Racing has always driven ESPN's Brad Daugherty

Brad Daugherty gets this a lot in airports: The guy who walks up to say, incredulously, that Daugherty really does know stock-car racing.

For Daugherty, that's both amusing and frustrating. The former University of North Carolina center is determined to convince the racing fan he's a NASCAR guy who played basketball. Not a basketball player dabbling in motorsports.

It's funny, because growing up in Black Mountain, N.C., he was always tinkering with a race car. Basketball was just a means to an education that morphed into a lucrative career. Daugherty might have been the first choice in the 1986 NBA draft, but Daugherty's first choice was racing.

“I loved going to the race track and I loved tinkering with race cars,'' said Daugherty. “I was not in love with basketball. I enjoyed playing basketball, and I had this big, ol' body, but my only objective in high school was to use my basketball skill to get to college.''

Daugherty now does NASCAR analysis for ESPN and is part-owner of JTG-Daugherty Motorsports, fielding cars in both the Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series.

Daugherty recently talked racing, hoops and diversity with Charlotte Observer writer Rick Bonnell:

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.''

Q: You think the public doubts your racing credentials?

A: “Most of the public is still trying to figure out my connection and maybe that's a good thing. Maybe it gets people to listen to what I have to say. But I race. I ran Hickory a couple of times last year and I'll run Myrtle Beach this year.

(Daugherty then pointed to a separated right shoulder he suffered in a wreck while testing at Bristol.)

Q: How does a man as tall as you contort into a race car?

A: “I can get in and out of it just fine. It's not the most comfortable thing, but it's more ‘want-to' than anything. And they make me as safe as I can possibly be. My chassis is a little offset, so I have a little more room.''

Q: You're as high-profile as any African American associated with NASCAR. You've advised the France family on diversity issues. Where do things stand in that regard?

A: “I'm actually a little disappointed by how far the sport has come as far as inclusion. I still think it's far behind other sports. But there's a reason for that, and the reason is economics.

“When you're talking about African American participation, it's not about black and white, it's about green (money). That's the barrier in this sport that is prohibitive. This sport is so capital-intensive; we spend millions of dollars (on each race team). I've tried to have an influence on that, but the changes have only been incremental. (Juan Pablo) Montoya is here. Bill Lester used to be here some.

“We need to create a pool (of minority drivers) to pick from, out there driving go-karts (as kids). Developing that, growing up in the culture of this sport, that's a tough nut to crack.''

Q: What about diversity in the stands?

A: “I have a lot of friends who are African Americans who love racing. The stereotype of a decade ago, it's not that it was unfounded – it was a rural, Southern sport. But there are a lot of rural, Southern African Americans, too.

“It's an exciting sport and television can't do justice to that. Some of my buddies come to the race track, but it's really hard sometimes to overcome stigmas. There are some great people at a race track, and some ding-dongs, too. You put 100,000 people together and there will be idiots in any group.

“I don't know that there's anything more for NASCAR to do about this, short of handing out 50,000 free tickets to people of color'' to sample the product.

Q: Are there parallels in how to succeed in basketball and racing?

A: “In racing and basketball, you're going to look for leadership from certain people, but it's so crucial that everyone knows his job. The other (parallel) is you want the leadership to come from within the team,'' rather than management.

Q: What's more grueling – an NBA schedule or a Sprint Cup schedule?

A: “It's obviously a lot harder running a race team because the weeks run together. We do this for 10 months, (nearly) every week. The guys get a little burnt-out. It's hard to keep everyone moving and fresh. In basketball, it's a long season, but there is down time to recover.''