Columnist Ron Kantowski: Home is where the Nextel Cup is

Wednesday, Dec. 8, 2004 | 9:38 a.m.

Ron Kantowski is a Las Vegas Sun sports writer. Reach him at ron@lasvegassun.com or (702) 259-4088.

In that it is only a year old, at least with its current nameplate, NASCAR's Nextel Cup doesn't have the tradition, lore and legacy of the Stanley Cup. The ultimate prize in hockey (when there is hockey, that is) and arguably the most famous trophy in sports is now 111 years old.

So perhaps the following anecdote can serve as the first installment in the Nextel Cup's evolution as a cherished piece of hardware.

I was chatting with Tom Busch, the proud papa of NASCAR champion Kurt Busch, on our way to Fremont Street on Sunday afternoon, where a huge crowd had gathered to pay homage to the fast kid from Durango High, when his cell phone rang.

It was Kurt's mom, Gaye, wondering what Tom had done with The Cup.

Uh-oh.

Tom Busch hadn't done anything with The Cup that his son had carried into a news conference at the Golden Nugget himself. He didn't know he was responsible for bringing the trophy down to the celebration in the street that followed.

Then somebody told him he saw "some big guy" walk off with the trophy.

Before Tom Busch could figure out what he was going to tell the France family, his phone rang a second time. It was his wife again, calling to tell him that the big guy with the trophy apparently was with the Golden Nugget and that The Cup had made it safely to the stage.

The elder Busch was relieved. "At least that's one thing that won't wind up on eBay tonight," he said.

Thanks to general manager Chris Powell and his staff at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, whose idea it was to honor Busch, and about 1,000 stock car fans who packed the street and cheered wildly on a damp and dreary afternoon, the celebration on Fremont Street was a rousing success.

Busch, despite showing championship form both on and off the track this year, is still trying to win over hardcore NASCAR fans. He seemed genuinely moved by the show of affection from his hometown.

"I had my scripted speech on Friday night," he said, alluding to last Friday's NASCAR banquet in New York that capped his whirlwind media tour of the Big Apple. "But today is not going to be a speech that is scripted whatsoever. This comes from my heart."

He proceeded to thank all who paved the road at home so he could go racing with the big boys away from it: His mom, dad, local car owners Joey Mancari, Craig Keough and Jerry Spilsbury, and even Clark County Commissioner Myrna Williams, whom he hugged. Of all the politicians who showed up for the photo op, she was the one who seemed to know the most about his racing career, judging by her remarks to the crowd.

And Busch also invoked the memory of the late Chris Trickle, whose ride in the No. 70 Star Nursery LVMS sportsman car he inherited. Trickle appeared headed for NASCAR stardom himself before being murdered in a drive-by highway shooting.

"Everybody knows where they're from and where they began, and that's why I wanted to reflect on what I've done with you people here today," Busch said amid cheers.

He went on to note a few more friendly faces he spotted in the crowd, and anybody else he may have forgotten during his first round of thank-yous. But, and this is important, not once did he mention his sponsors.

I guess he was telling the truth about his speech not being scripted.

After he spent a week in New York City on a NASCAR-backed media tour, it was impossible for the local media to ask Busch a question he hadn't heard in the past seven days.

But I thought I would give it a try anyway.

Noting his appearance on the "Live With Regis and Kelly" show, I asked him if Rege is as annoying in real life as he appears on TV.

"It's all about Regis," Busch said. "Here I am a guest on the show and he's telling me about putting the whole carcass of a turkey down the disposal on Thanksgiving. So we wound up talking about plumbing."

In yet another case of life imitating art, the Mississippi Stingers of the most recent reincarnation of the ABA have signed Juwanna Mann to a free-agent contract.

Actually, it wasn't Juwanna Mann, the title character in a movie about a cross-dressing basketball star, but Amy Williams, a 6-foot-7 former standout at Jackson State who is a woman through and through.

Williams is being billed as the first woman to play in the ABA, which is cool, although I'm sure that somewhere guys like Billy Paultz and Art Heyman are rolling their eyes.

I was going to insert a line here about when the Stingers would be coming to town to play the Rattlers, our franchise in the nomadic ABA, but I couldn't find a Rattlers schedule. Or confirm there is a Rattlers schedule.

As they do every four or five years when UNLV gets a new football coach, a couple of dozen onlookers who weren't wearing wrinkled Dockers and scuffed shoes showed up for the news conference announcing Mike Sanford as the Rebels' new coach Monday.

Among the various football boosters and University System Regents who heard about the conference through osmosis -- Regent Mark Alden was among those miffed that he had to learn about Sanford's hiring through the newspapers -- was Sam King.

King is one two former Rebels quarterbacks who could actually throw a spiral. Before Randall Cunningham came along, he was the best passer in UNLV history, and there are those who say that as college players, there was little to tell them apart.

Once a year, during BYU week, new UNLV fans are reminded of King's passing fancy when Channel 8 goes into its archive to show his last-second touchdown pass to Jim Sandusky that enabled UNLV to shock No. 8 Steve Young and the Cougars in 1981. Many around here still consider that game the greatest in UNLV history.

Now that his son, also named Sam, has wrapped up his prep playing career with a state championship at Palo Verde High, King said he would like nothing better than to get reacquainted with the program. He said his first stop after the news conference was going to be Sanford's office, where he planned to drop off his resume.

The priciest tickets will belong almost excusively to celebrities, politicians, tanned casino executives and foul-mouthed high rollers, who will be treated like royalty. On the sidelines or in the stands, the team will employ a troupe of dancers, some of them recognizable from their acts at local gentlemen's clubs ...

That's how Ian Thomsen's piece on Las Vegas' viability as a pro sports market begins in next week's Sports Illustrated. Yet the story paints a positive outlook for our city landing a major league franchise, saying the debut of the Las Vegas Whales or Bugsies -- the writer's idea for a nickname, not mine -- will come sooner than later.

Celtics coach Doc Rivers already is bracing for the day the Whales come up for air.

"If I'm having to take a team to Vegas," Rivers told SI about our town's many distractions, "I want it to be the second game of a back-to-back, and we fly out right away afterward."

archive