NFL Stars Owning Nascar Teams: Part 2--Other Stars

NOTE: All pictures courtesy Wikipedia and/or Pixabay unless noted

The NFL and Nascar.  They both compete on Sunday.

And that’s about where the comparisons end.

Pro football and stock car racing have little else in common, but that hasn’t prevented a litany of pigskin stars—some legends, some less-so—from crossing over in Nascar via team ownership.  Here’s a rundown of the football heroes who’ve stepped in Nascar—and how they’ve done.

Other Stars—more than just the guys behind center 

Joe Gibbs—Joe Gibbs Racing

The standard-bearer—not just for football legends in Nascar, but for Nascar ownership overall.  Gibbs, who’d coached the Washington club to three Super Bowl wins, started his race team in 1992, and exploded onto the scene in 1993 with Dale Jarrett’s emotional Daytona 500 win.  Since then its been nothing but growth, with JGR now a four-team powerhouse on the Cup level with strong sponsor relationships, an ironclad partnership with Toyota, and several successful developmental programs as well.  FUN FACT—Joe returned to coaching in Washington in 2004, which put the best owner in Nascar together with the worst owner in football.

Randy Moss—Randy Moss Motorsports

The superstar wide-receiver bought into the successful but faltering Morgan-Dollar Motorsports team, changing one of the truck’s numbers to his own 81.  The team’s primary 5 truck saw success with veteran Mike Skinner, but a lack of sponsorship, instability at crew chief, and no Cup team affiliation would see the team shut down in 2012, eventually being bought and resurrected by Richie Wauters.  FUN FACT—Jimmie Johnson made his Truck Series debut for this team.  There—that’s a thing you know now.

Joe Washington—Washington-Erving Motorsports

courtesy Jayski

After a solid NFL career, Joe Washington transitioned successfully into the business world.  In 1998 he convinced basketball legend Julius “Dr. J” Erving to join him in a unique Nascar venture—a wholly minority-owned race team competing in the Busch Series.  While Erving provided lucrative Dr. Pepper sponsorship, Washington was the owner of record.  Unfortunately the team failed to make much of an impact, failing to post a win in two-plus seasons, regularly struggling to qualify for races, and folding shortly after Dr. Pepper left the team midway through the 2000 season.  FUN FACT—this team had a dozen racers in its existence, which would be fine if it had lasted longer than two-and-a-half seasons.

Jerry Glanville—Glanville Motorsports

The longtime coach (most-notably for the Houston Oilers and Atlanta Falcons) was a hobby racer in his spare time, racing primarily in the early years of the Truck Series, even competing in the series’ first-ever race in 1995.  Usually racing for his own Glanville Motorsports team, the flamboyant coach failed to post a single top-ten in thirty-three national series starts.  FUN FACT—Glanville raced car number 81.  So football, Nascar, and car number—Randy Moss and Jerry Glanville have three things in common!