Barney Visser | |
---|---|
Born | 1949 (age 74–75) |
Nationality | American |
Occupation | Furniture Row co-owner Furniture Row Racing owner 2005-2018 |
Barney Visser (born 1949) is an entrepreneur and author. He is the co-owner of Furniture Row and Visser Precision. Visser also ran Furniture Row Racing in the NASCAR Cup Series from 2005 to 2018, winning the championship in 2017. [1] Furniture Row Racing, was based in Denver, Colorado and was one of a few NASCAR Cup Series teams not based in North Carolina. [1]
After attending Denver Christian High School for three years, Visser graduated from Thomas Jefferson High School in Denver. [1] [2] He volunteered in the Vietnam War for 21 months after high school, and he served as a paratrooper for 11 months in the 173rd Airborne Brigade between July 1968 and June 1969. [3] Visser and his wife Carolyn have seven children. [3] Visser enrolled at the University of Northern Colorado in the fall of 1969 or 1970, playing one season Division II football. He dropped out during the spring semester after losing his GI scholarship. [2] [4] [5]
Visser began his business manufacturing big poof pillows in the 1970s. [1] [2] He owned eight stores called Pillow Kingdom in 1977, when he decided to start his first waterbed store called Big Sur Waterbeds. [1] [2] That company was so successful that he changed the whole company into waterbed stores. [1] He estimates that the company held 85 stores in the mid-1980s. [1] The Furniture Row company operates 330 stores in 31 states under the Denver Mattress and Furniture Row names. [1] [6]
Visser decided to retire from his businesses, and began racing at Colorado National Speedway as a hobby. [1] [2] He met local modified driver Jerry Robertson, and the two decided to form a NASCAR Busch Series (now Xfinity Series) team in 2004. [1] [7]
Visser's NASCAR team began running in 2005, [1] [2] currently running in the top-tier NASCAR Cup Series after 19 races with Robertson driving his Busch Series car. [8] Joe Nemechek earned the team's first pole position at the spring Talladega Superspeedway race in 2008. [8] Regan Smith scored the team's first win at the 2011 Showtime Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway. [2] Kurt Busch earned the team's first berth in the Chase for the Sprint Cup in 2013. [6] Martin Truex Jr. won the team's first NASCAR Cup series title in 2017. [9] On September 4, 2018, Barney Visser announced that with the loss of major sponsor 5-hour Energy and the increasing cost to maintain a technical alliance with Joe Gibbs Racing (300% Increase), he had no choice but to announce that the team would cease operation at the end of the 2018 season, one year after winning their first championship title. [10] This is also because Visser has been dealing with health problems.
After shutting down the team, Visser had to sell his NASCAR charter, as per NASCAR rules. Visser went to motorsports/entertainment agency, Spire Sports + Entertainment seeking to sell his charter, and suggested to Spire president Ty Norris to buy the charter (the most expensive one in NASCAR history) and start a new Cup Series team. The agency accepted, purchasing the #78 charter. The team would be partnered with Premium Motorsports and would later win a shocking victory in their first season at Daytona with Justin Haley.
In 2020, the No. 78 was brought back into NASCAR by the rise of B. J. McLeod Motorsports. Later, McLeod and Matt Tifft started their own Cup Series team.
He is the co-author of the book Vietnam: Fresh, Positive Insights for all who Suffered Loss in the Vietnam War ( ISBN 978-0966404999) in November 2000. [3]
Visser was the executive producer for the movie Uncle Nino . [11]
Martin Lee Truex Jr. is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 19 Toyota Camry XSE for Joe Gibbs Racing. He is the 2017 NASCAR Cup Series champion and a two-time Xfinity Series champion, having won two consecutive championships in 2004 and 2005.
Joseph Frank Nemechek III is an American professional stock car racing driver who last competed part-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving the No. 24 Toyota Supra for Sam Hunt Racing. Nemechek has made the second most national series starts in NASCAR history. He claimed the record in 2019 after he passed seven-time Cup Series champion Richard Petty, but was surpassed by Kevin Harvick in 2021. Nemechek won the 1992 NASCAR Busch Series championship.
