Atta Boy Kyle

By Mark Young

Well my fellow blog heads, I like to call things as I see them, and Saturday I saw something that I just feel compelled to write about.  I know that quite often I am hard on people and like to squawk about the things they do that are generally bad and Kyle Busch has been one of my whipping boys . I am again going to write about something Kyle said in victory lane following his 10th win of the season in the Nationwide Series.  The difference this time is that Kyle said something right, at the right time, and he should be commended for it.

For those of you who aren't aware of the significance behind Kyle's tenth victory in the Nationwide Series let me expand a little.  Kyle's victory tied him with retired driver Sam Ard for most wins in a season.  Who is Sam Ard?  I found myself asking those same questions so I did a little research.

Sam Ard won back-to-back Busch Series Championships in 1983 and 1984 after finishing second in 1982.  In those three years he won 22 races and had an average finish of right around 5th.  Unfortunately a very serious accident at the Rockingham Speedway forced Sam to retire.  25 years later Sam Ard is limited to mobility via a wheel chair and is battling Alsheimer's disease.  After retiring from racing Sam has fallen onto hard times financially and has been forced to sell both of his Championship rings as well as other memorabilia like the two Grandfather clocks he won at Martinsville.

Now I know many of you out there could be saying that Sam's situation is not much different than others we all know and I agree.  But there is one thing about many of the "old school" racers in NASCAR and that is that unlike practically all other professional sports NASCAR does not have a pension plan for retirees.

Kevin Harvick has done a great deal of work to try and help Sam out and so has Richmond International Speedway and several other companies and organizations.  But let's get back to Kyle shall we?  Now we have all heard Kyle spout off about this or that showing his age and experience, both of which are very limited.  I have ripped him for his lack of respect on several occasions but this blog is dedicated to the respect he showed on Saturday.

Kyle's donation of $100,000 to Sam Ard and his family speaks volumes to his maturity process.  We all are easy to find fault in people and overlook when people do the right thing.  I just thought I would take a little time to express how Kyle got it right this time.