Newspaper Page Text
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♦ SUNDAY, MARCH 13, 2005
Heralded rookie
Busch ignores pressure to succeed in Nextel series
By MIKE HARRIS
AP Motorsports Writer
Kyle Busch has a lot
to prove - to him
self.
He gets a little embar
rassed when reminded that
his older brother, reigning
NASCAR Nextel Cup cham
pion Kurt Busch, gives him
credit as the better driver of
the two.
“It’s definitely cool that a
Nextel Cup champion tells
you that or says that to the
media, but I just have to
go out and prove it,” said
the 19-year-old, who will
race in Sunday’s UAW-
Daimler Chrysler 400 at Las
Vegas Motor Speedway, his
hometown track.
The teenager did win his
first Cup pole two weeks ago
in California - becoming the
youngest ever to do that.
But Busch has yet to show
the kind of racing prowess
in NASCAR’s top series that
brother Kurt demonstrat
ed and has forecast for his
younger sibling.
In six Cup races last year,
Kyle managed no finish
higher than 24th. His two
starts so far in his official
rookie season have produced
finishes of 38th at Daytona
and 23rd in California.
Nobody should get too
down on the kid, though.
He’s definitely got the mak
ings of a very big star.
In 2001 - his junior year
in high school - the Vegas
native drove in six NASCAR
Craftsman Truck Series
races for Roush Racing and
had a pair of top 10 fin
ishes.
He got sidelined briefly
- and Hendrick Motorsports
subsequently took advan
tage of a contract glitch to
steal him away from Roush
- when NASCAR made a
rule limiting participation
to drivers at least 18. But
Kenseth suffers first bout of inconsistency
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla.
- Matt Kenseth, by no means
off the radar, is nonetheless
off the stats
page this
week, as far as
the NASCAR
NEXTEL Cup
Series Top 10
is concerned.
It’s a small
story, at first
glance, con
sidering that
HOT BOOK
Compiled by
NASCAR
the season is only two weeks
old. A larger look, however,
reveals the true significance
of the top-10 absence by the
series’ 2003 champion.
Kenseth has come to per
sonify consistency. He’s
seemingly always in the hunt
and sometimes, in the front
- at the finish.
Steadiness steered him to
the championship two years
ago.
It also earned him top-10
status for 71 consecutive
weeks coming into this sea
son.
Two weeks into 2005, that
remarkable run has been
replaced by a troubling turn
of events. Kenseth is 36th
in the series points after fin
ishing next-to-last (42nd) in
the Daytona 500 and 26th
in Week 2, at California
Speedway.
Fittingly, this week at Las
Vegas Motor Speedway with
the rugged terrain of the
Sunrise Mountains as a back
stretch backdrop, Kenseth
has an imposing hill to climb.
He needs his trademark con
sistency - and more, much
like last year when he won
this event in dominating
FOOTBALL —
From page 1B
As far as the matchup itself, Scott
well knows what he’s gotten Perry into
but added it would be well worth it.
“It’s that mentality,” he said, “that
they’re a bigger school. We’ll always be
~ l " . ■ I . \
Kyle Busch signs autographs during the Busch race in Texas in 2004.
Kyle’s ascent was slowed
only momentarily.
He finished eighth in the
American Speed Association
in 2002, then won two ARCA
stock car races and made
seven Busch Series starts
for Hendrick in 2003, show
ing his promise by finish
ing second in his debut at
Charlotte.
Last year, the younger
Busch finally got the chance
to run a full NASCAR sea
son and took full advantage,
winning five races and fin
ishing as the Busch Series
runner-up to Martin Truex
Jr.
Now, he is a full-time Cup
driver, taking over the No.
5 Chevrolet vacated by two
time series champion Terry
Labonte, who has backed off
fashion.
As they might say in Las
Vegas, don’t bet against him.
Kenseth also won at Las
Vegas in 2003, his only victo
ry during his championship
season. A Kenseth three-peat
would be one way - and obvi
ously the quickest way - for
the former titlist to make up
ground in the standings.
“When you have success at
a track you always look for
ward to going back,” Kenseth
said earlier this week from
Atlanta Motor Speedway,
where he was testing in
preparation for next week’s
event.
“We’ve got great cars and
great equipment; we just
have to get some momentum
going ... like anything it goes
in cycles. We’ve had two bad
weeks and right now we’re
way behind.”
FROM THE ARCHIVES: The city
of Las Vegas will be celebrat
ing its 100th anniversary
later this year. NASCAR,
meanwhile, has its own
Vegas anniversary.
