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NASCAR Hall of Fame inductee Kurt Busch poses with younger brother Kyle and their parents<\/p>\n
Prior to the official NASCAR<\/a> Hall of Fame Induction for the Class of 2026 on Friday, January 23 in Charlotte, Kyle Petty held a Fireside Chat connected to each new member. This year\u2019s inductees are drivers Kurt Busch, Harry Gant and Ray Hendrick who each represented different eras of the sport\u2019s history.<\/p>\n The first chat featured Busch, his dad, Tom, and Mitch Covington of Monster Energy,<\/a> Busch\u2019s long-time sponsor. As expected, Busch\u2019s younger brother Kyle became part of the conversation with dad providing some interesting insight about his racing sons.<\/p>\n Go-Karts are Tools, not Toys<\/p>\n Kurt Busch, a native of Las Vegas, NV, started out racing a go-kart with a weed whacker motor his dad, Tom, put together. To say it lacked a lot of horsepower would be an understatement.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen we put that go-kart together, we raced in the cull da sac where we lived,\u201d Tom shared, who was also a driver himself. \u201cIt was a road course, figure eight and oval track all in one. The thing I wanted to stress the most is that the go-kart was a tool, not a toy.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you wanted to race it, you had to work on it.\u201d<\/p>\n When asked if he had a problem when the brothers raced each other hard during their careers, Tom quipped. \u201cWell, they never cost each other any points.\u201d<\/p>\n To which Kurt responded with a laugh, \u201cSee, he glazes right over the All-Star Race because there weren\u2019t any points involved.\u201d<\/p>\n Kurt was referring to the notable 2007 non-points race when he and Kyle got crashed each other out of the race. This resulted in the two not speaking to each other for over a year. It took a while, but Kurt finally came clean about the incident<\/a> and the two mended fences.<\/p>\n Go-Kart Battle and Career Rise<\/p>\n Kyle is eight years younger than his older brother and is also known as a hard-nosed driver. A two-time NASCAR Cup Series Champion himself with 63 wins, he realizes the significance of his big brother\u2019s accomplishments.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s huge because it culminates the accomplishments of his career,\u201d Kyle said on the pre-induction red carpet. \u201cThen making it from Las Vegas, coming up through the ranks and making it to the Truck Series for a year showing what the Busch family is all about. His passion for how to drive really come to life when he got to the Cup Series.<\/p>\n \u201cHis NCS Championship (2004) and Daytona 500 win (2017) will all resonate in the Hall of Fame. My favorite stories are us running the go-karts against each other, which we only did one time. We grew up having only one kart to share so we didn\u2019t have to race against each other.<\/p>\n \u201cWe saw another one at swap meet, bought it and worked on it. We only raced each other on time, because\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n Kurt interrupted him to say\u2026\u201dI\u2019m 12, and he\u2019s six. He\u2019s six years younger, not many people realize that. So think about this happening.<\/p>\n Kyle picked up the story\u2026\u201dWe\u2019re out there running and dad gives us the one to go signal. Kurt had a little bit of a lead on me and we\u2019re going into Turn 3. So, I put my nose in there to pass him and get up on his tire, into the back of his engine and knock the carburetor clear off.<\/p>\n \u201cSo, I go around his inside and made it back to finish line to win the race and he got a DNF.\u201d<\/p>\n Working is What Busch Did to Win<\/p>\n That mentality Tom created carried over to Dwarf Cars, Late Models and such during Busch\u2019s beginning days. Those early days led to Busch becoming a 1999\u00a0NASCAR Featherlite Southwest Tour Champion using four different engine suppliers.<\/p>\n After a Rookie of the Year honors in Trucks, Busch jumped right to Cup and set the world on fire.\u00a0 In addition to his NCS accomplishments of 34 wins, he was also the 2003 IROC Champion and 2014 Indianapolis 500 Rookie of Year.<\/p>\n And to think, it all started on a cull da sac with a weed whacker motor he rode to Hall of Fame honors.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tTim Packman<\/a> Tim Packman is a journalist for Heavy.com covering NASCAR. He grew up around the short tracks of Western New York watching his dad, stepdad and step brother race. His uncle was the head starter at many area tracks and member of the FOAR Score Hall of Fame.
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\nTim’s passion for racing took him to the announcer’s tower and writing program stories for multiple tracks in the area, namely Lancaster National Speedway. In 2000, he moved to Mooresville, NC to become an award-winning journalist for NASCAR.com. He took a job with Dale Earnhardt, Inc. as the team’s Communications Director and was part of two Daytona 500 wins and two NASCAR Championships.
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\nThe announcing experience led to becoming a Pit Reporter and News Director for MRN Radio. A return to the team side at Richard Childress Racing as the Director of Corporate Communications took place, which also included another Championship.
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\nFrom 2015 to 2018, Tim returned to where his career began in 1994 – Lancaster National Speedway & Dragway – as the Track President. He earned Short Track Promoter of the Year awards in 2016 and 2017.
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\nUpon returning to NC, he joined The Garage Shop as Communications Director and host of it’s Podcast and MAV-TV docuseries “Legacy of Speed” talking about Land Speed Racing at Bonneville, and other places.
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\nTim has hosted two other Podcasts, namely “Pub Table Racers,” and wrote three books. One was with NASCAR Hall of Famer Bobby Allison titled, “Bobby Allison, a Racer’s Racer” and two Children’s books, “Funny Dan the Race Car Man” and “Petey the Pace Car.”
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\nHe also served in the US Navy. More about Tim Packman<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n