Portion of Interview with Samantha Busch on 4/15/15
As heard on “Dialed In” with Claire B Lang on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (Channel 90)
To hear complete interview www.SiriusXM.com/OnDemand
CBL: Samantha I don’t know- I really don’t know exactly what you say…except that Kyle compliments you and says you are right by his side. What have you learned about Kyle in all of this…
Samantha: “You know, I always knew that he was a fighter and he was always really determined. But, just seeing how hard he’s working to get back in the car is amazing. It doesn’t matter if he’s already done three hours of PT (physical therapy) and then we’re sitting there at night watching TV … he’s like, ‘OK’ in the beginning, ‘Will you grab my toes?’ and cause you know you had to bend them to work the tendon and all that. So it was, he’s constantly working and fighting to get back to what he loves to do.”
CBL: When it happened and he showed the video of the accident. Take us through your part in all of that. You’re where and you’re thinking what? You had to be thinking the worst.
Samantha: “It was awful. So Kyle and I have this agreement that if he gets in a wreck that Tony (spotter) always asks him, ‘Kyle are you ok?’ And he has to respond right away, that’s our agreement. Because there was a few years ago that he got really mad and he pulled out his radio and he didn’t say anything and he was fine but he didn’t answer and so that night when he had gotten back to the bus I was like, ‘Don’t you ever do that to me again,’ you know. So anyways I was watching the race and saw that there was a wreck, didn’t see quite where Kyle’s car had gone yet because TV was a little bit behind and I heard Tony just say, ‘Kyle are you ok?, Kyle…’ and, and nothing. So I jumped up and I ripped out you know my radio and I just started going to infield care and along the way somebody had said, I think it was the camera guy, he said, ‘The spotter said he got out on his own power,’ and I was like, ‘Oh thank God’ you know. And so I get to the infield care and being in the hauler waiting, waiting and (thinking), ‘Is he here? Is he here?… and they’re like, ‘He’s not here.’ and I’m like, ‘If he got out of the car under his own power …what’s going on? The ambulance is not that far away!’ And so then, the head NASCAR nurse came out and she said, ‘Go to the hospital,’ and so instantly that was just like awful. You know your heart just drops and I said ‘Well what’s going on?’ and she goes, ‘You just you need to go to the hospital.’ So, obviously, you start thinking the worst and so we jumped in the car and we went to the hospital and we got there and that was hard. They wouldn’t let me go back there right away and so in my mind I’m playing out every terrible scenario like, ‘Is he unresponsive? What’s happening?’ and Kyle said the same thing. He was in there and he was yelling, ‘get my wife,’ and I was yelling, ‘let me go see my husband.’ And finally, when they let me back there it was almost surreal like to see him like that because you walked into the ER and there was just a bone…sticking out and it was crazy. I saw him and the first thing he said was ‘Are you ok and is the baby ok?’ and I was like, ‘we’re ok, you’re the one with like you know you’re the injured one.’ So it’s hard and obviously that was very emotional and it was crazy because there were doctors and nurses and everybody yelling and everything going on but we kind of just had our moment just like we do before every race. We pray and kind of everything else stays out from the background that was exactly how it was. And that led into probably the hardest week I would say of our lives … two surgeries, two hospitals, no sleep it was..”
CBL: And you were pregnant!
Samantha: “Yea I was pregnant,, I am pregnant..(Haha) It was hard. I mean you can’t suger coat that it’s hard to see your husband like that. It was killing him to not be able to just pop right up and take care of me… you know and it’s hard not being in your house or anything and so it was a rough week and so when we finally got home it was it was a huge sigh of relief to just be in our home, you know, in our bed and all that stuff so..”
CBL: What about the messages:
Samantha: “The messages were crazy. You know even that night there were so many drivers that came to the hospital and their wives and girlfriends and just support from the team guys and everybody was crazy, and the fans on social media and then the cards started pouring in once we got home. And so it was really I think really exciting for Kyle to see. Sometimes it’s really easy to focus on the negative like, oh somebody said this bad, but I think it was so awesome for him to see how many visitors he had and how many cards and how many texts I think, I think that was really cool.”
CBL: When he was talking to me telling me that he never really realized he had a place and he does now that he can count on in his car. It might make him more secure as a driver and as competitor knowing that… hey ok you’re not going to be right back in but you have a spot have you seen that?”
Samantha: “Yea you know Coach (Joe Gibbs) and JD (Gibbs) and everybody here at JGR they are like family and so they we’re obviously there. Coach was actually in the ER room with me and you know just told Kyle, ‘don’t worry man, like don’t worry about anything. Just worry about you and getting better. We’re here for you.’ And that’s really just been the message and everything from everybody at JGR has been nothing but support. There’s never been any, you know, “When you come back ….hurry, hurry.’ Everything’s been, ‘Hey, you take your time. You heal, you know, you’re young you’ve got a huge career in front of you. Don’t rush. Just when you’re 100 percent we’re here. Everybody’s excited for you to get back but it’s on your own time so don’t worry.’”
Clip: Claire B Lang asks Samantha Busch about how Kyle will now be as a dad, and about the pending arrival of baby boy Busch!
Follow Claire B Lang on Twitter – @ClaireBLang
And SiriusXM NASCAR – @SiriusXMNASCAR