https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvE0z-bVIWY
On May 2, Kyle Busch rang in his 35th year on the ol' Big Blue Marble. Now, 35 might not seem that old by most standards, but when you consider how long the Las Vegas native have been professionally racing for, it feels like a lifetime.
Busch was six when he started racing a makeshift go-kart around his family's neighborhood, but it wasn't until the age of 13 that he started competing in sanctioned races. From 1999-2001, Busch won 65 races in Legends car racing, a style of auto racing where drivers run in Yamaha motorcycle engine-powered 5/8-scale replicas of cars from the 1930s and 1940s. Lightyears aways from the stock car racing you see in NASCAR.
You might not think that Busch would be much for sentimentality, but a few years back, Busch had a couple of old VHS tapes from his teen racing days converted to digital. In the below video, you can see that, even at 14, the current driver of the No. 18 Toyota Camry for Joe Gibbs Racing dominated on the track, only this time in the No. 4 car.
Read More: Kyle Busch Wrecks out at Daytona Road Course
"When I started racing my Mom would sit in the stands and film all my races, I'd go back and study the video to see how I could get better," writes in the video's description. "I found some of the old VHS tapes a few years back and had them converted to digital to preserve them. Here's a look at one of the videos, a full race from 1999 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway's "Bullring". If you ever get the chance to visit Kyle Busch Motorsports in Mooresville, NC you'll see this car sitting in our gift shop."
In another video, also from the Bullring in '99, you'll see Kyle racing against his brother, Kurt Busch, who's in the No. 64 car.
It's pretty awesome that the Busch brothers are still racing against each other to this day, only this time on a much grander stage.
This post was originally published on May 1, 2019.