the author was interviwed on Marty and McGee, espnradio this morning
https://www.espn.com/racing/story/_/id/49649872/the-race-kyle-busch-outrunKyle Busch's final lesson for a sport built on risk
Eleven years later, that reputation made the details of his death that much more stunning -- killed by sepsis, not a ride into the wall. "Rowdy" was felled by a cold that progressed into pneumonia, then sepsis.
Men are almost twice as likely as women to have no usual source of healthcare, according to the CDC's 2024 National Health Interview Survey. A 2019 study found that avoidance of healthcare was linked to perceived male roles, among other factors. And a 2016 study found that linking one's self-worth to masculine ideals was associated with barriers to seeking healthcare among both men and women.
It's impossible to know whether continuing to drive killed Busch, or whether taking a weekend off might've saved him. Some peers who encountered him in his final week could tell he was sick, but others couldn't.
Kurt Busch, who met with family members and Kyle's doctors in Charlotte, North Carolina, in the days after his death, said he was told by a doctor that Kyle's death, a result of rapidly worsening pneumonia, was "one in a million."
"There's a flaw in the driver's DNA," (Kyle) Petty said. "Somewhere in our DNA, we never, ever, ever believe it's going to happen to us. It's always somebody else. It's denial. "In the larger picture of what the sport is, you have to have that denial, because if you don't have that denial, that ability to come out the other side of it, then you can't crawl through that window and drive a car."
Bill Janitz, Busch's longtime former media relations man and friend, said Kyle taught Brexton one principle so essential that lacking it would render any other traits moot. "If you're going to do this, you can't drive with fear," Janitz said. "No fear. Does that bleed into your personal life? I think it has to. But I think Kyle impressed upon him that that's what it takes to be great at this."