5 Sports Stars who crossed over into NASCAR

 

5 Sports Stars who crossed over into NASCAR

By Brian Cotnoir

So this past week we had one of the biggest new team announcement’s in decades when Bubba Wallace that he will be joining a new team started by fellow NASCAR driver Denny Hamlin and NBA Legend Michael Jordan!   Now Hamlin has had a long professional relationship with Jordan for years, but the fact that the two of them are starting a racing team together is just so bizarre and so very interesting!   Michael Jordan isn’t the first star from another sport to enter NASCAR.  Former NBA All-Star and current NBA analyst Brad Daugherty is a part-owner of both the #37 & #47 cars in the NASCAR Cup Series, and probably most famously there is NFL Hall of Famer Joe Gibbs who in addition to winning the Super Bowl has one multiple drivers/owners championships and some of the biggest races in the world as a team owner in NASCAR.   That got me thinking what are some of the other interesting sports stars who crossed over into NASCAR.

1.)  Lance Norrick and the NHL

Okay, I’ve heard of owners of sports teams and colleges/universities sponsoring NASCAR’s, but I’ve never heard of another sports league sponsoring a driver!  NASCAR Truck Series driver Lance Norrick was sponsored by the National Hockey League (NHL) during the 1997 & 1998 season.  What’s weird is that prior to this sponsorship, Norrick had zero association with anyone in the NHL.   He wasn’t Canadian and he wasn’t a former hockey player, so the fact that he had sponsorship from a rival sports league is just remarkable.


2.)  Bill Elliott and Dan Marino

In the 1990’s Bill Elliott’s team expanded to a two-car operation when NFL Legend Dan Marino came on board.   The newly formed Elliott-Marino Racing’s second car was piloted by Jerry Nadeau and featured Marino’s football #13 and was painted in the Miami Dolphins colors of orange, green, and white.   It was one of the most iconic paint schemes of the late 1990’s.  The relationship with Elliott and Marino only lasted one season before Marino left the team.


3.)  Jack Roush and John Henry

In 2007, NASCAR owner Jack Roush sold a 50% of his NASCAR team to Boston Red Sox and Liverpool FC owner John Henry’s Fenway Sports Group to form Roush Fenway Racing.  The team won the 2009 and 2012 Daytona 500’s with driver Matt Kenseth.   The team lists Jack Roush as owner of the #6 car and John Henry as owner of the #17 car.

4.)  Jerry Glanville, Glanvillle Motorsports

Jerry Glanvillle followed former NFL coach Joe Gibbs by starting his own NASCAR team in the 1990’s.  However, while Gibbs hired future hall of famers Dale Jarrett and Bobby Labonte to drive his cars to success Glanville opted to drive his own equipment.  Glanville ran part-time in the Grand National Series often racing unsponsored or with an Atlanta Falcon’s logo on his car.  He also ran the first 15 races of the Inaugural truck series season.  Glanville would race part-time in his own equipment until the end of the 1999 season.  His best finish was 14th place (which he achieved 3 times in his career) in the Truck Series.


5.)  Dale Earnhardt Sr. and Ned Yost

During his 1994 Championship season run Dale Earnhardt Sr. had a special member of his championship pit crew.  Ned Yost was a MLB player, but a Season Ending Player Strike during the 1994 season, meant that Yost needed something to do to fill his time.   Yost got to spend the last 8 races as a member of Dale Earhardt’s pit crew, and it was a life changing experience for Yost.   Yost would was in awe of The Intimidator’s competitiveness and has said on record “Dale Earnhardt taught me how to compete”.   When Yost’s playing does were done and made the transition to coach & manager he wore #3 on his jersey as tribute to his friend Dale Earnhardt Sr.   Yost wore that #3 on his uniform when he won managed the Kansas City Royals to the 2015 World Series Championship



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