Nearly 50 years ago,
on Oct. 16, 1955, a 200-
mile event, the 43rd race
on the NASCAR schedule,
was held at the Las Vegas
Park Speedway. The track
was originally built as the
Las Vegas Jockey Club horse
track.
Only three motorsports
events were held at the
mile-long dirt track before
it was razed to make way
for the Las Vegas Hilton:
An Indy Car championship
race in 1954, a USAC stock
car race in 1959 and the
NASCAR event of 1955.
the underdog but it’s just an opportu
nity for our kids to judge themselves
and where they are (heading into the
regular season).”
He’s obviously hoping for the best,
but in lieu of that, he has a backup
to a limited schedule this
year.
“I think he’s going to do
well,” Labonte said. “He
was a little nervous about
it because the Cup races he
ran last year didn’t go as
well as his Busch deal was
going.
“I told him that this is a
whole different deal. You’re
going to be with a real team,
a legitimate team. Last year,
he ran with a group that was
just kind of put together and
had no chemistry.”
Kurt Busch rose through
the ranks nearly as quickly
as his younger brother, arriv
ing in Cup racing in 2001 at
the age of 22 after winning
the NASCAR Southwest
Tour title in 1999 and finish
ing second for Roush Racing
H/Il Imm f I 11 1
Wj CUP SERIES f^k
wiTBETOjm
Following Hone 2of 36 (California) Weeks Rank
Top Top In Last
Rk Driver Points Wins 5s 10s Top 10 Week
1. Kurt Busch 340 0 2 2 2 2
2. Jimmie Johnson 335 0 2 2 2 5
3. Mark Martin 301 0 0 2 2 7
4 Cart Edwards 287 0 1 1 1 13
5. Greg Biffle 273 1 1 1 1 24
6. Elliott Sadler 272 0 0 1 1 11
7. Tony Stewart 268 0 0 1 2 6
8. Rusty Wallace 268 0 0 2 2 10
9 Sieriing Marlin 260 0 0 1 2 8
10. Jeff Gordon 258 1 1 12 1
Additional championship-point earners
11. Dale Jarrett (248) 24 Joe Nemechek (185) 37 Jason Leffler (107)
12 Ryan Newman (246) 25. Scott Wimmer (181) 38 Ricky Rudd . (106)
13 Kevin Harvick .(239) 26 Jeremy Mayfield (183) 39 Michael Waltnp (106)
14 Dale fcamhardt Jr (237) 27 Dave Blaney (182) 40 Boris Said (82)
15 Mike Bliss .(236) 28 Casey Mears (182) 41 Mike Skinner (73)
16 Kyle Petty . .(231) 29 Ken Schrader (167) 42 Martin Truex Jr (61)
17 Jamie McMurray (227) 30 Bobby Hamilton Jr (161) 43 Hobby Gordon (58)
18 Scott Riggs .(224) 31 Bobby Labonte (158) 44 Terry Labonte (55)
19 Kevin Lepage (208) 32 Kyle Busch (148) 45 Kenny Wallace (43)
20 Brian Vickers (205) 33 John Andretti (146) 46 Randy LaJoie (42)
21 Jeff Green (202) 34 Kasey Kahne (140) 47 Bill Elliott (34)
22 Travis Kvapil (197) 35. Mike Wallace (128)
23 Jeff Burton (187) 36 Matt Kenseth (127)
Mote The first 26 races of Die NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series season will determine which drivers will
he part of the ’Chase for the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup” in the final 10 races The driveis who ate in
the NASCAR Top 10 or within 400 points of the leader after those 26 races will vie for the series
title in the “Chase tor the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup ”
« «
SPORTS
in Craftsman Trucks the
next year.
The elder brother finished
27th with no wins and three
top-five finishes as a Cup
rookie before establishing
himself as a rising star the
next season with four wins
and a third-place finish.
Kyle knows he has some
big footsteps to follow.
“The reason I’m here,
obviously, is because of my
brother,” the younger Busch
said. “He opened a lot of
doors for me.
“There’s probably doubt
in everybody’s mind that
I belong here,” he added.
“But, in my own mind, I
believe I belong here. I’ve
worked my whole life to get
here even though it’s only
been 19 years.”
plan.
“They should be pretty good again,”
he said. “They’ve got pretty much
everybody coming back. I told coach
Way he just might have to get the ‘run
ning clock’ going early.”
