5 Lesser-known, but awesome racing stories, Episode 4: A New Hope

5 Lesser-known, but awesome racing stories, Episode 4: A New Hope

By Brian Cotnoir

Hey I couldn’t come up with a better title for this article….well….enjoy.

1.)  Kyle Busch banned from NASCAR…for being too young

There’s no doubt about it; Kyle Busch is the best all-around driver in the NASCAR today.  Every race he enters he is one of the hands down favorites to win.  Busch is also been known for controversy too.  His actions on the track have earned him bans from race weekends.  Most famously in 2011, when he was parked by NASCAR for the weekend race at Texas for intentionally wrecking Ron Hornaday Jr. under caution.

But surprisingly, Busch’s first ban in NASCAR happened for something completely, out of his control: he was deemed “too young”.   Kyle Busch’s older Brother, Kurt, had gone through the ranks of Roush Racing, and eventually Roush would tap the then 16-year-old Kyle to drive its #99 Exide Batteries Ford F-150 in the NASCAR Truck Series.  A driver that young in the sport was unheard of at the time, but he was actually pretty successful.  In six races, he had two top 10’s.  He even ran fastest in practice at the season finale at Auto Club Speedway in California.  Unfortunately for Kyle, that same weekend the—now defunct—CART series was also running at Auto Club Speedway and there race was sponsored by Marlboro Cigarettes; therefore Busch could not participate at a racing event sponsored by a Tobacco Company because it would violate laws against minors participating in events sponsored by Tobacco Companies.

NASCAR would eventually raise the minimum age for NASCAR drivers to 18-year-old (but more recent years they’ve become more lax on; drivers under 18, can now run at NASCAR tracks under 1.25 miles in length), and Busch would have to wait 2 more years to return to NASCAR.    There’s no telling how many Truck Series and Grand National Races he could have won beforehand (even though he is the winningest driver in both series by a hefty margin), had he not been banned.  He may have become the youngest Truck Series winner or Champion.

2.)  Felipe Massa, Formula 1 Champion….for only 38 seconds

It’s not over until the fat lady sings…or until all cars cross the finish line this case.    The 2008 Brazilian Grand Prix it’s probably the most famous F1 race in history!   However, if you don’t follow F1; you may not know this story.  Lewis Hamilton in only his 2^nd season of competition in Formula 1 won his 1^st drivers’ championship.   

However, one overlooked aspect is that initially he wasn’t initially declared the champion.  On the last lap, Ferrari driver Felipe Massa won in front of his home crowd and the race commentators began to declare him the New World Champion, having believed that Hamilton was too far back to score enough points to claim the championship.   Ferrari celebrated in the pits, but with just a few corners left, Hamilton passed Toyota’s Timo Glock for the 5^th position, and crossed the finish line to win 2008 drivers’ championship by only 1 point!  In total, Massa was technically Formula 1 World Champion for a little over 38 seconds.

3.)  Pat Tryson quits mid-race

I’ve heard of a lot of crazy things happening during a race, but this is the first and (to my knowledge) only time, a NASCAR crew member has quit in the middle of a race.   During a race at Bristol where he was Crew Chief for driver Geoff Bodine, Tryson had a falling out with the team manager, Tim Brewer, and felt he was being over ruled on pit strategies, and so he stepped down from the box, and quit.

A visibly distraught Tryson was interviewed shortly after announcing he quit, and stated his reasons for leaving the team.  Tryson is a journeyman crewman of NASCAR and has served as crew chief for drivers like Mark Martin, Elliott Sadler, and Kurt Busch.   He has won 8 races as a NASCAR crew chief and is still involved with NASCAR today; serving as the Crew Chief for driver Brennan Poole at Premium Motorsports.

4.)  First Formula E Race; Spectacular Finish

Formula E is either something you like or you hate, and I have yet to meet a fan that’s in between.  I am a fan of the electric open wheel racing series, I watched the first ever Formula Race on TV and the finish of that race is what ensured I would keep watching and be a fan for life.  I’m not going to explain why, just watch the video below and you’ll understand why.

5.)  Phil Scott; Governor & Racecar driver

Phil Scott is the current Republican Governor of the state of Vermont.  What’s interesting enough is that he’s still an active short track race car driver, and a pretty decent one too from what I’ve seen;  Scott actually has a Racing-Reference page.  His has raced in the ACT Late Model tour, and was a 2-time track champion in the Late Model division at the Historic Thunder Road International Speedbowl in Barre, Vermont. 

Since becoming Governor of Vermont, Scott has run a limited number of races, but is still quite competitive.  He won a late model race at Thunder Road as recently as June of 2019.  I hope Governor Scott continues to race throughout his term in office.