Busch Series

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Busch Series
Current season or competition 2007 in NASCAR Busch Series
Busch Series
Sport Auto racing
Founded 1981
No. of teams 25
Country Flag of United States United States
Current champions Kevin Harvick

The NASCAR Busch Series is a stock car racing series owned and operated by NASCAR. It is NASCAR's second division (often compared to Triple-A baseball), and is a proving ground for drivers who wish to step up to the organization's top level, the Nextel Cup. Each Busch Series race is usually held in the same venue as, and a day prior to, the Nextel Cup race scheduled for that weekend, encouraging fans to attend both events.

In December, 2006, NASCAR officials confirmed that Anheuser-Busch, parent company for Busch Beer, will not renew its sponsorship of NASCAR's No. 2 series after the end of the 2007 season. Rumored new sponsors for the series include Wal-Mart, Samsung and Subway. [1]

Contents

[edit] History

The series emerged from NASCAR's old Sportsman division, which was formed in 1950 as NASCAR's short track race division. It was NASCAR's third series. The sportsman cars were not current model cars, and could be modified more (but not as much as Modified series cars). [2] It became the Late Model Sportsman series in 1968, and soon featured races on larger tracks, such as Daytona International Speedway. Drivers used obsolete Grand National (now NEXTEL Cup) cars on larger tracks. Grand National cars were required to be less than three years old. Short track cars with relatively small 300 cubic inch V-8 motors were used. Drivers used smaller current year models featuring V6 motors. The cars looked like smaller versions of Cup cars. [2]

The modern-day Busch Series was formed in 1982, when Anheuser-Busch sponsored a newly reformed late-model sportsman series with its Budweiser brand. The series switched sponsorship to Busch in 1984. It was renamed in 1986 to the Busch Grand National Series. The V6 based cars left the series by the mid 1990s. The cars gradually changed to cars just like Cup cars. Grand National was dropped from the series' title in 2003. Following the 2007 season, Anheuser-Busch, makers of the Busch brand of beer, has said they will not renew their contract with NASCAR, preferring to stay onboard with their Budweiser brand sponsorship of the Pole Award in NEXTEL Cup. The series will have a new sponsor in 2008.

[edit] The Busch Series Today

The cars used today in the Busch Series are slightly different versions of their Nextel Cup counterparts, the main differences being a slightly shorter wheelbase (105" instead of 110") and a larger spoiler (57" wide x 5.75" high instead of 55" x 4.5"). In the past, Busch Series competitors could use makes of cars not used in the Cup series, as well as V-6 engines instead of Cup's V-8s, but the cars used in the series now are very similar.

On March 6, 2005, the Busch Series held its first race outside the United States, the Telcel-Motorola 200. The race was held in Mexico City, Mexico at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, a track that had previously held Formula One and Champ Car races in the past, and was won by Martin Truex Jr.. In 2007, the Busch Series will have a second race outside of the United States, at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal, Quebec, another road course.

Beginning in 2007, ESPN2 will be the exclusive carrier of all Busch Series races, replacing FOX, FX, TNT and NBC. Some sponsors have cricitised the new television deal, noting only six races will appear on broadcast network television (through a branding deal on ABC), and none in prime-time; in recent years, as many as nine races in the Busch Series have aired on network television, with two 2005 races ending up in prime-time television. Most of the races on ABC were chosen so ESPN2 could air major sporting events.

Busch Series cars used fuel that contained lead. NASCAR conducted a three-race test of unleaded fuel in this series that began with the July 29, 2006 race at Gateway International Raceway. The fuel, Sunoco GT 260 Unleaded, will become mandatory in all series starting with the second weekend of the 2007 series, as Daytona will be the last race weekend with leaded fuel. Once the Car of Tomorrow is implemented in the Nextel Cup series, NASCAR will begin work on changing the cars run in the Busch Series. NASCAR has been approached by manufacturers about using differently shaped and named car models as the basis for the cars in the Busch Series when this change is made. NASCAR has been receptive to the idea.

[edit] Specifications

NASCAR officials are using a template to inspect Casey Atwood's 2004 Busch Series car, courtesy of the U.S. Navy
NASCAR officials are using a template to inspect Casey Atwood's 2004 Busch Series car, courtesy of the U.S. Navy
  • Engine Displacement: 358in³ (5.8L) Pushrod V8
  • Transmission: 4 Speed Manual (Must have reverse)
  • Weight: 3,100lbs. (1406kg) Minimum (with out driver); 3,300lbs. (1497kg) Minimum (with driver)
  • Power Output: 650-700hp (485-522kw) unrestricted, ~450hp (335kw) restricted
  • Fuel: 98 octane unleaded gasoline
  • Fuel Capacity: 22 U.S. Gallons (83.2 Liters)
  • Fuel Delivery: Carburetion
  • Compression Ratio: 9:1
  • Aspiration: Naturally aspirated
  • Carburetor size: 390 Cubic Feet per Minute (184 Liters per Second) 4 Barrel
  • Wheelbase: 105in (2.6m)

[edit] Trivia

  • The 2006 season started the 25th season of the NASCAR Busch Series. The Series was the NASCAR Late Model Sportsman Series before it was the Busch Grand National Series in 1982.

[edit] Buschwhackers

Main article: Buschwhacker

Since the early days of the Busch Series, many Cup drivers have used their days off to drive in the Busch Series. This can be for any number of reasons, most prominent or often claimed is to gain more "seat time", or to familiarize themselves with the track. Examples of this would be the first ever winner of a Busch Series race, Dale Earnhardt, and the winner of the most races in Busch Series history, Mark Martin. In recent years, this practice has been termed "Buschwhacking" by those that criticize the practice, claiming that Cup drivers racing in the Busch Series takes away opportunities from the Busch Series regulars, drivers that are usually younger and less experienced. Proponents of this practice, however, claim that without the Cup "superstars" and the large amount of fan interest they attract, the series would cease to exist.

In 2007, the Nextel Cup Series will begin racing with a Car of Tomorrow. Although it is likely that many Cup drivers will still race in the Busch Series, their role may be largely diminished. The Busch Series will not run the COT (for now) and thus would ruin the advantages of running the races for the Cup drivers.

[edit] Past Busch Series Champions

[edit] Past Late Model Sportsman Division Champions

[edit] Past Sportsman Division Champions

  • 1967 Pete Hamilton
  • 1966 Don MacTavish
  • 1965 Rene Charland
  • 1964 Rene Charland
  • 1963 Rene Charland
  • 1962 Rene Charland
  • 1961 Dick Nephew
  • 1960 Bill Wimble
  • 1959 Rick Henderson
  • 1958 Ned Jarrett
  • 1957 Ned Jarrett
  • 1956 Ralph Earnhardt
  • 1955 Billy Myers
  • 1954 Danny Graves
  • 1953 Johnny Roberts
  • 1952 Mike Klapak
  • 1951 Mike Klapak
  • 1950 Mike Klapak

[edit] Busch Series Rookie of the Year Award Winners

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Wal-Mart Series? It could happen in '08, Lexington Herald-Leader
  2. ^ a b The Busch Series dilemma
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