Despite being a five-time NBA All-Star and Cleveland Cavaliers nice, Brad Daugherty was by no means in a position to attain basketball’s mountaintop. He obtained to the Eastern Conference finals simply as soon as, and his former North Carolina Tar Heel teammate Michael Jordan’s dynasty would find yourself getting in the way in which of his ambition. But now, some 30 years later, Daugherty can now lay declare to one in every of sports activities’ biggest prizes from one in every of his life’s nice passions.
Daugherty received his first Daytona 500 as a automobile proprietor this previous Sunday. He’s the co-owner of JTG Daugherty Racing and the No. 47 Chevrolet pushed to Victory Lane by Ricky Stenhouse Jr. The win was the end result of a lifelong ardour for Daugherty: He wore No. 43 on the Cavaliers as a nod to Richard Petty, who was his boyhood hero rising up in Black Mountain, N.C. He attended races at New Asheville Speedway, the place he would turn into shut private pals with future NASCAR Cup Series driver Robert Pressley in addition to his automobile proprietor, at the same time as his basketball profession was on the rise.
All of that led Daugherty to victory within the Daytona 500, the place he turned the primary Black automobile proprietor to ever win The Great American Race alongside co-owners and longtime enterprise companions Jodi and Tad Geschickter. Recent eye surgical procedure pressured Daugherty to depart Daytona International Speedway the morning of the race and watch from dwelling, however he shared his ideas and preliminary response to profitable the five hundred with NASCAR.com.
“I sat there for a second. And I used to be like … We simply received the Daytona 500. I spotted I used to be on my own, however I used to be like, ‘OK, that is actually nice, since you’re speaking to your self,'” Daugherty mentioned. “And then I simply went nuts. So then my cellphone began ringing — individuals from NASCAR calling me, the workforce was calling me … everyone. I used to be similar to, this is unbelievable. This is an unbelievable second in NASCAR historical past, for a little race workforce at Harrisburg, and for a workforce that simply does not give up.”
Daugherty’s standing as a member of a choose fraternity of African-American racers was a significant a part of his Daytona 500 victory, as he acknowledged the efforts and contributions of others in his peer group resembling Tinsley Hughes, Bill Lester, and the late Sam Belnavis in addition to longtime rival Michael Jordan — who the Geschickters joked Daugherty was already speaking trash to throughout their post-race press convention.
“I get to face right here as the primary African-American proprietor to get to hoist that Harley J. Earl trophy. Man, we have made historical past. This is historic, and no one can take that from us or take that from me,” Daugherty mentioned. “I’m so proud, and I stay up for hoisting extra trophies with my race workforce. And as we transfer ahead, simply plenty of delight. We’re not one in every of these huge, huge race groups.
“We’re a bit, small group of about 50 individuals, and we simply exit on daily basis and beat and bang, and grind and hustle, and there is plenty of occasions plenty of days, a lot of nights, man, we get our tooth kicked in. It’s simply completely what occurs. But on days like Sunday, man, it is all value it. It’s all value it. This has all been value it.”
Daugherty’s Daytona 500 win is by far the largest of a profession that has seen him win as a automobile proprietor in all three of NASCAR’s nationwide touring sequence. His first win got here at Orange County Speedway in what’s now the Xfinity Series in 1989 with Pressley behind the wheel, and he additionally received two Craftsman Truck Series races in 1997 with the late Kenny Irwin Jr. Prior to Sunday, Daugherty’s lone win as a Cup automobile proprietor had are available in 2014, when A.J. Allmendinger received for JTG Daugherty at Watkins Glen.
