Новости NASCAR

[Romeskis]

Курт Буш помирился со шерифом Марикопы :

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Last November, 2004 NASCAR NEXTEL Cup champion Kurt Busch was involved in a highly-publicized incident with the Maricopa County Sheriff's Department while attending the race at Phoenix International Raceway. On Thursday, Busch returned to the area and his first order of business was to be sworn in as a Special Deputy for that same department by Sheriff Joe Arpaio.

"Kurt was speeding and he handled the situation wrong here last year, but he really got a bad rap that he didn't deserve," Sheriff Arpaio told the media that gathered in his downtown Phoenix office to witness the afternoon ceremony. "None of us is perfect - I'm certainly not. When we shot the public service announcements together here back in April, I was pleasantly surprised to see what a nice young man Kurt really is.

"He did his community service here in the spring and went far beyond what was required. We had so much fun driving those Dodges that day that we wound up buying 10 Dodges for our department.

"Kurt has a natural appeal to youngsters out there and he certainly can communicate our safety messages in an effective way to reach them. The youngsters will certainly pay more attention to a NASCAR champion driver like Kurt than they will to me."

Busch described the special ceremony as a "great honor."

"I know that you can't change history, but I can learn from it," Busch told those in attendance. "I've learned that I am responsible for my actions. I have learned that I have had the ability to turn what was a negative last year into a positive by my actions. I have been able to help out the youth in the area and was able to do some Public Service work with Sheriff Arpaio on the merits of safe driving.

"The Sheriff asked if I would help out in the county by becoming a Special Deputy and Iwas honored that he asked me to do that. I have great respect for the Sheriff and his team and I look forward to helping the Sheriff's department on various activities, especially surrounding safe driving and helping with the youth in the county. I hope to ride with the Sheriff's Deputies when we come back for the race in the spring."

Upon being sworn in, Sheriff Arpaio presented Busch with a Maricopa County Sheriff's Deputy badge and an official MCSO identification card bearing Busch's photograph.

"This is going back home and into the trophy case," Busch said. "This means so much to me personally and what it represents will be important to me for the rest of my life."