Nice Q&A here from ThatsRacin.com with former NBA basketball player-turned NASCAR commentator Brad Daugherty of Black Mountain:
Q: So where did your racing itch begin?
A: “When I was growing up, my best friend was a kid named Robert Pressley. His dad might have won more short-track races than anyone in the sport. Bob Pressley has won well over 500 short-track races.
“He was always working on his race car and his dad’s race car. I was playing some basketball, but I was probably spending more time working on race cars with my buddy. We used to race in a weekly series in a little track in Asheville.”
Q: So you were the top pick in the’86 draft, and basketball wasn’t even your first passion?
A: “I feel guilty about that sometimes. I worked hard at it. But I never saw basketball as the highlight film. Everyone else was watching Elvin Hayes or Julius (Erving) or Bob Lanier or Tiny Archibald.I didn’t see those vivid colors in those guys. As a kid, for me, it was Richard Petty.”