Christopher Beltram Hernandez "J. J." Yeley is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes part-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 44 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for NY Racing Team and part-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series driving the No. 14 Chevrolet Camaro for SS-Green Light Racing, and the No. 35 Toyota for Joey Gase Motorsports. He has previously competed in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, what is now the ARCA Menards Series, and what is now the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour as well as the IndyCar Series.
Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) is an American professional stock car racing organization founded by Pro Football Hall of Fame coach Joe Gibbs. His son, J. D. Gibbs, ran the team with him until his death in 2019. Founded in Huntersville, North Carolina, in 1992. JGR has won five Cup Series championships.
Chance 2 Motorsports is a former NASCAR racing team that was founded by Teresa Earnhardt and Dale Earnhardt Jr. in 2003. Although connected with Dale Earnhardt, Inc., the race team founded by Dale Earnhardt and run by Teresa Earnhardt after his death, the two were separate operations.
Michael Waltrip Racing Holdings LLC, doing business as Michael Waltrip Racing ("MWR"), was an American professional stock car racing team that last competed full-time in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. The company was as a 50–50 partnership between Robert Kauffman, the founder and managing partner of Fortress Investment Group, and two-time Daytona 500 winner Michael Waltrip, who first established the team in 1996 in the Busch Series. The team was the first full-time three-car team to field Toyota Camrys when Toyota entered the Sprint Cup racing fold in 2007, before being joined by Joe Gibbs Racing in 2008. MWR was also the last original Toyota team in the Sprint Cup Series to still be in operation, as Bill Davis Racing and Red Bull Racing Team had both ceased operations in the preceding years.
Regan Lee Smith is an American former professional stock car racing driver and a current pit reporter for Fox NASCAR. He most recently drove part-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving the No. 8 Chevrolet Camaro SS for JR Motorsports.
Furniture Row Racing (FRR) was an American professional stock car racing team that competed in the NASCAR Cup Series from 2005 to 2018. The team was owned and sponsored by Furniture Row, a U.S. furniture store chain, and was based in Furniture Row's home city of Denver, Colorado, being the only NASCAR team headquartered west of the Mississippi River. FRR most recently fielded the No. 78 Toyota Camry full-time for Martin Truex Jr. FRR won their first and only championship in 2017 with Truex, becoming the first winner of the Cup Series under Monster Energy sponsorship. The team was also the first single-car team ever to make the Chase for the Sprint Cup, which it did in 2013 with Kurt Busch and again in 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018 with Truex.
The 2006 Food City 500 was an event held at Bristol Motor Speedway on March 26, 2006, as the fifth race in the 2006 NASCAR Nextel Cup Series season.
Ryan Matthew Truex is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes part-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving the No. 19 and 20 Toyota Supra for Joe Gibbs Racing. Truex's older brother Martin was the 2017 NASCAR Cup Series champion.
Andrew Herring is an American professional stock car racing driver, test driver, and spotter. He works for Toyota Racing Development and Joe Gibbs Racing as a test driver, and is also the spotter for Martin Truex Jr. and JGR's No. 19 team in the NASCAR Cup Series. As a driver, Herring last competed part-time in the Cup Series, driving the No. 96 Toyota Camry for Gaunt Brothers Racing. He also has driven in the NASCAR Xfinity and Truck Series and the ARCA Menards Series in the past.
The 2013 Federated Auto Parts 400 was a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stock car race held on September 7, 2013, at Richmond International Raceway in Richmond, Virginia, United States. Contested over 400 laps, it was the twenty-sixth and final race leading into the Chase for the Sprint Cup in the 2013 Sprint Cup Series season. Carl Edwards of Roush Fenway Racing won the race, his second win of the season, while Kurt Busch finished second. Ryan Newman, Jamie McMurray, and Paul Menard rounded out the top five.
The 2016 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series was the 68th season of professional stock car racing in the United States and the 45th modern-era Cup series season. The season began at Daytona International Speedway with the Sprint Unlimited, the Can-Am Duel and the Daytona 500. The season ended with the Ford EcoBoost 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Jimmie Johnson of Hendrick Motorsports won his seventh drivers' championship, tying Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt for most all-time. Toyota won the manufacturer's championship, becoming the first manufacturer to win the manufacturer's championship other than Chevrolet since 2002.
