SHARKS! Brendan Gaughan Races with 'em and SWIMS with 'em (Crazy?)

Brendan Gaughan in the shark tank at Newport Aquarium

Gaughan Dives With Sharks

Cincinatti Enguirer

10:47 PM, Sep. 20, 2011

CINCINNATI -- Brendan Gaughan traded his driver's suit for a wetsuit and scuba gear to dive in a shark-filled tank on Tuesday.

"I've been trying to put together my two passions and I finally got Kentucky Speedway to bite," the veteran NASCAR Camping World Truck Series driver said, then added. "I shouldn't say 'bite' right now."

Gaughan was in town to promote the speedway's Oct. 1-2 race weekend from 20 feet under water in the Surrounded by Sharks exhibit at the Newport Aquarium.

He'll drive the No. 62 Toyota for Germain Racing in the Kentucky 225 Oct. 1. The IndyCar Series and Firestone Indy Lights are scheduled to race the following day.

"Swimming with sharks. Racing with sharks," Gaughan said. "It's kind of the same."

A certified dive master, the 36-year-old enjoys diving with sharks like the toothy sand tigers that cruised around him Tuesday. He also has explored sunken German U-boats off the coast of North Carolina and encountered an orca and her calf up close in the waters near La Paz, Mexico.

"That was one of the most frightening moments of my life," he said. "I would rather hit the wall at Kentucky Speedway full-throttle."

An eight-time winner in the truck series, Gaughan ranks 13th in points this season and considers Kentucky one of his better tracks. He finished third there in the UNOH 225 in July.

"There's a focus that comes in racing that is very intense, and scuba diving is somewhat the same," Gaughan said. "When I dive I feel very much like I do when I'm really intent and focused on the racetrack. That's my goal. I'm looking at what I want, the guy in front of me, where I'm trying to pass him. And I'm that focused on it. When I'm diving at 220 feet ... you've got to be very task-oriented and very intent and focused on what you're doing. If you make a mistake, just like in racing, you can probably get hurt."

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"Any Day is Good for Stock Car Racing"
updated by @dave-fulton: 04/03/17 01:32:06PM

In 1981 used to fly on some charter deals tyhat Danny Culler with Piedmont set up out of the Winston-Salem airport. Usually flew on a twin engine piloted by Lauren Edwards, Earnhardt's neighbor on the lake. Earnhardt and Barney Hall, along with a Winston rep,Miss Winston and myself usually made up the flight. Something got screwed up one evening after a Michigan race and they were swapping planes around and told me I'd be on a single engine from MIS to Winston-Salem. I told Danny it's be a cold day in July. We were having thunderstorms and a tornado warning. Anyway, I did fly back on the twin engine, but I absolutely got my fill of little planes that year and haven't flown in any since. The convenience wasn't worth the feeling of being scared s-------. One flight into the Mt. Pocono airport, Lauren tried to land on three approaches and we never did see the runway before diverting to Wilkes-Barre Scranton. Flew out of Talladega in one of thos famous thunderstorms and they'd always show me where Richard Brooks flipped his plane at Dover when he hita culvert. haven't been on a plane of any kind since 1998 and not sure I will again.


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"Any Day is Good for Stock Car Racing"