Journal #11: The Team from Harrisburg

It is Super Bowl Week, and I had every intention to write strictly about football this week until the Busch Light Classic decided to be excellent, and I felt the need to write about that. While researching the race for this article, I came across a team based out of my hometown, Harrisburg, North Carolina, JTG Daugherty Racing. After finding out that my little small town in North Carolina was home to an actual team, all my focus shifted. This article comprises of what I could find out about JTG Daugherty Racing. 

To start, let's talk about the owners, Brad Daugherty and Tad Geschickter (Why they didn't call the team "The Brad and Tad Show" is beyond me, but whatever). Daugherty played in the NBA after playing for the Carolina Tarheels between 1982-'86. During his tenure with the Tarheels, Daugherty was named 2x All-ACC, Consensus All-American, 1985 ACC All-Tourney, and 2x NCAA All-Region. From there, he went on to play eight seasons with the Cleveland Cavaliers and was a 5x All-Star, 1986-'87 All-Rookie, and 1991-'92 All NBA. 

Tad Geschickter, well, you can find everything about his career on LinkedIn. Before opening a race team, Geschickter was a Sales Manager at Proctor and Gamble for almost 11 years until he could own his race team full time. There were two years where Geschickter was active in both roles. 

Since the team's founding, they have won five races, four of which happened in the Nationwide Series. The team's only Cup Series win came in 2014 at the Cheez-It 355 at The Glen (Watkins Glenn), with driver A.J. Allmendinger driving the #47. The team's best finish also came in the 2014 season, where they finished 13th. 

Currently, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. is the only driver for JTG Daugherty Racing. In the 2021 season, Stenhouse came second in the Inaugural Food City Dirt Race at Bristol and placed sixth in the Ally 400 in Nashville a few weeks later. Those were the only two times the team finished in the Top-10 last season. 

From 2011 to 2013, JTG Daugherty Racing was home to one of my all-time favorite racers, Bobby Labonte. Unfortunately, the team did not find much success for the team during that time, and their best finish in the season standings was at 26. 

At the Busch Light Classic, Stenhouse placed thirteenth overall! Not a bad start for the little team out of Harrisburg. Though the team has not been able to find much success, finishing 13th in an exhibition race does show hope. Now that I know a team is representing my hometown, it is only suitable to go for them. NASCAR is flooded with teams from Mooresville and Concord, but now, Harrisburg's got us a team!