Tom Higgins: Busch's move is big, but there have been bigger ones

Tom Higgins bolts on another set of his Scuffs and offers a bit of perspective on the Kurt Busch story:

By TOM HIGGINS

A mountain of ado has been made about Kurt Busch’s planned jump from Roush Racing to Penske South.

This is understandable.  Busch is, after all, the current Nextel Cup champion and one of the most promising young drivers to join NASCAR’s major circuit in years.

  Some are even suggesting that it’s the greatest seismic driver shift in NASCAR history. It’s big, but it isn’t the biggest.

There have been two bigger bombshells, both of mushroom cloud proportions.

Between the 1983-84 seasons The King himself, Richard Petty, almost unbelievably divulged that he was leaving his throne at Petty Enterprises to join a new operation formed by Hollywood entertainment figure Mike Curb.

Petty left a FAMILY OWNED team with which he had won seven championships and 198 races!

The move proved somewhat productive as Petty won two races with Curb, including the Firecracker 400 at Daytona International Speedway on July 4, 1984.  That was his 200th—and last—victory, and President Ronald Reagan was present to see it.

Petty also drove for Curb in 1985, then returned to Petty Enterprises in ’86, taking over the day-to-day operations and continuing as a driver through the ’92 season. He’s still running the show as the Petty compound in Level Cross, N.C., and remains immensely popular.

NASCAR’s second megaton bomb exploded in the summer of 1986 when Darrell Waltrip announced he was leaving the ride of legendary Junior Johnson to begin driving for Hendrick Motorsports in ‘87. Joining Waltrip in the stunning development was highly successful engine-builder and crew chief Waddell Wilson, making the jump from Ranier Racing.

Waltrip had won three championships in six seasons in Johnson’s cars, including the ’85 title.  He was in strong contention for another crown even as his team change announcement was made (he eventually finished second in the ’86 point standings).

Waltrip was a consistent victor with Johnson, winning 43 races.

Yet he was moving on.

The development produced some memorable quotes.

“They can have each other,” Johnson said of team owner Rick Hendrick, Waltrip and Wilson.  “I don’t think any of ‘em are magic.”

A ceremony marking Waltrip’s move from Johnson to Hendrick was held in November at a hotel in Atlanta prior to the season’s final race.

Waltrip drove his new team’s car onto a stage through phony smoke. He got out, kissed the hood and - incredibly - said, “I’m getting off an ol’ mule and onto a nice strong thoroughbred.”

The next morning Junior Johnson uttered perhaps the sharpest touché retort ever in NASCAR.

“I’ve had a jackass driving for me, and now I am rid of him.”

The drastic change only worked out marginally for Waltrip.  He won nine races in four years with Hendrick Motorsports, but no championship.  He was to win five more races with a team he formed and owned before retiring after the 2000 season to become a popular commentator on racing telecasts.

“Looking at the big picture with hindsight, I feel that if I’d stayed with Junior, we’d have won a lot more races,” Waltrip has conceded in recent years.

It will be interesting, of course, to see how Kurt Busch’s move — big, but not the biggest — pays off for him.