Cole R. Pearn is a Canadian former NASCAR crew chief and stock car racing driver. He competed in CASCAR for three seasons from 2001 to 2003. He also was a 3 time Canadian Go-Kart Champion, Delaware Speedway Track Champion and winner of the Great Canadian 300 in 2006. He last served as the crew chief for Martin Truex Jr.'s No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing team in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series. Pearn led Truex to the Cup championship in 2017.
The 2017 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series was the 69th season of professional stock car racing in the United States, and the 46th modern-era Cup series season. The season began at Daytona International Speedway with the Advance Auto Parts Clash, the Can-Am Duel qualifying races and the 59th running of the Daytona 500. The season ended with the Ford EcoBoost 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Jimmie Johnson entered the season as the defending champion, having won his record-tying seventh Cup championship that he shares with Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt. Martin Truex Jr. of Furniture Row Racing won the championship, his first in the series. Toyota won the Manufacturers' Championship for the second year in a row.
The 2018 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series was the 70th season of NASCAR professional stock car racing in the United States, and the 47th modern-era Cup series season. The season began at Daytona International Speedway with the Advance Auto Parts Clash, the Can-Am Duel qualifying races and the 60th running of the Daytona 500. The regular season ended with the Brickyard 400 on September 9, 2018. The playoffs ended with the Ford EcoBoost 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway on November 18, 2018. Martin Truex Jr. was the defending champion, having won his first in the series.
Dale Earnhardt, Inc. (DEI) is a museum in Mooresville, North Carolina. Formerly a race team founded by Dale Earnhardt and his wife, Teresa Earnhardt, it competed in the NASCAR Cup Series, the highest level of competition for professional stock car racing in the United States, from 1998 to 2009. Earnhardt was a seven-time Winston Cup champion who died in a crash on the final lap of the 2001 Daytona 500. Despite his ownership of the DEI racing team, Earnhardt never drove for his team in the Winston Cup; instead, he raced for his long-time mentor and backer Richard Childress at RCR. In the late-2000s, DEI suffered critical financial difficulties after drivers Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Michael Waltrip, and sponsors Anheuser-Busch, National Automotive Parts Association and United States Army left the team; DEI consequently merged with Chip Ganassi Racing in 2009, moving their equipment into the latter's shop, while the former's closed down. Chip Ganassi Racing's NASCAR operations was subsequently purchased by Trackhouse Racing Team in 2021.
The 2019 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series was the 71st season of NASCAR professional stock car racing in the United States, and the 48th modern-era Cup series season. The season began at Daytona International Speedway with the Advance Auto Parts Clash, the Gander RV Duel qualifying races and the 61st running of the Daytona 500. The regular season ended with the Brickyard 400 in September. The playoffs ended with the Ford EcoBoost 400 at Homestead–Miami Speedway on November 17, 2019. Joey Logano of Team Penske entered as the defending series champion.
The 2021 NASCAR Cup Series was the 73rd season for NASCAR professional stock car racing in the United States and the 50th season for the modern era Cup Series. The season started at Daytona International Speedway with the Busch Clash, where it was the first year that the non-points event was run on the track's road course layout instead of the oval. That race was followed by the Bluegreen Vacations Duel qualifying races, and the 63rd running of the Daytona 500, the first points race of the season. The regular season also ended at Daytona with the 2021 Coke Zero Sugar 400 on August 28, where Kyle Larson won the Regular Season Championship. Following the 2021 Xfinity 500 at Martinsville Speedway on October 31, Chevrolet claimed its 40th Manufacturer's Championship and its first since 2015. The NASCAR playoffs ended with the NASCAR Cup Series Championship Race at Phoenix Raceway on November 7 with Larson earning his first Cup Series championship after a 10-win season.
The 2025 NASCAR Cup Series will be the 77th season for NASCAR professional stock car racing in the United States and the 54th season for the modern-era Cup Series. The season will start with the Bluegreen Vacations Duel and the 67th running of the Daytona 500, both at Daytona International Speedway. The season will end with the NASCAR Cup Series Championship Race at Phoenix Raceway. The Busch Light Clash is also expected to be held prior to the Daytona 500 on the first week of February.