Wednesday, Sept. 24, 2003 | 9:03 a.m.
AT A GLANCE
Although he has been racing -- and winning -- since he was 15 years old, Brendan Gaughan never gave any serious thought to becoming a professional driver until he was out of college.
After playing football and basketball at Georgetown University in the mid-'90s, Gaughan was graduated with a degree in business management and figured he would return to Las Vegas and work at one of his father's Coast Resorts properties and race as a hobby.
It wasn't until he found himself on the receiving end of a stern lecture from his chief mechanic following an embarrassing incident during an off-road race in 1997 that Gaughan began entertaining thoughts of racing professionally.
"Desert racing was fun for all that time, but the truth is I never really thought about it (as a profession)," Gaughan said. "In high school, I wanted to be a football player -- I was good. Even after I got hurt, I didn't think about (racing)."
Gaughan, who had won numerous races and championships in off-road racing, was on his way to another title in the Championship Off Road Racing (CORR) series in 1997 when he was visited by the first of two defining moments in his career.
"I had a championship won and I was goofing around one day, showing off for a girl, and I flipped my truck with a 12-second lead with one lap to go," Gaughan said. "A guy named Randy Anderson, he was a crew chief for Walker Racing, he was my chief mechanic and he grabbed me by the neck and said, 'Hey, you little (brat)' and he basically told me what these crew guys do for a living.
"He said if I wanted to play, they would treat me that way and they would go find somebody that they could bank a living on, but if I wanted to do it for a living, these guys would base their lives on it. I had never thought about it before and I asked him, 'Do you think I can?' and he said yes, he thought I was good.
"That's when I really started taking it seriously."
Gaughan, 28, heads into Saturday's NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway as a four-time winner this season and the series points leader. In 19 races, Gaughan has only three finishes outside the top 10 in the No. 62 Orleans Racing Dodge.
In two full seasons in the Truck Series, Gaughan has six victories. More impressive -- and perhaps surprising to anyone who watched Gaughan during his first two seasons in the NASCAR Winston West Series -- Gaughan has failed to finish only four times in 41 races during that span.
When Gaughan began racing stock cars in 1998 in the Winston West Series, it was about as common to see him stuff his car into a wall as it was to see him sprint home to a top-five finish. While racing at California Speedway in 1999, the hard-charging Gaughan broke two ribs after slamming into the Turn 4 wall while trying to gain a position early in the race.
That painful incident proved to be a valuable learning experience -- and yet another defining moment -- for Gaughan.
"It's amazing how two broken ribs will slow you down," Gaughan said. "And slowing down can make you go a lot faster. If I heard the statement, 'In order to finish first, you must first finish' one more time, I was going to commit hara-kiri. But it's true and that was the year I finally learned to finish."
Gaughan finished seven of the next eight races -- his only DNF in that span was because of a mechanical failure -- and ended the season with five consecutive top-10s. The following year, Gaughan was running at the end of every race, earned his first two victories in the series and won the Winston West championship.
After repeating as Winston West champion in 2001, Gaughan and the Las Vegas-based Orleans Racing decided to run the entire Truck Series schedule in 2002. Gaughan won two races -- both at the 1.5-mile Texas Motor Speedway -- and earned Rookie of the Year honors.
Despite losing his primary sponsorship from last season, team owner Michael Gaughan was committed to running a full season this year. His son has rewarded him with four victories and a 42-point lead in the championship with six races remaining.
Although Gaughan is quick to credit crew chief Shane Wilson and his Orleans Racing team for his success this season, Wilson said that Gaughan's talent as a driver often is overlooked.
"It's not all luck," Wilson said. "Brendan has a knack, a feel (for the truck) ... and once a driver gets that feel, they can do things that almost surprise you. He has become a real racecar driver."
Gaughan's experience in team sports at Bishop Gorman High and Georgetown also have come in handy with the race team, Wilson said.
"NASCAR is a team sport just like basketball or football and I feel we've got good teamwork going right now," Wilson said. "Brendan helps me motivate the team; I think that's where his Division I athletics come into play. He really understands the team aspect and how to compete at a team level and I think that helps him in racing."
Because his 42-point lead in the championship is about the difference between finishing first and 10th in a race, Gaughan said he is taking the same approach to Saturday's Las Vegas 350 as he has every other race this season.
"That's a race we want to win," Gaughan said of the LVMS event. "To win the championship, we've got to keep doing the same things we've been doing all year -- we're not going to change a damn thing.
"We're going to put that truck together and we're going to go for the pole, try to go win a race, gain more points and prove that we're the best Dodge program out here. The points are too close not to go out and race for the win."
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