole group together and they build their cars and show back up and represent the 1980s and the 1990s and the 2000s of IROC. Again, we all just have to thank Ray Evernham and Rob Kauffman for getting the IROC group back together.”
Nothing tops winning, and despite everything he has accomplished during his 23-year NASCAR Hall of Fame career, Busch still gets a full-on rush out of racing.
“For me, it’s about the preparation,” explained Busch. “It’s the execution. It’s the drive. And then you do different things in practice sessions to learn. I mean we’re all in identically prepared IROC cars and so I have to go and dig deep and figure out, ‘Alright, where would this moment happen?’ And I remember something from Tyler Reddick. I’ll tell you that.
“He taught me that green paint on the outside of some of the FIA style tracks as far as the curbing and the green paint on the exits gives you that right side grip out of the tires. I went out there and researched it during practice. I had to pull that little ace card right there at the end.”
And for both Busch and Johnson, the IROC race for the Unser Family Cup came down to one final lap dash to the finish line.
“For me, I knew there was going to be a last-lap pass,” described Busch. “I attacked him in turn one under braking and that was my first attempt, right? And he knew it. I got in there hot. I was four-wheel drift! Laughter. I was locking up both the fronts and the rears. It was one of those old school moments of, ‘Oh, we’re beyond our limits right now. The tires are wearing out.’
“There were no real passing zones in turns two, three, four and five. Turn six is the big corner at Laguna Seca where you drop down on to that old dip and head up the hill towards the Corkscrew,” Busch continued. “I was saying to myself, ‘I’ve got to get this. You’ve got to do it.’ And I was there, but I just didn’t think it was right to throw it in there on the Corkscrew under braking – like a Alex Zanardi style pass. It wasn’t there.
“We went into the big, long turn nine and then he blocked low going into turn ten and I said, ‘If he blocks low going into turn eleven, I’m going to the outside. I’m going full blitz. And he blocked low into eleven and I loved it. I practiced going to the outside in turn 11 off of that green paint to get my rightside grip and to get the forward bite and the drive. I could literally hear his tires spinning in first gear trying to launch off turn 11 to go to the checkered flag.
“I said, ‘I got him! I think I can get him!’” Busch added. “Johnson raced a masterful race. For me to be able to be right there at the end, I didn’t think I was going to win it. I was able to make it happen off turn 11.”
With the margin of victory at a mere 0.002 seconds, did Busch know that he had defeated Johnson?
“I felt it. I felt it and maybe I had some help from up above with my brother pushing me to do it right, you know?” explained Busch. “I did feel it. I did feel it that I won.”
Does Kurt Busch feel his brother Kyle’s presence at the races?
“For me, obviously Kyle’s presence is around. I always taught him the best that I could and he always taught me the best that he could. I wanted it at Laguna Seca,” Busch noted. “I wanted a little extra this past weekend and I’ll do the same thing in Washington D.C. next weekend. I have to go after D.C. with the street course. I’m not very good at street courses with limited experience, but everybody else is limited experience on the street courses.”
