NASCAR Busch Series Champions Week at Disney World
Question Quest Story and photos by Dwight Drum
© 2007 Dwight Drum Web work by Larsen & Drum
NASCAR honors its season champions and the top 10 in Nextel Cup and Busch Series with a gala week complete with media days and banquets. Cup standouts are guests in New York City and Busch standouts fly south to the Magic Kingdom in Orlando. Next year the NASCAR season will sport name changes as the Sprint Cup Series and Nationwide Series raise the brand banner, but a traditional celebration is likely to continue.
Both NYC and the Big O have unique qualities but the focus here is Disney World where ornate buildings never seem to need paint and perfect landscaping eludes trimming. It's not Times Square and Wall Street; it's fantasy and Main Street.
The perennial family destination also hosts a media day at the ESPN Café on Boardwalk for the Busch (Nationwide) Series top 10 drivers. The center room normally occupied by sports fans is reserved for Busch drivers, team representatives and media members. This year ESPN commentator Allen Bestwick introduced a relaxed format while a two lunch commenced. Media questioned drivers for TV, radio, Internet and print in rotation across the room.
The rest of the week includes media hot laps on the Disney speedway with the Richard Petty Driving Experience, a concert sponsored by Anheuser-Busch, time for theme park rides and the formal Busch Series banquet. It's a week for drivers to relax and maybe let the kid deep inside them to escape.
The Kid Within
Ah, come on. There's still a kid in all of us. Most are just too adult to let that tender voice from long ago influence our maturity. Some seem to release that spirit at will and others insist that it's good to relieve the stresses of adulthood with an occasional unbridled outburst. The majority of adults move through life with experience and responsibility as their guide. Society needs that obviously, but the beauty of a place like Disney World is that the kids get their day or days. Adults can join in like an adolescent should they choose, if only for a moment.
That moment is what drives the fun in a vast theme park devoted to suspending reality for a time and allowing fantasy to have bright eyes.
Is it easier or harder for the kid to come out of the person who chooses the highly serious job of driving a race car? We asked the drivers about that as it is suspected that a wunderkind spirit exists in all drivers. Somehow and somewhere for racers playing paid off.
Don't take these words for that, take theirs.
The Common Question:
It's often said drivers at the NASCAR level get paid to play. Does coming to Disney for championship week bring the kid out in you?
Carl Edwards
"I got the kid out. They gave me some free passes to go to Disney World. It is very nice to be able to come to a place like this. It's all about fun. You walk around and everybody seems to have a smile on their faces. It means a lot for these guys and the teams. Everybody is ready to finish the year and start something new. Everybody likes coming here."
Marcos Ambrose
"The 'wonder look' on my face, I'm not sure where that's from. I'm a bit of an introvert by nature so to be outside of the business and all the marketing and fan work to do and the stuff we need to push at. We're working it. We're working every day of the week trying hard to represent our companies and ourselves in a good light on the sport.
"We're down here at Disney World. We didn't bring the kids this time. We're going to fly home the next morning after the banquet. We're going to get home, but it's a great place for this championship week. I'm really excited to be here. It's my first time being in Orlando and we're going to take in a few rides and go out to the speedway and have a few laps as well."
Jason Leffler
"Yeah. The kid is out of me all the time. Coming down here, it's fun. It's a good opportunity for us to get together with your competitors when you're not at the racetrack. We're trying to celebrate the year we had. Everybody here is confident by themselves and know where they stand. We have a nice time down here."
Greg Biffle
"Yeah it does. I'm looking forward to tonight. They had to twist my arm to get me to come down here today. It's a day off in the short offseason we have, but at the same time I've got tonight off. We're here we're going to something on city walk or whatever.
"A lot of times we wouldn't be doing that necessarily if it wasn't for our work. I'm kind of fortunate to have a good time if you will. I like that."
Scott Wimmer
"Yeah. It definitely does. I remember coming down here when I was real young and I had a great time with my family and friends down here. So when you can get back to that I don't think it matters what age you are. You definitely go out and get on some rides and have some fun. Just kind of enjoy your time off right now."
David Ragan
"Oh. A little bit, but with our boss man mister Jack Roush here, we have to remember what we're down here for and what we have on the plate over the next month or two. It brings back a good feeling that you can go out and have some fun. But the position I've been in for the last year or two, I've been having fun and it's been my job. It feels great to be a part of that."
David Reutimann
"Yeah. Living a little over an hour down the road to Disney, I'm here on a regular convoy. I remember bringing my daughter here when she was really young because it gave me an excuse to come over here. Yeah. I was brnging her over to Disney World, but she doesn't really remmebr at the time so it was more for me. I love coming over here. It's one of my favorite places. My daughter is now five and definitely shares the same love for it that I have. It gives us something else in common."
Matt Kenseth
"Oh. I don't know. I was here in July and had some fun and rode some roller coaster and did some stuff. I'm not an amusement park sort of guy. I never really thought about it. We just came straight here."
Bobby Hamilton Jr.
"Yeah. Every year it gets busier and busier. The very first time we were here we got to swim with dolphins and stuff and get close to sting rays. It's stuff you can't do no where else.
"They take care of everything but the sport gets busier and busier. Like today when we leave here we're going to go drive the media around in race cars. Then we're going to a party at nine tonight. You really don't have a whole lot of time to do a whole lot.
"In a couple of years if everything is still here, we'll bring our three-year-old and she'll be ready to rock n' roll then."
Jack Roush
I've asked a lot of the drivers a question about getting paid to play. Do you think it brings the kid out of them being here at Disney World?
"Oh yeah. Disney World is great. Being away from your normal surroundings and be able to come down here to the Magic Kingdom is really an awesome thing."
And for Jack Roush?
"I don't have any children or grandchildren with me. My three grandchildren, a one-year-old, a three-year-old, and a six-year old, I'm going to bring them down in April when we have a weekend off and get a little break in the early Spring break in the Cup Series. I'm going to bring them down and spend three or four days with them. I'm looking forward to that. I'm going to keep an eye cocked for what I think they would most enjoy when I come back."
(Bobby Hamilton Jr., Greg Biffle, David Ragan, David Reutimann Carl Edwards, Marcos Ambrose, Matt Kenseth, Stephen Leicht, Scott Wimmer and Jason Leffler)
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