Gaughan’s feet, wheels firmly on ground

Born into a family of Las Vegas gaming giants, Brendan Gaughan was fortunate long before he became the only man to race in the Daytona 500 and play for a team that reached the NCAA Tournament's Elite Eight.

"People have laughed and said my life story would make a rather interesting book, but you wouldn't believe three quarters of it," said Gaughan, 37, who will compete Saturday in the Smith's 350 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

One part that's hard to believe is the fact the 5-foot-9-inch Gaughan was a walk-on basketball player at Georgetown, where he appeared in 25 games for the Hoyas from 1994 to 1997 but mostly harassed future NBA star Allen Iverson - his roommate - in practice at the behest of coach John Thompson.

We're talking about practice.

"My job every day for two years was to guard Allen and do what I was told. If I was told to be aggressive, I'd be aggressive," Gaughan said. "Many of the guys I played with don't ever want to see me on a basketball court ever again.

"Remember, in practice there are no limits to the number of fouls you can get."

The son of billionaire South Point casino owner Michael Gaughan and grandson of Las Vegas gaming pioneer Jackie Gaughan, Brendan also counts Thompson as one of the biggest influences in his life.

"He taught me how to be a man," Gaughan said. "I'm very fortunate - and I know that - and I could've ended up an absolutely spoiled rotten young man and think I was entitled to everything. Because of him, I don't believe I have that image.

"I feel very good about the things I work hard for, because of the stuff he taught me."

An all-conference kicker for the Hoyas football team, Gaughan met Thompson while attending basketball camps at Georgetown as a kid. He earned a spot on the basketball team when it had only nine healthy players and needed another for practice.

"They needed not so much a player but a body, and I was a guy they felt could be a body and not be a distraction," said Gaughan, who scored five career points and saw action in the NCAA Tournament. "I was a role player and understood my role."

Gaughan earned a bachelor's degree in business management from Georgetown in 1997 - the same year he made his NASCAR debut in a truck series race at LVMS. He won Craftsman Truck Series rookie of the year honors in 2002 and would have captured the points title in 2003 - when he won six races, including the LVMS event - if not for getting wrecked in the season finale.

In 2004, Gaughan earned a full-time ride in the Nextel Cup Series with Penske Racing on a team with longtime NASCAR star Rusty Wallace.

Gaughan was replaced after the season, though, and has since split time between NASCAR's three series, making 312 career starts, including 192 in the trucks, where he hasn't won since 2003.

"It's been a struggle trying to get back to the top," he said.

Gaughan, who has worked virtually every job in a hotel and can deal every casino game, considered retiring from racing after this season to enter the family business but has become re-energized driving for Richard Childress.

He placed third in the Nationwide event Saturday at Kentucky and is riding a streak of three straight top-five truck finishes.

"It's been a fantastic year, and I'm looking forward to kind of rekindling my career," he said.

Gaughan and his wife, Tatum, have a son, Michael James, who will turn 2 on Oct. 30, and are expecting their second child Oct. 11. He wants to race long enough for his children to appreciate his career and hopefully join him in Victory Lane.

"Those sorts of things drive me every week to keep digging," he said.

When Gaughan permanently puts his racecar in park, he said he doesn't expect to automatically be handed the reins of South Point from his father.

"First, I'll go work with some other friends in the business and try to make sure I can make my own name," he said. "Then if my dad needs me, I'll be prepared for it, because my dad is a little tougher on his family than he is on some of the others."

Heeding Thompson's advice, Gaughan also has prepared for his future by investing in several local businesses, including The Rusty Pickle food truck.

"The logo of the Georgetown men's basketball team is an inflated ball. One of the things that big John always said was 'Don't base your life off of five pounds of air, because one day there's going to be no air in that ball,' " he said. "I've always thought of that and said don't base my life on the air pressure in those tires."

Contact reporter Todd Dewey at tdewey@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0354.