SEBRING, Fla.There's been a lot of talk over the
winter about former CART star Christian Fittipaldi's move into NASCAR racing.
But it's been a long time since a stock driver crossed over into a Champ Car.
source: CART.com - John Oreovicz On Wednesday, Kurt Busch boldly stepped where no NASCAR regular had gone since Bobby Allison participated in the Indianapolis 500 several times in the mid '70s. Encouraged by the Ford Motor Company, Busch sampled Michel Jourdain Jr.'s Ford-Cosworth-powered Lola at Sebring International Raceway. And he certainly didn't embarrass himself. In what was basically his first-ever run in an open-wheel racing car, Busch lapped the 1.669-mile Sebring road course in 54.72 seconds just under four seconds slower than Wednesday pacesetter Oriol Servia and less than 1.4 seconds slower than PK Racing rookie Patrick Lemarie. Busch spun a couple of times, but overall, he made a deep impression on about 100 interested onlookers watching his 18-lap demonstration from a hillside between Turns 4 and 5. "He looks good," remarked Jimmy Vasser, who spectated during Busch's 30-minute demonstration run along with fellow Champ Car drivers Servia and Paul Tracy. "The guy's obviously got talent because he won a bunch of Winston Cup races last year and that's not easy."
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