NASCAR superfan Naz Idoura was racing at the Andretti Indoor Karting facility in North Carolina when he noticed his hero, Kyle Busch, was in the building.
He filmed Busch standing on the sidelines, eyes fixed on his son Brexton as he circled the Durham track a day after his 11th birthday. Two days later Busch was dead.
‘Kyle Busch is literally right here,’ he excitedly narrated in the clip, zooming in on the unaware racing star.
Eventually, he decided he couldn’t pass up the chance to speak to an all-time NASCAR great on an otherwise ordinary Tuesday – even if the man himself just wanted some father-son time.
Idoura plucked up the courage – helped by the fact that a few others were now starting to recognize who was among them – and slowly approached.
‘At first, before speaking to him, he looked a little guarded,’ Idoura told Daily Mail. ‘He looked like he didn’t want to be bothered.
NASCAR superfan Naz Idoura got a picture with idol Kurt Busch two days before he died
Busch was with his son Brexton, who had celebrated his 11th birthday the day before
‘But that wore off, he started opening up to the fans more and more. The thing about it is that he didn’t have to talk to us. Kyle being the way he was, he spoke to us and I really appreciate that. He was really pleasant to speak to.’
In recent years, Busch had grown mindful of his reputation as someone who seemingly enjoyed being the bad guy, as his ‘Rowdy’ nickname might have suggested.
‘It was a narrative for a while – he loves being booed,’ his longtime PR representative Bill Janitz said on NASCAR reporter Jeff Gluck’s YouTube show. ‘I don’t know if he even knew the impact he had on other people’s lives. But for sure (he wanted to be liked) – he was a human being.’
Idoura felt that Busch wanted to give his son all his attention as part of an extended birthday celebration. Hours earlier, in what turned out to be his final social media post, Busch wrote of his pride at watching his son grow up in a celebratory post about Brexton turning 11 years old.
‘You’re best kid, on and off the track,’ he wrote of Brexton, who aspires to follow his dad into NASCAR. ‘You amaze us every day. Your mom & I are so proud of who you’re turning out to be!’
Idoura said: ‘I felt like, for sure, he just wanted quality time with his son.
‘At first, I was avoiding him for that reason. But then once he opened up and started talking to people, like myself, it’s kind of funny – he was so friendly, so nice.
‘One of the first things I told him was “hey man, I didn’t really want to bother you because I see you are with your son” and he was like “ah, I appreciate that”‘.
Busch’s widow, Samantha, stood alongside Brexton at the tribute to him last Sunday
Busch’s parents, Tom and Gaye, and his brother, NASCAR Hall of Famer Kurt Busch, also attended the race as NASCAR honored the late driver with a moment of silence
Idoura got a picture with his hero, one of the last selfies Busch would ever pose for.
Soon after that meeting, Busch headed to Charlotte where he was taken ill driving in a racing simulator, practicing for the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
A day later, he died in hospital, leaving behind his wife Samantha, Brexton and four-year-old daughter Lennix.
Idoura discovered the news when he was shopping at a Dick’s Sporting Goods. He said he nearly cried in the store.
‘He didn’t seem unwell at all. He looked like a normal dude who is not sick and doesn’t have anything bothering him, doesn’t have any illness of any kind,’ he explained.
‘Maybe he was a little bit congested but in a way where you could go out in the world and do things. I’m a little bit congested right now, it was like this.
‘Nobody thought that he had pneumonia for two weeks and it would become sepsis. I never thought that would be possible.
‘I am shocked, it is horrific. It’s still surreal. I was shopping at the store and pulled out my phone and it was like W.T.F. He died?’
Idoura’s abiding memory of that day is not the picture he got with his hero in his final hours. It’s how much of a proud father he was.
‘He was intensely watching his son that day,’ he added. ‘He just really wanted his son to succeed.’
As the shockwaves of Busch’s passing reverberated around the NASCAR world, the Amazon Prime production team had to kick into gear and rapidly change how they were going to broadcast the race.
Busch is survived by his wife, Samantha, and their two children, Brexton, 11, and Lennix, four
Amazon presenter Danielle Trotta has revealed the work that went into last Sunday’s tribute
The poignant tribute to Busch, featuring his grieving widow Samantha alongside Brexton, Busch’s parents and his brother Kurt, left many of the fellow NASCAR drivers emotional – let alone the three million fans who were watching on from home.
‘We wanted this to be at time capsule almost for Brexton and Lennix,’ host presenter Danielle Trotta said.
‘We wanted, in 20 years or whenever they are ready, for them to look back on this day and just be proud of who their father was and feel that we did the best job we could to honor their father.’
Samantha’s attendance took many by surprise. Those who were standing to pay tribute to Busch before race didn’t know she was going to be there.
‘Some people knew well before,’ Dale Earnhardt Jr. said on his podcast this week. ‘It was a shock. If they never came back to another race track again I wouldn’t have thought anything of it.
‘That was really, really hard. Everyone down there was bawling. It’s going to be hard not seeing him there.
‘In the recent conversations I was having with him he was so happy, in one of the best moods I’d seen him in in quite some time. Samantha proved this weekend how tough she is and what an incredible mother she is.’
