KANSAS CITY, Kan. (MCT) — The examples are piling up, and maybe it's becoming more difficult to defend controversial NASCAR driver Kyle Busch. Even for his fans.
"Some of the things he'll say," says Jerry Woods, 38, wearing his red No. 18 T-shirt Sunday at Kansas Speedway. "I'm like, 'Come on, Kyle.' "
Woods says he follows Busch because of a combination of admiration and defiance. The Kyle Busch fan base is a cozy, small community, because to many NASCAR fans, Busch's behavior is far more reviled than respected. Woods likes that he doesn't follow the Jeff Gordon or Dale Earnhardt Jr. flocks.
"I'm definitely in the minority," Woods says.
Busch infuriates fellow drivers and team owners, and goodness knows, fans show him no mercy because, many of them believe, Busch just doesn't get it. Some believe he's a hothead and a whiner, and he is accumulating a list of run-ins that included this weekend, when he and rival team owner Richard Childress brawled after Saturday's truck race.
Busch was booed frequently before and during the Sprint Cup race, a day after reportedly being put in a headlock by a 65-year-old man. No sympathy from this crowd.
Walk around the infield and ask a few fans what they think of Kurt Busch's younger brother — the driver who has emerged as NASCAR's bad boy, the 26-year-old villain in a sport of relatable good-ol'-boys.
"Attitude," David Martin says.
"A snot-nosed kid," Gary Nystrom says.
Some not only speak their opinions, they wear them, too. Chad Vander Beek walked around Sunday wearing a dark T-shirt that began with, "I hate Busch so much ..." and ended with a punch line that isn't fit for a respectable publication.
No other driver elicits such venom, even in a sport as divisive as NASCAR. You have your favorite, and most everyone else is the rival. But Kyle Busch? He's more like an enemy, an insect, a gnat that you'd just like to swipe away. Vander Beek says the only thing that made it acceptable that his driver, Kasey Kahne, didn't win Sunday is that Busch didn't win, either. Busch led 11 laps Sunday and finished 12th. Brad Keselowski won after leading only the final nine laps.
The thing is, Busch seems to relish his image as a scoundrel. Vander Beek says Busch ignored his wife's autograph request earlier in the day, and the driver was seen smiling while the Kansas Speedway crowd booed his introduction.
Woods, the Busch fan, says he respects that Busch follows his own path, regardless of what anyone thinks of him.
"On the track and off," Woods says, "he does it his way. I think that's cool."
Woods' fiancee , Wanda Krueger, can't stand Busch. Maybe it's the way he turns his nose up sometimes at fans and reporters. Or how he always seems to be at the center of drama. Last month at Darlington Raceway, he bumped the unoccupied car of driver Kevin Harvick, who responded by trying to punch Busch. Both drivers were fined $25,000 by NASCAR and put on probation. Two weeks ago, Busch was ticketed in North Carolina for driving a Lexus sports car 128 mph in a 45-mph zone; he told the police officer that the car, which he was testing, was "just a toy." And on Saturday, Busch and Childress scuffled, though NASCAR president Mike Helton said Sunday that Busch did nothing to provoke Childress.
Still, it was the latest in a line of incidents that Busch's detractors suggest is part of a nasty trend—and Busch's fans say is the driver showing that he is a product of his environment.
Last year, NASCAR instituted a policy known as "Boys, have at it," designed to allow drivers to be aggressive as long as it's safe.
"The drivers know they can race hard; they can be on the edge," NASCAR director of communications for competition Kerry Tharp said Sunday. "But they also know we can only go so far."
Busch seems to toe that edge, and that's part of what Woods likes and Vander Beek hates. Woods says Busch is showing that he's human, not some manufactured, sponsor-spouting drone that so often permeates pit road. He says silly things and makes mistakes, Woods says. He can identify with that.
"It's common for me to open mouth, insert foot," Woods says. "I understand."
But Woods says he believes there's more to Busch than the gruff exterior. After all, Busch was part of the congregation Sunday morning when the Rev. Billy Mauldin delivered his sermon, whose message was ignoring the temptation for revenge. Mauldin says Busch is a regular at the morning services, and he's one of only a handful of drivers to attend. Busch's team owner, Joe Gibbs, doesn't require his drivers to attend, Mauldin says.
Maybe it's true. Maybe there is more to Kyle Busch than meets the eye. After the race, walk into the garage area at Kansas Speedway and wait for the man to explain himself. Is he a true villain or just misunderstood? The No. 18 Toyota pulls up, and Busch climbs out. There are plenty of questions, and a good explanation might clear up the Childress matter and all this talk of Busch's perception.
But before you have a chance to approach and ask what's real, Busch puts his head down and disappears between two trailers. Perception will have to suffice. For now, this is what that persists:
"Arrogant," Vander Beek says.
"His attitude," Martin says, "just doesn't match his driving skills."
Even Woods struggles sometimes to find reasons why Busch is his favorite driver.
"He's hotheaded," he says. "He lets his emotions overmatch his rationality. A lot of people just don't like him."
(c) 2011, The Kansas City Star. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.