Carl Edwards was 2 years old on Feb. 13, 1982, when Dale Earnhardt won the Goody's 300 at Daytona International Speedway, the first race under the Anheuser-Busch sponsorship.
On Saturday, Edwards, now 28, will take the green flag in the Ford 300 at Homestead-Miami Speedway as the 2007 - and final - Busch Series champion.
It will be the 803rd race of the series, which was known briefly as the Budweiser Late Model Sportsman Series until the Busch brand took over in 1984. When the series resumes in February at Daytona it will be called the Nationwide Series - Nationwide Insurance has replaced Anheuser-Busch.
"Busch and NASCAR grew together," Anheuser-Busch executive Tony Ponturo said. "Both entities became strong brands together. The Busch Series is now the second-largest racing series in the country, and the brand's involvement with the Busch Series has helped it grow into the fourth-largest beer brand in the country."
Today's fans would barely recognize the series in 1982. Consider:
-- 23 of the 29 races were run on short tracks; 12 of those races were less than a half-mile.
-- Six races were run at .363-mile Hickory (N.C.) Motor Speedway.
-- 23 races were in North Carolina or Virginia.
It wasn't until 1997 races were run west of the Mississippi. By then, Hickory was down to one race and would be out of the series in 1999. The last of the sub- half-mile tracks, .400-mile South Boston (Va.) Speedway, would hold on until 2000.
The days of the tight third-mile bullrings, which had replaced the barnstorming weekly battles for track championships, were now completely gone.
"There's been a lot of racing series out there that didn't make it," said Jack Ingram, the inaugural Busch Series champion. "They might have had all the right drivers, or all the right tracks, or even a good sponsor. But they didn't have all the pieces of the puzzle in place.
"NASCAR worked for a couple of years to get Busch to sponsor the Late Model Sportsman division back in the late 1970s and early 1980s. When Busch finally agreed to do it, it gave us that final piece of the puzzle."
Ingram was one of a group of drivers that benefited from the series' maturation because of Anheuser-Busch's involvement.
"When Busch first came on board, the Late Model Sportsman division ran a lot of 100-lap races at a bunch of short tracks throughout the region," said Jim Hunter, NASCAR vice president for communications. "Those guys towed their cars all over the region to chase points and win enough money to pay their bills. Right away, Busch doubled the point fund, and that helped a lot of those guys put food on the table in the winter when they weren't able to race."
Busch's involvement added more than money - it offered prestige. And a ticket to larger venues.
"Eventually the races moved from some of the shorter tracks like Asheville (N.C.) and Rougemont (N.C.) to places like Darlington, Charlotte and Dover," Hunter said. "After Busch came on board, the series started to come of age, and it helped many guys get some serious sponsorship for the first time."
For drivers, racing in front of larger audiences and on television helped bring in needed sponsorships. That made life a little easier for drivers such as Ingram, who raced for a living and paid his bills through whatever money his racing career generated.
"It raised the profile of what we were doing, and it helped guys like me, Tommy Ellis and Tommy Houston to get some sponsorship," Ingram said. "U.S. Tobacco came on, and I won them a lot of races and a championship. It helped them, and it helped me."
NASCAR and the drivers aren't the only ones to have reaped the benefits of this long-lasting relationship, Hunter said. Anheuser-Busch utilized its involvement to enhance the reach of the Busch brand.
"Everyone always knew their Budweiser brand, but Busch wasn't a national brand," Hunter said. "Busch was well known in Florida and the Carolinas, but not throughout the rest of the country. The company used its sponsorship wisely by creating relationships with distributors and retailers that in turn helped sell more product."
Edwards clinched the Busch Series championship at Texas and already is looking to the future.
"Anheuser Busch has done a lot for this series," he said. "They've done their best to support the series, and it's nice to win (the final) Busch Series championship. But I look forward to Nationwide being in the series. They're really excited about it, and in a few years, it'll be just like Nextel coming in. Hopefully we can get one of each. It will be great."
Anheuser-Busch is also bidding farewell to its nine-year relationship with Dale Earnhardt Jr. this weekend. With two long-running sponsorships ending, it will be an emotional weekend for all involved.
"It's been a great run for Busch with NASCAR," Ponturo said. "The Busch Series sponsorship has been one of our longest running relationships. It's been great bringing some of today's biggest superstars up through the ranks. Several of today's biggest stars like Dale Jr., Martin Truex and Kevin Harvick all really came to their own in the Busch Series. But there comes a time to reinvent yourself. That's a part of any successful business. But knowing that sure doesn't make it any easier."
Fast facts
What: Ford 300.
Where: Homestead-Miami Speedway; Homestead, Fla.
When: 4:30 p.m. ET Saturday.
TV: ESPN2, 4 p.m. ET.
Radio: MRN/Sirius Satellite.
Track layout: 1.5-mile oval.
Race distance: 200 laps/300 miles.
2006 winner: Matt Kenseth.
2006 polesitter: Kevin Harvick.
Points leaders:
1. x-Carl Edwards, 4,640; 2. David Reutimann, 4,069; 3. Jason Leffler, 3,875; 4. Kevin Harvick, 3,868; 5. David Ragan, 3,670; 6. Bobby Hamilton Jr., 3,525; 7. Stephen Leicht, 3,443; 8. Marcos Ambrose, 3,343; 9. Greg Biffle, 3,316; 10. Matt Kenseth, 3,311.
x-clinched title.
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