SHNS/Terry Pierson, The Press Enterprise
Pinfire Golf founders Greg Martin (left) and Brad
Cochran have seen sales of their putter increase more
than 10-fold in the past year, thanks in part to a new
investor.
'Pinfire 1 catching on
By MIRJAM SWANSON
The Press-Enterprise
CORONA, Calif. -
Things are moving
rapidly for Greg
Martin and Brad
Cochran, two Californians
with a nifty new putter.
For starters, the putter
goes by a different name
than it did almost a year
ago. It was bye-bye Bell
Billet, hello Pinfire.
Chalk up the name
change to the addition of
a serious investor, and a
significantly grander mar
keting and distribution
scheme.
And credit that loftier
approach, as well as the
ongoing word-of-mouth
push, for nearly 3,000
USGA-approved Pinfire
putters being sold across
the globe, from Korea to
the United Kingdom to
Riviera Country Club in
Pacific Palisades.
And to think: Less than
year ago Cochran and
Martin had sold only 200
putters, almost all locally.
So when did he and
Martin know their putter
- conceived in Cochran’s
garage during a conversa
tion over his own putting
woes - had arrived?
Was it when they got
the endorsement of up
and-comer Brien Davis, a
star on the Canadian Tour,
and PGA Tour players
Chad Campbell and Brett
Wetterich started carrying
their putter?
Perhaps it was when
it was named the best
new product in the put
ter category at the PGA
Merchandise show in late
January.
Or was it when business
man Dave Braun signed on
to fund the putter, effec
tively moving the opera
tion from Cochran’s garage
to a new office in Corona?
Bowman tourney set for Monday
Perry Country Club
is hosting the
Gene Bowman
Scholarship Fund for
Ministers Tournament for
Truett-McConnell College
Monday.
The fund is named in
honor of the Rev. Gene T.
Bowman, former minister
of First Baptist of Perry
and current interim pastor
at Unity Baptist Church in
Bonaire.
The four-person scram
ble is scheduled for a 1 p.m.
shotgun start.
A noon luncheon is slat
ed to precede the event.
The cost for the tourna
ment is SSO per person and
includes lunch and cart.
Perry Country Club
987 1033
International City is
sponsoring its Glow Ball
Tournament March 19. It
is a four-person scramble
and costs $35 per person
and includes cart.
Play is scheduled to begin
on the first nine holes at
4 p.m.
A cookout is slated to fol-
THE HOUSTON HOME JOURNAL
The real sign of success,
Cochran said, came on a
course in Baja California.
“I went to play in
Bajamar,” said Cochran, a
30-year-old developmen
tal tour player. “And there
were two guys I started
playing with, and they had
the same putter! I’d never
seen them before in my
life.
“It was the coolest, cool
est feeling. That’s all I real
ly wanted: to see people
using it and know that it’s
something I actually came
up with.”
It’s also something that
Cochran builds himself,
overseeing the machining
and anodizing of the alu
minum across town. He
assembles the personally
fitted putters in his office
and then drops them in the
mail. Martin, 48, also is
involved in the production
of the putters and is the
company’s main promoter.
“Greg has to do every
thing,” Cochran said. “But
that’s what start-up com
panies entail.”
Martin figured Pinfire is
one of 40 start-up putter
companies in the nation,
but said his is one of a
select few to be manufac
tured entirely in the United
States.
What Pinfire says makes
its putter “the most innova
tive concept in putters ever
developed” is its unique
alignment and one-piece
construction.
The club’s mallet-style
head looks something like
Callaway’s 2-ball putter,
except that the Pinfire has
a larger “sweet spot” and
comes in black, blue, red,
silver and copper.
The putter comes in two
models: the Eagle, which is
equipped with a bent shaft,
and the Liberty, which fea
tures a straight shaft.
NOTEBOOK
Compiled by Joe Sersey
low and then the final nine
holes, to be played after
dark. Both are scheduled to
begin with shotgun starts.
International City Golt Club
322-0276
The Landings still has
two spots for 11 and up in
its after school golf pro
gram.
The program is scheduled
to run Tuesday through
April 29 and costs SIOO per
person for members and
sllO for nonmembers.
For more information,
call or visit goggingolf.com.
Landings Goll Club
923-5222
Pine Oaks has scheduled
a junior golf clinic March
28-31 from 8:30-10 a.m. for
7-9-year-olds; 10:30 a.m. to
noon for 10-12-year olds
and 1 to 2:30 p.m. for ages
13 and older. The cost is
S6O per student.
Pine Oaks Golt Club
926-4103